Many States Cut Welfare Rolls Despite Surge in Unemployment
The New York Times reports that while unemployment soars across the nation, many state welfare rolls are, in fact, being cut. Many have begun to question the effectiveness of the current system in the face of a recession and note that food stamp rolls, which are federally funded, have increased across the board. Welfare aid, on the other hand, is under fixed federal financing, so any caseload increases are paid for by the state. For more on this topic, be sure to visit our poverty issue guide and our Citizen’s Survival Kit on the economy.
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in an economic setting where more and more working class americans are losing their homes, it is not only a good idea to cut welfare, but an absolute must! how do you tell a working family of four who are struggling to make mortgage payments and to feed their kids that it is their responsibility to support the fat and lazy population collecting welfare? you can't, so you shouldn't. if we make whole scale cuts to welfare, and stop offering incentives for people on welfare to have more children, then we can apply some of those savings to alleviate the social security crisis. it only makes sense that the people paying taxes should be the first ones to benefit from the federal programs. i am not cold and dispassionate. i am capable of empathyzing with my fellow man, but i do expect some effort to be put forth. i remember as a child not seeing my father for weeks at a time, because i was in bed long before he returned from his second job. SECOND JOB! it is not unresonable to ask that the people on welfare to get at least one job, even if it is part time. i mean this is the smallest act of good faith. at least give the impression that you are not afraid of work.
^I totally agree with you on this one!
Since 1996, with PRWORA (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act), aka "welfare reform," you can no longer receive welfare benefits without either actively looking for work or working. This is what "welfare-to-work" is about. Sure, there are exceptions such as for women with infant children, domestic violence victims, etc. But the ignorant and misinformed assumption that people on welfare are "fat & lazy" generally comes from the comfortably middle & upper class (and generally White) population that has never faced hunger, desperation, chronic illness without health insurance, sudden job loss, etc. Now that the economy is tanking for everyone, it is no surprise that donations to food banks and other charities is actually UP! Why? Because almost overnight those that had the misperception about the poor (excuse me, working poor) like the two of you above, find themselves in food pantry lines, filling out applications for unemployment and perhaps for the first time wondering where to turn for help. Oh wait...maybe those receiving welfare benefits (like subsidized transportation TO WORK, day care subsidies WHILE AT WORK, food stamps (now known as SNAP), medicaid (since their low-wage JOBS don't offer health insurance, and so on) aren't "lazy" after all, but victims of a greedy economy that requires you to be destitute in order to receive these benefits. the days of collecting "welfare checks" are long gone....but the idiocy surrounding class issues in our society is not.
Just temporarily, try obtaining some facts before turning to judgment and relying on ignorance.
RE: "fat and lazy population collecting welfare."
Dear Person that wrote this:
The next time you have this thought about those collecting welfare, consider whether you attended an institution that covers up domestic violence, and how also "uninvolved" you were when you heard a woman screaming, a man yelling, or didn't want to get involved with that either.
I watched my father handle his life, working days, studying nights, and succeed. His father was an abuser, and later abandoned the family. And all of us went through college and succeeded in our fields.
ONE of us (me) married the wrong man, and between all the enablers (detached, observing, not reporting or helping) the 10 years it took to get free (yes, I said 10), and raising two smart above-average children that had at least SOMETHING besides this example at home) and the coming up on 10 years AFTER that, I have gone food stamps, solvent, restraining order expired and renewal declined because someone had coached (and I finally found out WHICH federal grants supported this theme) this man to bounce it into family law system, where we've been stuck 7 years.
3 years ago my kids were stolen on an overnight visitation (at the end of this month), trashing for the final of many, many times since I did the right thing, left the guy maintained boundaries (or sought to, including through the law), but didn't remove children from their Father's contact at all, and then fought off my own family's attempts and assertions that the violence never happened (the fact that it was finally acknowledged and something DONE about it confronted their educated but lazy moralities/brains). This event was followed up by yet more taxpayer waste, in the same venue, and finally, after I was driven out of the profession I'd rebuilt AFTER leaving the man, by system failure to protect, I had zero unemployment. WHY? I worked for nonprofits, including with people you might call (if you ever got so close as to take a look) fat and/or lazy. Not all were fat and none that I saw were really lazy, but many were poor. Several of them better educated, apparently, than your middle class (or whatever class) self. When I lost this job, I got zero unemployment (you'll be relieved, I'm sure) and with phone off, tried to get help putting phone back on so I could re-engage in the work force. The services promised (including unemployment, which had been initially) didn't come, so I learned where soup lines and charity was, and hustled rides or bus fare (after car went down for a while due to inability to repair it), and so forth to get to libraries toa access internet one or two hours a day to find work. I then enrolled in a self-employment initiative which would lead to at least a moderate line of credit to keep my (internet and phone) on long enough to sell something. Other than that, i was left with a missing front tooth competing (at middle age) with high school grads for retail jobs, as it was no longer safe, clearly, to work from home as originally planned in my profession (which includes teaching, incidentally). I managed somehow, by grace, faith, and with help from strangers and SOME remaining friends (most friends leave when DV doesn't leave a person's life; they can't take the heat -- or pay the bills).
About 3 months ago I returned to Food Stamps, and found out I couldn't buy toothpaste, paper towells, shampoo or anything normally would have (including vitamins, or even a healthy oil; important in all the stresses), and so forth. Finally a total stranger gave me a laptop and I'm hopeful again, and blogging.
If you would like to know the relationship between the PWORA and many other movements through the federal grant system -- OR, how policies that I call "designer families" are STILL resulting in women getting killed (if not going homeless), or children being switched to the household of a former batterer -- or a current child molester -- at public expense -- then visit familycourtmatters.wordpress.com where I blog.
If you'd rather look on public agenda sites and continue making ignorant comments like this, I don't particularly care. After all, talk is cheap. Justice isn't. As the fact that you apparently pay taxes seems to burden your conscience, one choice you still have is to get informed as to where they're actually going, and maybe help someone else in the process. Or, you could sit on your ____ and ____ "empathyzing" behind some more.
Sorry to put it so blunt.
I didn't use to know how corrupt our government was til I called on it for help. On the other hand, all those years I was working for nonprofits (by the way, I'm a musician and was often either putting music back into schools that was otherwise often taken out, etc., or working for fantastic after-school groups that changed people's lives, and helped them understand each other's cultures through music), I wasn't sitting around bitter that someone else was on welfare, but doing something that might inspire them to not stay there, as happened often enough through some of these groups.
I live in a middle class area now (came here to work), and as soon as I can afford, I'm leaving it. It's sexist, racist, and its courts are known for failing to protect battered women. Its general assistance fund just got a class action lawsuit for intentionally delaying benefits to people who deserve them. They're cutting basic bus services while people continue to drive their BMWs and SUVs and such around. I can't / don't teach these people's kids any more because of the PTSD from the nonstop trauma, and because stalking is an issue, and I think it would be morally irresponsible to take on children when an ex is still on the loose and unstable, and unrestrained. As a mother, I haven't seen my kids for several years, and have committed no crime or broken no law. last night, I spent on the phone encouraging a discouraged HOMELESS woman (in the Midwest) who works FT, but has to live in the truck, because the courts took a 7 yr old son (after restraining order) and gave it to the man that used to beat her.
This morning, I attended a conference on a line of work that I might be able to do which wouldn't require me to be in one place I could be stalked. It's hard to engage in things with zero cash and no credit either, let alone survive, but I assure you I am not lazy. One reason I keep pushing forward is for my daughters, so they will have a role model of at least one mother who didn't give up, and didn't commit crimes to get her way, unlike her father (who still isn't seeking work, far as I know), and can take a stand on a thing or two worthwhile.
So, what have you done lately to make a difference?
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