Welfare, what does it accomplish?
813590
I know a couple of people who are on welfare or who have been on welfare and only 1 in 10 takes advantage. Why then punish the 9? Who are hard working single mothers? Mothers who need welfare to supplement their income. Mothers who work 10 + hours a day? I'm assuming that you've never had to ask for help because you wouldn't be on the sidelines tiffing about it. How cruel some people can be to another they don't even know. My granny depends on welfare to help her buy groceries. How dare you put your uppity nose down at people who aren't as privileged as you! Lastly welfare feeds children. So what if that one is lazy and doesn't want to work, should their children go hungry and homeless? What would you have the state do? Put those children in foster care? That system is already full and they can't keep enough homes available. I'm sickened by the lack of humanity that these answers have. THE NEED FOR WELFARE IS GOING UP BECAUSE THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR IS GETTING BIGGER!
1010054
People I've met that stay on welfare end up in a better financial situation then working full-time for minimum wage. Plus if you have children who need daycare, you end up working to pay the babysitter. It's a shame b/c continuing their education would get them a better job but either they don't think of it that way or they're lazy and don't want to try. This country definitely needs welfare reform AND disability reform. I've seen too many people take advantage of the system!
970831
Welfare and education reform.
857519
Promote the gernal welfare simply means to be pro-active about making things better for the country and the citizens.  Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity means to not put the nation in the position of being destroyed or taken over before our children's children's children are there to live in this country.  Posterity is all the future generations.\n\nDoesn't sound like much is being done about either in this country right now.  Does it?
492042
My family and I get food asistance and my kids get medicaid.  OUr family would starve to death with out it.  I am unemployed and my wife is on maturnity leave right now if it were not for the food stamps we would have no food.  I do think that the welfare system needs some major over hauling.  i think there are far too many people out there that rely on it as income and do not want to get on their owm.  that is wrong.  Welfare should be a temporary fix the help get you through when i find a job again i plan on discontinuing the benifits we are receiving.\n\nC.H.
225637
So far the government has been a failure in response to poverty. Social programs don't work as they allow for to many people to cheat. How ever the Clinton approach was closest to the best in my opinion, he helped to create an environment where everybody that wanted to work could get a job. His welfare to work program, raising taxes on the very rich and reinvesting it in the poor without giving it to them might be something that needs to be looked into closer. Education is an influence on poverty. Everybody needs to be something whether it is a taxi driver or a doctor everybody has potential for something.
969518
It's a tough problem.  Almost everyone wants to help someone who is genuinely down on his (or her) luck.  But if people know assistance is there, some will rely on it and not try hard enough to better themselves.  Even FDR said welfare has a "narcotic" effect.\n\nChanges in laws change behavior.  We "reward' poverty and so we may get more of it.\n\nI guess in an ideal world, everyone would ignore the possibility of government transfer payments, or somehow there'd be a mechanism where only those who "truly tried their best" get government support.\n\nSome states have stopped raising benefits when a "welfare mother" has another child.  But then again, it's not the kid's fault.
209871
I would get rid of the current tax system.  The government taxes differently according to income; so, not only do people on welfare get MY tax money, they also, don't have to pay the percentage of taxes that I do, if any at all.  I would also change the welfare system.  The current system is ridiculous; it encourages people to get pregnant and shoot out as many kids as they can, so they can get more money.  People on welfare should get NO MORE than what they would make at a minimum wage job, because, hey, they're not working for it.  Also, they should only be eligible for a certain about of time, say, 1 year, to give them time to get back on their feet.  Then say, they shouldn't be eligible for another 3-5 years after that.  Some people get a four year degree from a college and make less that what people are getting off welfare.  Does that not bother anyone else???\n\nNo! I would not end the war.  I think it's necessary for the safety of democracy.
683012
The US government is able to move resources around where they are needed, if and when it wants too.  It has an efficient infrastructure to do so--and the ability to monitor and provide oversight that the resource are managed & delivered.  It could effectively reduce poverty in this country (something that Vice President Humphrey said back in the late 1960's!).
1108717
There are very few people on welfare who actually need it to survive. \n\nI was a police officer in Indiana for 15 years, and worked in a poor part of town. I've known several 2nd & 3rd generation welfare families. One scam that they do is a mother may have several children. She will let her mother (the grandmother) adopt some of the children. That way the birth mother, and now grandma, both get welfare. They all live together and it increases the amount of money they get.\n\nAnother local scam is a place called George Junior Republic. I'm not exactly sure what they do, but I do know this. It is funded by taxpayers, and they pay children to be good. We had a woman who had 6 kids; all of whom were on probation. The mother was paid to keep her kids in line by this organization. She was also on welfare. We sat once and estimated that she made betwen $3000-$4000 a month between welfare and the "keep your kids good" money. More than I made working 40+ hours a week as a cop...\n\nI couldn't begin to tell you how many people I had to fight who were on "disability" while making an arrest. Too "injured" to work, but they can sure run and fight...\n\nWelfare needs to be terminated. It breeds laziness, incompetence, and the inability to provide for yourself.\n\nLook at how New Orleans descended into chaos...what would people do if the national government collapsed? Would people who have depended on government assistance their entire life be able to survive? I doubt it...
520368
it's true what you are saying about people taking advantage...but not everybody ...some people are really poor and need the help..laws just have to catch those that take advantage of welfare ..because not everybody should pay....the laws need to tighten up on those individuals...that are taking advantage...but give welfare to the poor especially with really sick parent that cannot work,and need food for their children.
189220
Welfare is a mute issue. The amount of money spent on that program is very small. Iraq will cost tax payers $2 trillion.\nCheney's quail hunting trip cost tax payers $300,000. Welfare is a issue Neocons use to divide Americans. While they outsource Americans jobs for $1.80 per hour in India. In Defense we spend $500 billion per year. The $600 billion we gave the drug makers would have paid for all Welfare for 150 years.Paul Bremmer lost $6 billion in Iraq and that would have paid for all welfare for 20 years. Your talking about Welfare dimes and Neocons are stealing billions.
909412
It seems to me that the welfare system is not set up for people to succeed.  I was on welfare to go to college.  If I had a test and would not be able to make an appointment, they would not reschedule me.  Instead, I would have to go down the offices on a morning that I can go and wait all day until they had a cancellation so that they could fit me in.  If there were no cancellations, I would have to do the same thing on another day until they could fit me in.  If I didn't get in within a certain amount of time, my benefits were suspended.  As a full-time college student, a full-time/part-time (depending on my school schedule) employee, and a single mom, I did not have that kind of time nor could I afford to not have their help.\n\nAlso, for every dollar that I made at my job, I would lose more than a dollar in benefits.  When I'm not makin much at my job, the loss of benefits really hurt.\n\nPlus, though I was in school, I was supposed to take occupational classes.  If not, I needed all my profs to sign a sheet saying I was in their class - that I was on welfare I did not want everyone to know.\n\nI ended up graduating and getting a great job and I'm definitely paying the system.  I think that if someone is working hard to get off welfare that the system should work with them and that if someone is just abusing the system that it should be harder for them.  Just my opinion.
902599
Welfare reform is one of those holy grails of social reformists, getting rid of it puts people hard-up against the reality of paying their own bills, paying their own way and so forth. If you feel strongly that welfare should be abolished/reduced, then write your representatives and say that...
1142837
Thanks for asking.  Here's the answer.  The government should never, ever, hand out money, or anything of value for that matter.  The fraud involved in that method is vast.  Make sure the people are getting what it was intended they get (eliminating, for example, the old food stamps for crack barter).  Concentrate hard on eliminating the waste and fraud inherent in the system.  Every dollar you save by eliminating fraud and waste could be used to get these people off welfare (at no additional cost to the taxpayers).  Education, job training, relocation.  Once you have a good system for getting people off welfare, then you can start to install restrictions to "encourage" the less motivated.  You could also clamp down on fraud and waste in other government departments and use that "free" money to get people off of welfare and out of poverty.  Done.  Next problem.
179813
Redistribution of wealth and provide services (food stamps, government assistance, school grants, building highways, schools, government buildings, veteran's benefits, military defense, police, courts and everything you can imagine that government takes care of).
928482
Welfare is meant to help people that are on hard times. I believe in a compassionate state where no one should be hungry, be without shelter, security, education. I do not believe in handouts to the lazy as it is a tremendous drag on society and is a major reason for high taxes. \n\nI therefore advocate a system where people that are unable to support themselves receive welfare in a different format.\n1-safe and secure housing (very basic)\n2-food vouchers (healthy food only)\n3-free access to education and job training that is of a very high caliber\n4-vouchers for consumer goods at thrift stores like goodwill and value village\n5-health care\n6-mass transportation\n\nThis spartan existence should not be preferable for people to live off so there is an incentive to get to work and improve their lives.\n\nNo one should get cheques to squander on cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, junk food and other wasteful things. Not everyone is able to care properly for their children so welfare should not be a pay raise for people. On this note, there should be excellent boarding houses (akin to those used by the wealthy) where children can be brought up in safe and healthy environments and afforded the best education. Transforming future lost generations into productive members of society.