Why do people always assume that people on welfare don't work?
916510
I work in welfare. 1/4 of the people honestly are in need, maybe they lost their job or they are a housewife whose husband left them with 4 kids and no job skills- they just need temporary help to get back on their feet. OR maybe they are working a minimum wage job and just cannot make ends meet- but those are few and far between<-- please believe. Another 2/4 are either elderly or disabled and cannot work. The last 1/4 ARE lazy bums that strive to have 10 kids just to increase their food stamp amount. (The lucky ones end up with over $2,000/month in child support so they don't have to work- chose your "lays" wisely, ladies). Then there are the single men who have 4 kids and won't work cause they don't want to pay child support (but who can blame them when child support takes more than half their checks when they do work). There are all kinds- not all fit neatly into a stereotype.
1043758
To all those right-wingers who suggest that welfare does things to people and that they don't bother to get out of poverty, I would like to inform you that yes, it does happen, but please don't generalize and suggest that a great majority of them do so.  I have a college degree and my family had to use welfare for a short time, because I was unable to find a job.  It helped us get by and be able to put some food on the table.  However, I was in a better position, in the fact that I actually do have a degree.  Many people on welfare don't and can't get anything more than a $8 an hour job.  If you think you can support 2 children on $8 an hour, I suggest you go try it.  I've known several people that have to work 2-3 jobs just in order to pay their bills.  It doesn't mean they're not "trying" to get out of poverty.  It's that they can't.  It's a vicious cycle.  To suggest that they're not "trying" to get out of poverty is extremely selfish and insensitive.  Sure, there are people that take advantage of the system, and the government should do a better job of punishing those that do.  But, don't blast the entire system just because of a few bad apples.  Throw out the bad apples.
53834
Welfare is essentially a negative tax, which goes right in hand with the ability-to-pay tax principle. They so lack an ability to pay that they are instead paid by the Social Security Insurance tax that everyone who can pay does.
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!
1079829
agree with you. It's something I think about quite a lot. Where I come from to work is kind of a privledge and a pain in the ass at the same time, but taxes do take a sizeable chunk out of anyone's income. People on a benefit admittedly do not receive a large income, but it's a pain in the ass when they say that they should be on one because "boo hoo" they are a single parent or whatever. And when the people who are working and basically, apart from all the rest of it, paying for them through their taxes, quite possibly have things which they could choose to say "boo hoo" about also. Anyway - that is just regarding your basic everyday run of the mill single parent family, which honestly probably does need quite a lot of help. If someone is together with someone else and passing themselves off as single so they can claim more benefits, then that is shitty yes. If they have plenty of money coming from someone else I don't think they should be chasing welfare stamps as a lifestyle option.
683622
Do you want to wash dishes and mop floors for $7 a hour?  They come here and do the jobs that the lazy Americans do not want to do.  They do the jobs that the useless people sitting at home on welfare and say they can't get jobs should be doing.  If all the useless welfare recipients of this country went out and got jobs then there would not be any jobs here for immigrants and they would not come here.  So don't get mad at them for taking the opportunity to do what the lazy Americans do not want to do.
1116648
You've got some really great answers on here. I'm an especially big fan of "it's there own fault they are poor." Spelling on that would be "their" by the way. I just love these generalized comments. They don't take into consideration people who lost jobs, people who were abandoned at birth and never received a proper education but were continuously passed through our foster care system or elderly folks who never had a chance to save because their money went to their families and now they can't survive on a Social Security check. Nice empathy there.
377106
WOW... Haven't I asked this question a million times myself?\nMy observations lead me to think that lazy people love the "illusion" of being a good worker but really if they could just breathe and get a check they would.
991006
These are obviously people who either have money or has someone giving them money.   What kills me is the fact that someone who has paid taxes and worked hard and ends up on hard times, has a harder time getting welfare than someone who has never worked.  Go figure.
667541
It is important for people who come into some financial difficulties. Like me I had a son and I could pay my rent, I didn't have money for food. So I went to public assistance. The gave me money $109 a month. Paid for my childcare while I went out and looked for a job. Put me in a program so that I could find a job. Paid a portion of my rent,gave me food stamps. And gave me six months of carfare when I started working. I was on public assistance for one month. And it helped me out alot. I also worked before so I had a right to apply for public assistance and the taxes that they take out of our checks help keeping welfare going. But to our dismay there are alot of peope who scam and make welfare seem like a bad thing and its not. Its there to help you get on your feet. but yet there are alot of people who use welfare as way to live.And its not right. And that makes me mad because there are people out there that really need help and get denied the help that they need.
322512
It is not fair.  There are alot of people who are able to work, but chooses not to, because it will cut into their free stuff.  They live better than we do.  My boyfriend HAD this friend, who came over to our house(I totally despised him)and wanted us to go to the store with him and us his link card to get groceries and give him cash, because he had no money to buy beer or cigarettes.  I went off on him and told him "You make me sick". Here we go off to work everyday and he could too, but he would rather drive around and get drunk everyday and we are paying him to do that.  I can not stand people like that.\n\nI would like to add:  I do not have a problem with some people who are on food stamps that are really trying to make ends meet.  I understand there are dead beat dads or moms that don't want to help with the expenses.  There are people that do need the help.  I just don't think its right when people are not even making an effort and have no plans to do so.
41838
Many of the people that are homeless choose not to work and just give up on life.  Maybe because of drugs or alcohol.  I know this first hand because my brother in law is homeless.  He comes and stays with family for a while and then CHOOSES to go back out on the streets. I just dont get it.  He doesnt want to work because he owes alot in child support and says they will take more than half of his money.  He said there are many homeless like him. They are choosing to be that way.  He gets free food from food kitchens and begging.  He stays at shelters when its cold.  He gets free medical because our medical system will not refuse service to anyone. I think sometimes we are enabling him. Im not saying all are but many. I do realize there are many that are homeless that may not have any control over their cicurmstances.
547514
they probly werent raised a hard worker. besides, with it being so easy to get the government to give them all this stuff, theres no reason for them to find a job. i say well-fare needs a strict reformation. disabled people need the help, but someone that cant find a job? why should my parents have to pay them because they're to lazy to get a job? its all politics. the politician that helps bring more equality to the nation(hmm, that sounds alot lke communism) usually gets elected.
894404
I think that there are people out there who take great advantage of the system. they go job hunting once a week so they can make the counties happy and that prevents familys who really need a little help from getting it. even working families who are in a little bit of trouble and cant get emergency assistance because of the peopl who are milking it. I think working people should get help too if they need it but only for like a month. after all they work hard and do pay taxes to suport these programs. now people that cant work....thats a different story.
406120
some people who live in poverty choose not to do anything about it...like get a job or an education. and some is just laziness
188946
bc some people are born into a family of wealth or a family who doesnt care if they work and support their lazy butts and other people work all their lives bc they dont have a choice they need money or they enjoying working
693932
Social Services is a better word for welfare. Just state that it is a free income for those that can not find work and are not drawing unemployment. It is sponsored by the goverment. But, the working man pays for it. Some time it runs in families,like a virus. Social services give more to people than the working man can. there are many working men out there that don't have money in their pockets, can't send their children to the dentist. or get eye glasses as they need them. Welfare clients can get just about anything they want whether needed or not. These people should be made to get  out and rake leaves,shovel side walks,mow lawns, for senior citizens and disabled people. To earn aleast some of their income. If I dare say, most of them are lazy. I used to deliver mail, the box was not shoveled out, The check was in the mail for them and I thought to be nice I would try to pull up and deposit the check. Well, I got stuck in over a foot of snow, While I was trying to get out, there were 4 adults watching out the window . Ugggggggggggh