Welfare needs to be reformed. People who make poor choices shouldn't be allowed to escape the reality of those choices and the fact is that the majority of poor people in America are poor by choice.

Choice to drop out of school

Choice to have kids at a young age

Choice to have kids without an education or sustainable job

Choice to have kids outside of marriage

Choice to spend money that you don't have on things that you don't need...as the woman in the picture aptly demonstrates.


Welfare should consist of low interest loans. Then maybe, people will have an incentive not to GET on welfare or REMAIN on welfare.

I also think publicly funded, privately run, boarding schools would be a good addition to the welfare program. The only thing worse than giving money to irreponsible people is giving money to irreponsible parent(s) to raise irresponsible/criminal adults who will then drain more money from the public.

Bill Cosby For President.

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Stupid Harry Boy

My wife and myself once hit rock bottom with four children........we were homeless and had no money......A freind (angel) took us in for a short period.We had to go to welfare,as well as the salvation army for christmas gifts and food for our children.........Once back on our feet we got off the gov. programs.....Thank god for them,I was at my ropes end and didnt think we were gonna make it.The funny thing is ,now I own my own company......my wife is an oustanding real estate agent,and we had more money when we were on the welfare rolls.Its sad to say but some people do take advantage of the system..Whats the answer?In the state of Maine the help is for surely needed,but there also needs to be some better checks and balances to be sure that welfare doesnt become a way of life,like it does for many people I know who work under the table and stay on welfare at the same time.......Just my story I wanted to share.......the system does save lives and families......but there is much waste...

I think personal stories like yours resonate more than any of the talking heads (which includes me) here. You deserve a lot of credit for posting what you did, and congratulations on your success in getting out of what could have become a dangerous rut. I agree waste and fraud have to to be stopped, but I also feel that very few people are totally removed from the possibility of destitution, and a safety net to help them get back on our feet is something that any civilized society should provide. I don't like today how we sometimes seem to punish honest people who had bad luck or made bad decisions in course of going after the dishonest ones.

The system isnt perfect......but it is neccesary.....People in the right frame of mind are never proud about asking for help.It can happen to the best and smartest of us.But my wife and myself felt like hiding our faces for the shame we felt..Without the help we know for a fact we wouldnt have made it,and as a result we give as much and as often to charities as we can afford.

You got that right. "Poor" today doesn't apply to America. Sorry. You tell people in Africa or South America or parts of Asia that there are "poor" people in America, they just smile or look numb. They think it's a joke. "Poor" is always relative. When millionaires cry "poor" because they can't keep the payments on the Mercedes or BMW, the word has lost its meaning. Black people in America think they are "poor" because they have not yet risen to the level of economic freedom that white people have; so they still feel left out. The only solution, of course, is inter-marriage. Then *all* people will finally be "equal" where it counts.



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"All that is required for evil to triumph is for good to do nothing."

Your wrong...all it takes in America to be poor is have a health tragedy without medical coverage...Lose your home and your job and you have nothing over a person in Africa......

Yeah, Fog, dead wrong. I know people very close to me who have slept in a car with a 1-year old, and this despite trying like hell to get more hours so it wasn't necessary. This is pure truth. She went on welfare, and she hated every minute of it. Lots of people do, and in her case, welfare did not pay better than a job pretty darn soon (so hang in there, whoever is making less out there in the economy, than on welfare.)

Fog, I don't know the last time you lived here (and I am not trying to be a smart-***** here,) but despite the wealth of Americans who travel, and despite the great wealth of our nation, there is also tremendous income inequality here.

It's a wealthy enough nation that our poorest poor don't starve to death. When they die of disease or exposure, it's not in a typhoid epidemics. It's one separate case at a time. But it happens to some... just fewer than elsewhere. You tend to believe (or make yourself believe) it's not there, though it is.

Go to the linked page this woman's home is based on, and look at the other pics. These are not luxury hotel places. Nice TV, sure. Nice couch. Does it say anywhere she bought them outright?

Probably rent-to-own furniture (she'd be better off to buy them, by the way.)

Anyway, yeah, a bad attitude. Is she the norm? What are the numbers? Where are the attitudinal surveys?

It would be interesting when we base so many beliefs on our personal anecdotal info on "the poor", to see what they think. For example - is this woman replicated across the population, or is she a minority?

PFnV

Great story. I agree there should be a "safety net" as just about any one of us could have that happen.

You cant encourage people to plan ahead enough. My wife and I try to always have at least 6 months' pay put away in our money market account as a fall back in case of emergency. Its also never too soon to plan for retirement as well. At my job, I'm fortunate enough to have a great health care plan (full family coverage without paying a dime). I also have a pension (not a tremendous one but one nonetheless) I contribute monthly to my own personal 401k and I contribute weekly to my company's employee stock purchase program. I'm not counting on receiving one red cent from social security seeing as how I'm not going to retire for at least another 25 years minimum.

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It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and you've got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile, is the man who can smile, when his shorts are too tight in the seat.

Ever notice what an apologist Patters is..? Yeah... I'm suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure this woman has a job and doesn't accept a single dime of welfare or charity...