I don't think anyone is suggesting that our country wouldn't function without welfare, but in a civilized society it's important to not let people just die off. I know in the Midwest during the winter there are govt programs that bus homeless people south because they'd die off living in the streets of Nebraska and shit. Would society be fine of that happened? Of course, but these are people, regardless of their mistakes or circumstances.
I like uh-oh's idea about requiring some form of community service in order to receive welfare. Pretty much every school everywhere in the country could use some volunteer help. Streets have shit on them. Etc. but do something. I have students who carry their parents' EBT card on them and have vocally told me "I'm gonna drop out of school and live off welfare cuz I get 800 bucks a month to do nothing." This is not a single incidence, this is 3 students in the last 2 year, in an affluent neighborhood no less. Better believe there are countless kids across the country thinking the exact same thing. That's my beef with welfare, it breeds the mindset of "I don't really need to do anything, I'm fine being on welfare perpetually."
At the very least, the welfare amount should be gradually reduced, have some kind of incentive to get people to start to live self-sustainably. I agree with gow/serpent though because the cost of administering drug tests would be counter productive, but something needs to be done.
End of the day, I'm with uh oh on this. The amount of money I get taxed is devastating, and I have a legitimate career plus (until recently) two part time jobs. So I'm not cool with paying to support other people's bullshit, where's someone to support mine? Give me a federal bailout and we'll call it even, but I'm being punished for doing shit the right way, and that's fucked up n
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