Why doesn't our welfare system in the U.S. require people to work?
88821
What you're talking about is public works, which are not a bad idea really, but many (conservatives, mainly) see them as making the welfare problem worse.  The conservative's ideal solution would be to have the people on welfare working for private industry, not the government.  With public works you end up with additional staff, bureaucracy and taxation to pay for it than you do with just cutting a check, which means more bloated government, which is against the conservative doctrine of small government.  (Note this is the traditional definition of conservative.  Many Republicans (cough, Bush, cough) claim to be conservatives while at the same time massively increasing the size of the federal government and spending.)
199257
Our system works because everyone strives for a better life.  Our system falls down when people don't contribute to society.
339087
because people are in need. 1 person working the farms or people's landscaping for meager wages support whole families in these countries, many times work several jobs and dont have attendance problems or have problems w/working overtime. \nthis country was built on immigrants. so all these italian , irish, german, european descent american citizens, remember where your great grand parents came from.
884655
Kinda hard to answer...welfare in Canada?  US?  UK?  Germany?\nItaly?.....????\n\nOk...in the US many states have enacted a 2 year maximum benefits policy and after that the person has to work on some sort of community improvement program...I agree with this as long as affordable child care is available.  Also, some states have welfare rules set very low...if you work at mcdonalds, you don't qualify, even if the cost of living is so high in the area that you have to live in a tent at a KOA or national park (ie. Georgia or the Sun Valley area of Idaho)...this is getting too extreme.  The question is...is it worth it to society to pay a little to single parents working at underpaid jobs and have kids taken properly cared of, or let them go as they will and have latchkey kids running wild and ending up in prison later.  I think that the welfare system in MOST of the US is too stringent and more money should be allocated for it...if we can afford a trillion dollars for Iraq, we can afford a hundred million more for struggling and working single parents.
829776
Either a failure or lazy.  Not much of a difference though.  Some people don't want to get educated, don't want to work over time, don't want to do anything to earn it.  When the Democrats make welfare so easy to come by, why should anyone work?  Theres no incentive
391909
The reason for poverty in America is the politics's of greed, or Repuglicans in general. I have mine and I want to make more therefore I do not want to pay taxes and to hell with anybody else. Being poor is no more a choice then homosexuality. It is thrust on 10% of the population by another 10% of the population the very rich. I wonder why of for what reason that a person needs every cent of their billion dollars and there are many billionaires here. There is also a thing with corporate greed. Move the good paying jobs with health benefits overseas to a place where people work for pennies. But do you see the price come down on anything because of it. The answer is a big NO. Socialized medicine is long overdue here it is needed by all, not just an elite few. Every one in the United States should have a birthright to three things food, shelter and health care.
342651
NO. I think that would be impossible. We cannot flourish if people are not working. Outsourcing causes Americans to loose jobs. Think of the problem on an individual level, if as an individual you cannot take care of yourself and have to depend on others what would happen? Just like individuals our country needs to be self sufficient.
651308
You assume that welfare recipients are lazy and do not work. There are lots of welfare recipients working jobs but not making enough to even afford child care. Plus under welfare reform the recipients are already forced to work or go to school. \n\nAround here there's nothing but minimum wage jobs. The employers will only work an employee about 20 hours a week and one employer won't work around another employer's work schedules. 20 hours a week times $5.15/hour is about $100.00 a week and then they take out taxes and social security. The employee is making less than $400 a month and receiving welfare. Many of the women I know on welfare had been abandoned by the child's deadbeat father who refuses to help out with the children. Then the court orders the women to remain in the area in case the deadbeat ever wants to exercise his visitation rights for the child(ren) he won't even support. So the women face criminal sanctions if they move somewhere to try and get jobs that pay better money. After going through college to try and get a better job, the minimum wage employers around here won't hire them because they are "overqualified" and there aren't the better jobs around here. Since they aren't allowed to leave to get the better jobs, they're stuck. They have educated themselves out of the job market. The easy fix to this problem would be to lift the sanctions against their moving out of the area so that they can get decent jobs, but the courts want to control their lives to preserve the 'rights' of these deadbeats who don't want to take care of the kids in the first place. \n\nYes, these illegal aliens need to be deported. There are enough Americans trying to get jobs already without depressing the wages even further. \n\nThe illegals make up about 5 % of the work force. The unemployment rate is about 4.5%. Keep in mind that the unemployment rate does NOT represent everyone who is unemployed. It only counts those who are collecting unemployment. Everyone else's plight is ignored. The unemployment rate if everyone was counted would be tremendous. We do NOT have a shortage of labor, we have a large surplus. The more illegals that come in and take our jobs at minimum wage or less (often less) puts more and more Americans out of a job. Most of these Americans are never counted in the unemployment rate if they do not manage to get unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits are hard to receive.\n\nIllegals draw welfare by stealing people's social security numbers and identities. That means there are a lot of people being directly hurt by these people as well. Innocent people are having their credit ratings ruined, having IRS problems, and social security problems. If someone who has had their social security number stolen gets married, if either spouse dies or become disabled then they can be denied their benefits. \n\nMy family moved to the US before WWII. Those of my family that didn't make it over got killed by the death camps. Our family assimilated to the American culture. We didn't expect the Americans to change to suit us. The illegal immigrants from Mexico are not civilized like that.\n\nThey not only changed the National Anthem to Spanish, they changed the words. They already burn our flag and hang our flag upside down. They waved the Mexican flag during a lot of their protests. Some schools have stopped hanging the American flag and forbidden students from wearing clothes with any part of the American flag on their clothing all to keep from offending the Mexicans. It's nothing short of an attack of our country, not only by the illegal aliens, but those who seek to appease them. \n\nI am tired of the stereotype that Americans wouldn't do the work that illegals do. Illegals do all kinds of jobs for less than minimum wage which drives the wages down for U.S. citizens. Construction jobs are an example. There are lots of illegals doing constructi
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.
545556
Can't be done.  Human nature is greedy and acquisitive on one hand, and lazy on the other.  I've worked with homeless folks in a couple of large cities, and in the US at least, many of the homeless I've encountered are unemployed by choice -- they don't want to live 'the straight life.'  They don't want to follow directions from a boss; they don't want to get up early in the morning and work all day; temporary help is available to get them back on their feet but they simply choose not to do what it takes.  Some of them admit to making several attempts: getting a place to stay, getting a job, getting decent clothes to wear to work, and then after a few weeks dropping out because they didn't like the lifestyle.\nMany others are unemployable because of mental illness, retardation, or other reasons, and that's a different issue.  But the lazy and character-deficient will create a permanent underclass even if we find a way to take care of the rest.
467998
Most of the world lives on less than 2 dollars a day. So a immigrant from Mexico can send money back and give an ok life to his or her family.  The minimum wage for US citizens is not a livable wage.  Thus, that's why people are not going to do these jobs.  You can't own a house, have a car, and have a wife and kids on minimum wage, that's why.  Secondly, undocumented people don't get many social services.  What's taking money away from our schools and other things is this war which cost 400 billion dollars.  If undocumented people would be taking this from our economy, that would be about $33,000 each person (12 million undocumented people).  Let me just tell you, you wouldn't see them standing by the Home Depot looking for any type of work then.
428580
No, but until hard working Americans start standing up for themselves and demand that politicians cut the hammock/saftey net, then nothing will ever change. \n\nSeveral years ago, Americans were ashamed to go on welfare. Why? Because it should that they couldn't take care of themselves and therefore needed handouts. Back then, Americans prided themselves on their independence. It was that independent nature that built this country and made it great. \n\nWelfare is simply socialism at its worse. Humanity loves the idea of socialism, but has yet to find a way to make it work (or others while under it). \n\nOf coures I agree that those incapable of working should be cared for, but those are very rare cases and should be only conducted with great scrutiny. Everyone else, get a job. You don't work you don't eat. If you consider that statement harsh, complain to the Bible(or more specifically, Paul the apostle i believe). \n\nThe last motivation for a lazy man is hunger. For many this is the only motivator to work. When you take that away, they will do nothing, except complain about not being given more. \n\nAnd while I understand that the government isn't fair, the government should strive to be. Liberty and justice are our founding principles for governing each other. How far have we moved from these principles? How would our founding fathers look upon us? Would they marvel at how a lazy person can live for years off of the wealth of others or would they be ashamed at our inablity to defend justice. \n\nAnd what's worse, welfare only hurts the people who it is trying to benefit. They become grafted with even more dependence on the government and upon the taxpayers at large. Over time, this dependence atrophies the individuals will power. \n\nThe only solution for our government is to slowly exit the welfare game. To set a cut date five years from now and to lower the expenses on welfare until they are none existent. \n\nWith expenses being lowered, the new found money should be invested in two ways. \n\n1. Cut taxes. Don't play favorites. Do it across the board and don't play the class card. To do so would not be fair and class warfare does not lead to justice.\n\n    -if taxes are cut across the board, the economies engine would rev like it always does. With more spending, more jobs would be created, allowing those who truly want to work to find jobs easily. \n\n2. Invest more money into the military and recruiting programs.\n\nRight now the military is one of the best opportunities for people coming from poor families. They recieve great pay, the best benefits, and an opportunity to recieve a college education. But most importantly, they recieve all of those great things, by EARNING them. They recieve the dignity of earning their keep and the pride that comes from serving ones country. \n\nI could write on this topic for hours, but I won't. Instead let me say this. Socialism fails the majority of the time. It suspends the reality of competition and the necessity for hard work. When done on a massive scale you have Communism. America dabbles with socialism, but only at the cost of real, hard working Americans. If we increase our welfare programs the end result will lead us into the same perdicatment that Germany and France are in right now. Many young people are opting to go on welfare simple because it pays better then many jobs, in Germany. This is like trying to climb a mountain with a leech the size of a backpack on your back. It drains your needed energy and prevents you from climbing to new heights. We need to cut it off and demand that every capable American carry their own weight. Only then can we truly achieve the success that our fore-fathers envisioned. \n\n\n\nGodspeed,\n\n     Lightbringer
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.
1149775
because they need to make up for the lazy azzes that are on welfare here that dont wanna work!!
226816
The social welfare system provides health and education to everyone, producing a healthy and talented workforce.  One of the key factors to a good economy is making use of all the population's talent and giving everyone a chance to realize their potential so they can contribute.  It's very hard for a person to contribute to society when they are sick, in poverty or uneducated.
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.
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.