Eliminate Poverty: Possible or Pipe Dream?

[High_Gravity]

Well no system is perfect, there will be people who abuse whatever they can and it is hard to say "alot" of people abuse the welfare system when in reality we really don't know for sure, I think if we eliminated welfare and other assistance we would have people living in shanty towns and sleeping in cemeteries like in Brazil and Egypt, where those countries don't offer any assistance.

Agree on all points.

"Alot" is a great term. It's as vague as you can get.

Alot = /= more than 1/2?
alot = /= more than you think should be?
alot = /= most?

When people work the system, and you see it, those people stick out in your mind. Not the 9 others that are couting pennies to make sure they have enough for the bus.

You are correct and I venture to say most people who say "alot" of people on welfare abuse it they tend to not think highly of people on welfare regardless.

 

[FuelRod]

Depends on perspective. Looking on a worldwide level, poverty in the US does not exist. Bringing third world nations a better standard of living is possible. Bringing third world nations to the lowest standards of living in the US, may not be possible.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Agree to disagree on this point. IMO the exact opposite is true.

Personal first hand knowledge says otherwise.

When people think of welfare, they think of people living in big cities in shitty parts of town.
In many cases that's true.

In most it is not.

My ex is on welfare. She has a newer car, 3 bed room home with a front and back yard. She pays about $300/month rent. If she left housing, her rent would jump to 700 - 1200/ month. Plus she would have to pay all the bills and mow any lawn she may have. That's at least an extra $1000 she would have to come up with.

When we split, I chose the hard way out. 7 years later she's living better than me and my new family are.

The up side? Every single last thing we have is OURS.

Like I said, anecdotes abound on the subject, but hard statistical evidence is in short supply. When you find some, I'd like to see it.

This might help

Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Highlights
In Pennsylvania, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $757. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $2,525 monthly or $30,300 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $14.57.
In Pennsylvania, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $5.15. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 113 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, a household must include 2.8 minimum wage earner(s) working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two bedroom FMR affordable.
In Pennsylvania, the estimated mean (average) wage for a renter is $11.57 an hour. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment at this wage, a renter must work 50 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, working 40 hours per week year-round, a household must include 1.3 worker(s) earning the mean renter wage in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.
Monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for an individual are $603 in Pennsylvania. If SSI represents an individual's sole source of income, $181 in monthly rent is affordable, while the FMR for a one-bedroom is $630.

The most housing will charge for rent is 30% of your income. but it does have an upper limit.

 

[Two Thumbs]

In fact, welfare fraud among Philadelphia's 95,456 recipients is "minute," according to Peter Berson, assistant chief of the government fraud unit in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

The 200 to 400 cases of welfare fraud in the city each year - down 50 percent since 2002 because of better enforcement and fewer recipients - are not nonworking women having babies to game the government, but working women receiving welfare and working at other jobs without reporting the income, Berson said.

*In Hard Times, Americans Blame The Poor** : Information Clearing House -* ICH

That was one of my neighbors. She got SSI, for something. And when her oldest turned 12 she started an illegal daycare. She made so much that she paid her daughter a $200/wk allowance.

 

[Flagwavrusa]

I think the American economy is capable of generating enough wealth to potentially keep every able bodied person above poverty. Problem is that it is to the advantage of the political class to maintain a surplus labor supply to supress wages and keep their costs down. When you do this there will always be unemployed poor people. To eliminate poverty I would:

1) Deport all illegals and seal the borders
2) Eliminate all forms of current welfare except for people who genuinely can't work
3) Create a government work program for persons temporarity in need of public assistance. If you take public money you work for it, nothing is free.

Wages would rise dramatically on the bottom end and profits would decrease at the top. Poverty would be eliminated except for those who chose not to work.