So lets have a real discussion: What if we seriously slashed handouts?

[Votto]

It could work in theory... but there are some serious problems. I know I'll probably get shit for talking about "the childreeeeeen!" But there are people born into situations where their parents are drug addicts, or gang members, or who knows what and they only have the slimmest of chances of escaping the cycle. Cutting these "handouts" means that it's taking their slim chance and making it even slimmer.

I think the only answer will be to get creative, but I have no idea how and I don't think anyone else does either.

Free cell phones for everyone?

 

[Votto]

An interesting note to this discussion, I checked the unemployment rates since we started the war on poverty in 1965. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars nothing has really changed. The unemployment rate for blacks have remained roughly twice that of whites, while hispanic UE rates are actually higher.

Link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ERP-2012/pdf/ERP-2012-table42.pdf

Yes, but we feel better about ourselves with these programs cause it shows we care.