Welfare State 'Bigger Than Ever'?

[Annie]

When I saw the Yahoo! headline, I thought, 'that can't be...', read it and realized that they are now criticizing the 'safety net' that was always part of the plan.

I'd rather help through taxes someone get healthcare for themselves and their kids, if their benefits do not cover enough, than do that plus everything else for someone to stay home. At least the children are seeing adults going to work and hopefully getting a message that education is the best way to a good paying job.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_us/welfare_state

Welfare state growing despite overhauls

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 55 minutes ago

The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid.

The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.

Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.

"If the goal of welfare reform was to get people off the welfare rolls, bravo," said Vivyan Adair, a former welfare recipient who is now an assistant professor of women's studies at Hamilton College in upstate New York. "If the goal was to reduce poverty and give people economic and job stability, it was not a success."

Proponents of the changes in welfare say programs that once discouraged work now offer support to people in low-paying jobs. They point to expanded eligibility rules for food stamps and Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, that enable people to keep getting benefits even after they start working.

"I don't have any problems with those programs growing, and indeed, they were intended to grow," said Ron Haskins, a former adviser to President Bush on welfare policy.

"We've taken the step of getting way more people into the labor force and they have taken a huge step toward self-sufficiency. What is the other choice?" he asked.
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[Avatar4321]

The government can't reduce poverty. All they can do is motivate people to work hard. Because hard work is the only thing that can reduce poverty. It's through work that we develop wealth. Every material thing we have is through work. Someone had to work to produce it. Someone has to work to buy it.

Even hard work for low pay is superior to pay with no work at all. The fact is someone has to work harder for others to do nothing. And they shouldn't have to. Almost everyone has the ability to do something for themself.

If you really want to end poverty, we need to end this experimentation with alternate lifestyles and get back to what works. Children to men and women joined in the Holy bonds of matrimony. We will see far more poverty in this world if men and women refuse to take responsibility for their lives and the children they create.