let me ask this question again welfare vs working?

My sister won;t even talk to me because I told her off for depending on welfare and teaching her daughters how to work the system. One of them recently even canceled wedding plans with the father of her 3 kids , And I have no doubt that some welfare program is the reason.

Get an education and get a job. No problem.

The solution is counterintuitive. The leeches to this system are a huge problem but not the only one. If you get a job then you lose your welfare benefits and people with kids are afraid of that instability. They need to develop a weening system so these people can have some security starting a new job getting minimal benefits for a short time. The system doesn't make it worth their while to try to get off welfare. It is easier and less stressful to just keep collecting.

If they do not get help, the cycle will NEVER be broken. You are looking at a very complex socioeconomic as well as racial issue here. Any attempt to bring it down to a simplistic solution, or cause is futile. There are always going to be people on the social welfare rolls regardless what you or I would like to see, and as the population grows that number will increase. That is a fact and there is no way of escaping it. The idea of reversing Roe/Wade will do nothing but make the situation worse. The world is full of things and people that are not perfect. A well rounded education with a strong background in sociology will teach you this.

I am very shocked at some of the answers concerning the welfare system and I will say that the system is not geared to assist those who are trying to help themselves. When u r wrking, going 2 school and trying to be a good mother it seems the system punishes you for it. But then if u don't want 2 wrk , take care of the kids, and u just want to sell drugs or be a bum the system works great for u. I know a woman who gets over 1,000 dollars in ss benefits, 700 in food assistance and 600 in cash *** plus her section 8 (free) housing and all the money she making of course from selling crack cocaine. Her *** will never stop because of the ss *** she gets from her so-called "mental condition". It's a sin and a shame!

Actually, the welfare reform of the 1990s changed the welfare system significantly.

Qualified welfare recipients are now only able to receive aid for sixty months (5 years - not necessarily cumulative) in a lifetime. It also requires that those on welfare work, or actively look for work, in order to qualify. Teen parents who want to receive welfare must live at home or with adult supervision, and food vouchers (stamps) are only made available to "able-bodied" unemployed adults for 3 months every 36 months. The welfare reform legislation also prohibits legal immigrants from receiving food vouchers (stamps) and Social Security.

Pregnancy is not a disability and plenty of pg women have to work. Let's stop making it an excuse for getting on welfare since it is not a disability. This ends "welfare babies" -- kids produced solely for the purpose of getting citizenship, welfare, food stamps and other benes. This also ends teens intentionally getting pg thinking they can leave home and live off the taxpayer. And for those 'accidentally' pg -- well, that's no bar to working.

We need to limit welfare to short-term emergency situations -- death of the breadwinner in the family, or temporary disability due to illness/injuries, for example. These are the people who cannot do the jobs they have worked at all their lives, but they cannot collect Social Security disability benes since it is not a permanent situation. A homemaker may be suddenly widowed and needs time to find a job, childcare, etc., or may be "too young for Social Security, too old to be hired."

Since about 90% of welfare recipients get on due to pregnancy, eliminate this excuse. Eliminate any payment to non-citizens, even for a baby claimed to be US-born. Eliminate payments to anyone under 21 and require their parents support them. Eliminate able-bodied, except for emergencies.

There is always going to be a small percentage of people who feel it is their right to bilk the welfare system any way they can. There will also always be a percentage of people, for what ever reason, that are reliant on the system and are deemed unemployable. Of course it is better to work, and earn a living to support yourself and your family, but sometimes that isn't a doable option without other support systems to go along with it--like affordable housing and daycare. It is easy to look at a system and say if they did this or that--but not everything is as black and white as people would like to think it is.

No its not okay for generations to be living on welfare, I don't think anyone approves of that. However, if generation after generation "accidentally" become teen parents, then the problem needs to be figured out. Either they are abusing the system, they don't have the proper education of proper contraceptive use, birth control isn't working for them and they need better, or they can't afford birth control. Figure out the problem and then you can end this cycle.

The welfare system should subsidize rather than support. If people are working but can't afford to pay their full rent and buy food they should get some help. It would be a reward for working instead of sitting at home. People receiving minimum wage can't afford rent, food, childcare, etc. Give them some help and keep them working. At least then they are paying into taxes.

It's NOT okay. This is NOT how this system was/is suppose to work. Our Politicians have MADE IT WORK THIS WAY.

I agree that some people who are down and out really need a "leg up". We pay out this Welfare, but are NOT OFFERING A LEG UP. Until this Government, or we people change this welfare system, nothing will change, people will always stand there with their hands out (not all ppl mind you, just those who think they are "entitled")