What makes right-wingers think that welfare-recipients are lazy?

No, not all are, but the ones who have been on it all their adult life and have 3 generatuions of coaches in the family to pioint out what they are missing are.... BONE lazy. Many people are on it because of tough times, and that's fine, it's a safety net, not a hammock.

We live in an age of intense propaganda. And the propaganda is coming from the people who have the money to finance it. It's a particularly nasty strain of the wealthy, who have now become bored with business and actually want to take on the role of government themselves and rule the population as subjects. For the uneducated, they present you with talk radio and Fox News. For the more sophisticated, they have the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute. So make no mistake about it: This culture of absolute selfishness is not just an accident; they're actually pushing it on the people every chance they get.

Part of that propaganda is that wealth and merit go together in a neat little equation that is blessed by the Gods of the market. Any observation of reality will tell you that's complete hogwash, of course, but this cabal has a vested interest in having the population at large believe that.

This is where this whole "kick the poor" mentality arises.

HUD rules have alot to do with it. I and my friends live in the suburbs. HUD rules force builders to fill a certain number of houses in suburban neighborhoods with section 8ers. These are people of low means. Many on welfare. Thus we see how they make no effort to get jobs, hold parties all night, and generally goof off. It's right in front of our eyes.

Back before the 1996 welfare reform the classic double-statistic was that most people who go on welfare are off it relatively quickly (lefties loved to parrot this stat), HOWEVER most of the people on welfare at any given time had been there for many years (righties loved to parrot this stat). Both were true. Both told only half the story. Recent extension of welfare eligibility has brought this back after about a decade of it not being the case anymore.

There are economic studies that show that people who go on unemployment assistance of any kind in any nation tend to look for jobs intially, but once they have been on assistance programs for a few weeks, they stop looking until a few weeks before their eligibility runs out...at which point they begin looking furiously. These studies speak to human nature...we don't like to be leeches, but once we are, it's pretty easy to lay back and enjoy the taxpayer funded vacation...until the threat returns and then we suddenly find the industry within outselves that was lacking for so long.

Its just like dealing with children, smack them around and their self esteem drops, they lose confidence in themselves and they are 100% harder to motivate, because they only expect more punishment and heartbreak in future endeavors.

Now on the other hand, you give a child constructive criticism, guidance and an opportunity to prove their worth and make you proud you will have a flourishing human being with nothing but potential for the future.

Why can't the welfare program be treated as a job? They are receiving a paycheck essentially, why not put them to work for it? Instead we give them a paycheck(just enough to survive really) and don't provide them with any motivation to pick themselves up and brush themselves off to become functioning members of society. These are the conditions that brew up unrest and lead normally good people to steal and cheat and lie. It is the only option left to them. If we put them to work in areas of infrastructure and any other areas needful of able bodies they will have gained skills necessary to get jobs and support their families providing them with a fulfilling life experience. Not to mention it would provide our nation with skilled workers for no extra cost, seeing as how they are already receiving aid

I never said all of them are lazy. However, do you not remember a time when people were embarrassed to be on welfare? These days, it seems to be some kind of accomplishment. Success isn't determined by hard work anymore, it's determined by how much money you receive from the government.

Welfare 40 years ago consisted of many who were underemployed. Many of today's welfare recipient unemployable do to poor work ethics.

The ones who are actively looking for jobs are alright in my book. Everyone falls upon hard times every now and then.

It's the moochers who refuse to get off the couch is who I do not like.

I feel sorry for people who get chucked out and stripped of welfare if there disabled this dosen't seem to be fare.

Because the conservative media, a group of heavily lobbied conservative politicians, and a collection of Super-PAC ads told them that welfare recipients are lazy.

I don't know, Because they sure are busy on yahoo.