More than a third of the people in this country are on some sort of welfare assistance
I remember a time when people all over the world dreamed of coming to America because they were led to believe that our streets were paved with gold. That was then and this is now. Around 110 million people in the U.S. are now receiving government welfare benefits. That equates to more than one third of our population.
New Census reports reveal that by the end of 2012 some 83 million Americans were on Medicaid and 51.5 million were subsisting with the aid of food stamps.
Many welfare recipients are benefiting from multiple government programs with their total benefits exceeding what they would earn from a minimum-wage job. That discourages welfare recipients from seeking gainful employment.
The Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner says that in the eight most generous states - and that includes California and New York - the combined benefits can add up to what a welfare recipient would earn in a job paying $20 an hour, which is considerably more than the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. “So, in many cases,” said Tanner, “people could actually do better on welfare than they could in an entry level job. You can't in the long run have a society in which you have to rely on a smaller and smaller group of wealth producers who have to support more and more people who are not contributing to that wealth.”
Texas is not one of those states with generous welfare benefits. When I left California in 1969, the former Golden State was paying a single mother with four dependent children more than $500 in monthly benefits. At the same time, the Lone Star State was paying a single mother with four dependent children only $150 a month. And the cost of living in Texas was not that much lower than it was in California.
Today, my state of Texas still ranks among the states paying the lowest welfare benefits. As far as I can tell, that has not encouraged our welfare recipients to rush out looking for work.
There have always been some shrill complaints about people committing welfare fraud. It’s true that there are welfare cheats, but there are also wealthy tax cheats and crooked business people. Oh yes, lest we forget, there is plenty of corporate fraud as well. Study after study has shown that the amount of welfare fraud adds up to only a drop in the bucket of funds expended to assist the poor.
And now there comes news that will increase the welfare rolls, at least in New Jersey. Three casinos are closing in Atlantic City with a loss of 8,000 jobs. The Showboat is closing Sunday, the Revel on Monday and Tuesday, and Trump Plaza on Sept. 16. Apparently, all that glitters in Atlantic City is not gold.
More than a third of Americans on welfare assistance ….. whatever happened to those streets paved with gold?
2 comments:
That's because your welfare recipients are moving to California, where we are much more generous, at least as long as they register and vote democrat.
Howie,
Your Blog is factual to a degree. I think we should take other considerations into account. The men and women who fought during WW2 and then came home to participate in a productive society are almost gone. In their wake they also left behind the new deal which has spiraled out of control, but is still manageable. In the 50's and 60's most folks died from heart disease and lung cancer at a much younger age. Over half the population smoked cigarettes. The military gave them away for the troops' enjoyment. Those folks died.
Today, the Nursing home business is booming. Before, Grandma and Grandpa lived with their children until they died. Advances in medicine also created a longer life span. Birth defective children live longer. Lung cancer is curable and cholesterol medicine reduces heart disease. It's not that these people aren't sick, they are medicated to live longer disabled and thus collect social security benefits that most had previously paid for while working. Food subsidy programs have kept up with the population growth and there will always be more of the poor people than well off people. Next time you go shopping, look at the number of handicapped parking places. If you're not crippled or have some ailment you can no longer park next to a store.
I still believe that the streets in America are paved with gold. Folks from all over the world dream of coming to America. The American dream is still alive. I see the immigrants daily working in small businesses where they live in the back room and heat their meals on a hot plate to send their children to college. These hard working Americans are here. I patronize these businesses.
We continue to feed ourselves a steady diet of sensationalized news and talk shows slanted to spew what their audience wants to hear. My cell phone sends me news feeds and then based on what I choose to read, sends me more of the same. We are tracked, hacked and categorized. I sometimes turn off the news and internet for a couple of days. It makes me feel better.
The USA will continue to evolve. Capitalism works, whether you're Latin, Asian, European or Middle Eastern.
Trey
Post a Comment