6th November 2003, 8:59 PM
So we cut off welfare. Lots of poor children starve to death. Poor people lose their only income and in this economy don't get new ones, even bottom-level ones, and resort to crime. Even now they have to struggle to keep two or three minimum wage jobs just to feed their families... that creates an awful situation! The parents are never home with their children since they have to work all the time just to pay the bills and put food on the table. Obviously in that situation they'll never have any kind of chance to better themselves... and millions of Americans are in that situation.
Add in the fact that they don't get health care so if one family member gets sick they're REALLY in trouble, and you have a recipe to keep poor people supressed into the lowest paying jobs... convenient for the rest of our society, but awful for them. Having them work? That is good. But making them waste away in two or three dead-end jobs? Pointless... that's the main problem with welfare-to-work -- it won't actually help the economic situation for much of anyone, it'll just hurt the children since their parents will never be around. Great...
The real kicker is how much better other countries have dealt with these problems by using social programs.
Add in the fact that they don't get health care so if one family member gets sick they're REALLY in trouble, and you have a recipe to keep poor people supressed into the lowest paying jobs... convenient for the rest of our society, but awful for them. Having them work? That is good. But making them waste away in two or three dead-end jobs? Pointless... that's the main problem with welfare-to-work -- it won't actually help the economic situation for much of anyone, it'll just hurt the children since their parents will never be around. Great...
The real kicker is how much better other countries have dealt with these problems by using social programs.