6th April 2003, 5:33 PM
Quote:Originally posted by A Black Falcon
Oh, the great success that is welfare-to-work... making people with no skills do dead end, minimum wage jobs and make so little that they would make more and be much better off (they wouldn't have to spend lots of time away from their children (which is more of a problem for poor people who can't afford much of anything of help alleviate that) if they were allowed to be on welfare like before... they sure don't have a chance of making enough money to live on on any job they could get with their level of skills... yeah, great... so fair...
"have people work" sounds nice but it doesn't work out too well with the groups that you want to make do that.
I think instead of throwing them in dead end jobs to stay, that money instead goes toward schooling, basic schooling first, since many lack even that, and then community college courses if they show propensity for it. If you get even an associate's degree in a community college you can get a decent paying job, and it doesn't cost that much to attain. From there, they leave welfare altogether and then choose what they want to do with their lives, as they will have more than just basic skills.
Obviously some people aren't going to be able to handle that, as they want a free ride, and it's exactly those people who deserve help the least. They NEED the kick in the ass most. Sure, they'd be better off just on straight welfare in the short term, but that's exactly my point: You don't WANT people comfortable on Welfare! You want them able to survive, and meet basic needs, while they try to advance themselves. You want welfare to be not pleasurable or enjoyable but a rough helping hand to something better. I don't support the total elimination of welfare, except for people who don't want to work. If you took away the handouts, they'd have no choice but to work, to contribute, if they wanted to avoid begging and dumpster dining to survive. No one is entitled to money for nothing. And I'm sure the taxpayers would have far fewer complaints about how their taxes were used on the poor if they were used in a constructive manner.
I sure as hell would.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR