On Fri, 2 Sep 2011 14:55:36 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
> wrote:

>Nancy Young wrote:
>> Meghan Noecker wrote:
>>
>>> The welfare system actually holds people down even though it is
>>> intended to be a helping hand. I wish it were more of a hand up
>>> instead of a hand out. Help people with eductaion, job training,
>>> cooking classes, finance classes, etc, And have limits so that people
>>> know they really must get off the system. And once they were free of
>>> the system, they could really be proud of themselves.
>>
>> They imposed time limits on welfare eligibility in the 90s in NJ.
>> You have a 5 year lifetime cap. When it was put into effect, there
>> were job training programs to help people get back into the work
>> force, which is ongoing.
>
>Few object to a hand up. Many object to a hand out. Is it really
>better to support a family forever on taxes than to let them sink or
>swin? Which is more beneficial to society in the long run? No easy
>questions to answer.
>
>The simplist approach would seem to be to reduce benefit payments by
>$0.50 for every earned $1.00. It means any attempt at work that
>produces pay helps the recpient. Even a minimum wage job improves their
>life. I've never quite gotten why that's not the standard practice.


Same here. If somebody works, they lose that amount of pay from the
benefits. So, unless they earn more than the welfare payment, there is
no gain. And if they spent money on travel expenses (gas or bus) and
had to pay for childcare, then they had a net loss, possibly a large
loss. In terms of finances and now, then it makes more sense to stay
home and take the welfare.

Since a lot of people on welfare are not likely to get hired at a full
time good paying job, it is simply not realistic to expect them to
start off with a job that pays higher than welfare. That works for
people who had a good job, lost it, and can get a new good job. But
for the tons of people with no specialized skills, it is not
practical.

It is also teh reason than many people will accept unemployment until
it almost runs out. They won't bother to apply for lower paying jobs
because they can get more via unemployment. So, they only accept the
plower job when it is financially better than the welfare or
unemployment payments.