IMO Illegitimacy is the great divider between financial success and non success. Probably single parenthood households caused by divorce are second
Illegitimacy affects more than the number of earning adults supporting a family- it contributes to realms of emotional problems and social dysfunction for the kids esp when they reach adolescence. Boys that don’t know how to respect and assert masculine confidence and authority in a constructive way. Girls looking for daddy approval and love. Problems that may affect the rest of their lives.
What to do about it? I don’t know. Poor moral behaviors or poor personal decisions are so ..... 1950’s. But at the first and least this needs to be acknowledged
and yes, I know there are exceptions to every generalization
But they don’t swing the overall trend
Another great point. Great post.
If I were in charge, I would NOT hand over welfare money to people who have proven time and again that they are not mentally equipped to handle it. I would run the welfare system the same way an intelligent parent runs a household and raises children. Dependent children do not make the financial decisions in a household, they do not decide what to have for dinner, or where they will live. As they become more responsible, they are given an allowance so they can practice making financial decisions (and mistakes) with a small amount of money. But they are not put in charge of the family paycheck.
I think it would be a great idea to put welfare recipients into barracks-like housing and feed them inexpensive but nutritious food. As they demonstrate increasing responsibility, they can “graduate” to better conditions. There should be an incentive to get off of welfare and one way to create that incentive is to NOT make welfare a comfortable lifestyle choice. In *my* welfare system, there would be no TV. Want TV? Get off welfare. There would be no designer sneakers. There would be no fancy cars. There would be work programs and training programs designed to get people off welfare.
Except for the very elderly (who have previously been productive citizens) and totally disabled, there would be no easy ride.
The government (i.e., hardworking taxpayers) does not owe deadbeats a comfortable lifestyle.