Welfare state growing despite overhauls

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/25/07 | Stephen Ohlemacher - ap

[freeangel]

Odd coincidence--dumping 30 million ILLEGALS into a country and wondering why welfare costs are increasing.

[spikeytx86]

"If you want to get educated or want to succeed, the welfare office don't care," Foster said.

That's true, because thats not their responsibility.

The financial aid office however at your local university or community college does care if you succeed (high default rates in student loans can cost a school there access to them). What could a TANF recipient or former recipient receive in financial aid:

$4,050 in Pell Grants
$4,000 in SEOG Grants
$1,000 in Leap

+ Thousands in student loans and aid from their states + work study + university scholarships and grants that are need based + some schools will waive tuition for former and current TANF recipients.

Anything left over after tuition and fees and books up to estimated cost of attendance you can keep for living expenses. Between residuals and a part time job you could live fairly well. Oh and you can buy health insurance from your school at group rates which are really low and no out of pocket expenses at your Student Health Center.

All of that aid is more then enough to attend any state school or community college. If there is a will their are many ways in this land of ours.

[Shion]

Thank you.

I think anyone who has even a mediocre sense of responsiblity to bettering themselves will have a tingling of doubt about government handouts.

As to the posts about minimum wage jobs: I started at my company as a receptionist earning minimum wage, two and a half years later I'm a vice president with a big fat mahogany desk and an expense account. Well...I still work 60 hours a week, but hey...

[spikeytx86]

I have family members like that. They should be required to either get a job, get their G.E.D., or go to college. They should be given 90 days to either get a job, enroll in college, or get there G.E.D. or enroll in a G.E.D. prep class. If not no aid. I don't think that is a lot to ask, we should expect more from them because they are better then the lives they are leading.

[kinoxi]

There are opportunities. The dem/welfare machine attempts to blind susceptible people in a perverse act of bureaucratic self preservation.

[paudio]

Programs such as the Access Project are not cheap, which is one reason they are rare. Tuition and fees run about $35,000 a year at Hamilton...

I don't get it. Why is it more expensive than a typical public universities (about $10-15K a year), or even some private universities (20-25K a year)?

[mc6809e]

The common denominator -- no dad around helping to feed the family.

[Mr J]

"Vivyan Adair, a former welfare recipient who is now an assistant professor of women's studies at Hamilton College "

A role itself a form of welfare, given the position's nonexistent output of goods or services useful to society.

[Mr J]

The welfare state is growing, and we're still in the early stages of globalization. Welfare spending is going explode, fueled by American families falling from the middle class into the underclass, and illegals migrating over the southern border to bloat the ranks of the poor.

[Smartaleck]

"Major changes in welfare were enacted in 1996,"

Yep, Clinton balancing the budget on the backs of the poor!

Mrs. Hilly needs to be reminded of what a burden her co-presidency has caused to the poor.

[uptoolate]

But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

Part of the problem with 'Gov. Aid' is that the recipient doesn't have a face to coincide with the handout. To them it is just 'free money' that they are entitled too becuse they live in America.

Here's what I do to help rectify this problem and get recipients to think about the money they have been receiving.

When shopping at the grocery store, as I wait in line to pay, I look around to see if anyone is paying using food stamps or Link card, ect. I then strike up a conversation with them, usually like this: "Do you really think you should be buying that 2lb. bag of Doritos, ice cream, and soda? That's not very healthy. It will make you fat and give you heart disease."

The response is typically an angry, "What the @$#% business of yours?"

My reply is, "Well I see you are buying that food with MY money. I think I should have a say in how you spend it."

Or maybe I just say "You're welcome". That usually prompts a "For what?" Then I proceed to tell them 'for what'.

It is amazing to hear all the little discussions starting in line from the other customers. Everyone starts feeling uncomfortable. Wives/Husbands turn to their husbands/wives and say,"Did you hear what that man just said to that woman? How rude!" Which then the husband/wive follows up with a big, "He's right!"

Anyway, the point is made. Whether it changes anyone's conscience, I don't know. I've done my part to educated the delusional with a quick dose of reality and I don't care what people think of me. I am responsible enough to show up for work on time, do my job properly. Responsible for my own bills. And responsible at paying every dime of taxes I am legally accountable for. I might as well attempt to make sure it is spent 'responsibly'.

[SledgeCS]

I am on the band wagon with the following "If I have to piss in a cup to work and pay taxes - then the welfare scum should have to piss in a cup to get the money I pay in taxes".

[Darkwolf377]

"If you want to get educated or want to succeed, the welfare office don't care," Foster said.

This kind of attitude drives me straight up the wall.

NO office CARES about you...anymore than YOU care about the people working in that office.

This attitude is a product of liberal teaching about what The State is supposed to do for you, and it is so very destructive because it creates the expectation that government's job is to regulate your life for you...which of course leads to the conclusion that government NEEDS to intrude on your private life, in order to better serve you.

This mopey woe-is-me "They don't care about me" crap is laughable. YOU care about you--it's no one else's job to take care of you.

Whatever happened to living your life, getting some assistance when need be, but only as a last resort? Whatever happened to personal responsibility, and ...

I know, I know, I'm ranting. Forget it--money grows on trees, anyway, and The Rich should pay more in taxes to fund the Victimized Poor and blah blah blah...

[Darkwolf377]

So in other words, Clinton DIDN'T solve the welfare problem? Gee, who knew!