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Why the Poor Don't Work, According to the Poor
The Atlantic ^ | 09/24/2013 | JORDAN WEISSMANN

Posted on 09/24/2013 7:39:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Conservative Republicans have officially made it their mission to end food stamps as we know them. Such was evident last week, when the House GOP voted to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as food stamps are now known, by $39 billion over a decade and begin bulking up its work requirements, along the lines of welfare reform in the 1990s.

Whether you believe this a good or humane idea probably boils down to your take on a single question: why don't the poor, who make up the overwhelming majority of food stamp recipients, go to work? In 2012, more than 26 million 18-to-64-year-old adults lived under the poverty line; about 15 million of them didn't have a job during the year. Is the economy to blame? Or are personal choices at fault?

If you're a liberal, your answer is probably pretty cut and dry, and these days likely involves the word "recession." But conservatives tend to take a different view. They argue that whereas unemployment among middle class families rises and falls with the health of the job market, poverty is shaped and fueled mostly by cultural forces, that the poor could work if they wanted, and that the safety net lulls them into indolence. One of their key data points on this front comes from the Census. Each year, the bureau asks jobless Americans why it is they've been out of work. And traditionally, a only a small percentage of impoverished adults actually say it's because they can't find employment, a point that New York University professor Lawrence Mead, one of the intellectual architects of welfare reform, made to Congress in recent testimony.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: foodstamps; poverty
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To: MrB
... but the abuses infuriate me.

We could get rid of all the abuses if we really had to will to do it ... but the dems will moan racism, etc. ... so we don't.

21 posted on 09/24/2013 7:58:47 AM PDT by dartuser
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To: SeekAndFind
If you're a liberal, your answer is probably pretty cut and dry, and these days likely involves the word "recession recreation." (fixed that /s)
22 posted on 09/24/2013 8:01:01 AM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: dartuser

Those in DC do not want the abuses stopped.
Obama’s ilk see the “abuses” as reparations and wealth redistribution and want them to increase.

But, the sheeperal have a different motivation. They, like always, want to feel good about themselves as good people. And making sure that everyone gets what they need makes them feel that way.

I actually had this conversation:
Me: Libs don’t care about abuses in benefits programs - they just want to make sure that everyone gets covered.
Lib: We do TOO care about the abuses [pause] but it’s more important that everyone is covered that needs it.
Me: That’s what I just said!
Lib: [pause] let me think about that...[pause] well, it just sounded so MEAN when you said it.


23 posted on 09/24/2013 8:05:12 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: dartuser

Take the vote away from anyone not working and paying taxes.


24 posted on 09/24/2013 8:05:55 AM PDT by bkaycee (John 3:16)
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To: bkaycee

Take the vote away from anyone getting a check from the taxpayers.


25 posted on 09/24/2013 8:06:33 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: Dilbert San Diego
And nobody is going to starve if these cuts happen.

Anyone paying attention to the Prepper posts knows that survivial requires a good supply of water. If you have that, you're not in great danger. In America, 99.9999% of the people have access to good water.

Food? You can go a few days without food. It's just not a big deal. As you say, these cuts are not going to put anyone in danger.

26 posted on 09/24/2013 8:07:19 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (21st century. I'm not a fan.)
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To: yoe
...welfare is an awful cancer if misused.

Of course. Why? Because the price of every necessity is driven upward by the welfare-expanded demand pressure, thus making eking out existence impossible for those for whom inability to work earn your way is simply not possible, and charity fails under that pressure.

27 posted on 09/24/2013 8:10:17 AM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: SeekAndFind

Apparently there wasn’t a choice for “because I’m a lazy moocher who wants to lay on my couch all day in my gov provided housing and drink beer and smoke weed and you people keep giving me money. Suckaz.”


28 posted on 09/24/2013 8:14:58 AM PDT by PilotDave (No, really, you just can't make this stuff up!!!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

That was the one I was looking for, too. “I cannot afford to work and take such a huge cut in my net income/benefits.”


29 posted on 09/24/2013 8:15:15 AM PDT by NEMDF
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To: NEMDF

MIllions not working and millions of illegals to replace them in the work force.
How long can we afford to pay the benefits for both of these bodies? You can’t run a welfare state with open borders. We are going broke trying.


30 posted on 09/24/2013 8:17:51 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: SeekAndFind
Embedded in this article is the standard socialist false premise. You either provide "full" services - an ever-increasing amount of benefits - or you want to take away *all* subsidy and have people starve. There is never an option of reducing the amount of wealth redistribution when the taxpayers are hurting and the economy is down.

I know one person who is on disability, and probably can't work productively. He was a truck driver and has a heart problem that cost him his commercial license. And I also know he has been lazy all of his life and made his own problems through being overweight. I don't want him to starve, but I don't feel a need to allow him to eat better than I do.

So, the 'solution' that the socialists carefully ignore is to *reduce* but not eliminate the benefits - food stamps, disability cash, etc. That way those on welfare have an incentive to find work - any work - in order to gain more disposable money, while not starving in the meantime.

And though it is a single data point, it would be a *long* time before the person I know on disability would starve.
31 posted on 09/24/2013 8:20:06 AM PDT by Phlyer
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To: SeekAndFind

This is from The Atlantic.

The Atlantic - a place full of garbage, crabs and s**t. It’s also the name of an ocean.


32 posted on 09/24/2013 8:20:28 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: NEMDF

It’s no different than the church in my neighborhood that runs a food bank pantry. You can go there on any given Saturday and see that at least 2/3 of the people showing up do not really need the help. They’re just there to mooch off some freebies (which are often driven off in $30,000+ SUVs). But I guess you have to tolerate that in order to care for those who truly do need the help.


33 posted on 09/24/2013 8:22:47 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: PilotDave

34 posted on 09/24/2013 8:25:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

35 posted on 09/24/2013 8:33:58 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: SeekAndFind

Women 3522 - Home and Family reasons...

“I can’t work...’cause I gots to take care of all these kids...’cause their ain’t no daddy...so I’ll get knocked up to get more benefits.”

THAT’S the biggest problem right there.


36 posted on 09/24/2013 8:43:46 AM PDT by uptoolate (Republicans sure do like their liberalism)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Franklin once said ‘do not make the poor too comfortable in their poverty’. I think we should return to the type of relief that consists of beans, rice, flour and government cheese...of course, powdered milk, if there are children in the household. Nobody starves but it isn’t exactly pleasant either.


37 posted on 09/24/2013 8:56:39 AM PDT by dogcaller
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To: GeronL

“Take the vote away from anyone getting a check from the taxpayers.”

So you would take the vote away from our military? They receive their pay from the taxpayers.


38 posted on 09/24/2013 9:01:08 AM PDT by fredhead (Join the Navy and see the world.....77% of which is covered in water.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Conservative Republicans have officially made it their mission to end food stamps as we know them.

Cutting Food Stamp expenditures back to pre-Obama levels seen is "ending Food Stamps as we know them"?????

39 posted on 09/24/2013 9:07:57 AM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: SeekAndFind

because theyre not poor. they are wealthier than —% of the world. they are fat parasites who need free gastric bypasses.
you want poor ? go to rwanda


40 posted on 09/24/2013 9:11:36 AM PDT by hecht (america 9/11, Israel 24/7)
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