I see it (welfare) as a part-time solution until the new semester kicks in then I can go back to work part-time for the University. I think it is sick that a drug addict doing nothing but ruining the community has better opportunities than I do.

I got all sorts of condescending remarks from the caseworker like, you are capable of work, etc. All the while my thoughts were, “Lady I know this, assist in finding me a job that pays a living wage and we’ll both be okay”. People on or that apply for welfare, many times do not choose to be, they are truly victims of circumstance.

I know an elderly couple who lived on only social security and also lived in section 8 housing. Due to the ridiculous formulas used when they each received a 16.00 a month increase in their social security (a total increase of $32.00 a month) their rent went up almost $200.00 a month.

Welfare does not keep up with the cost of living, it doesn’t encourage people to better themselves. Nor does it keep people living in a lush lifestyle. Have you ever noticed that more poor children are overweight than kids from a wealthier family? Want to know why? Because starchy food is cheaper and goes farther than fresh vegetables and healthier foods. These people are not living large and getting over, hell most are barely getting by.

I do think we need a good welfare to work program but what we have had over the years does not work. I know several people who work for the state and are involved in these programs as well as many case workers for the state. They will all tell you the same thing. The current system; whether it is welfare or welfare to work, doesn’t cut it. There is no incentive to do better and the program only looks good on paper, in the end the recipient is worse off.

The system is designed to keep people from getting ahead, it does not allow for planning or money management and a person collecting welfare is not allowed to save money. Anything these people make is later deducted from their monthly stipend. The way in which it is set up if you make money or are given money this month (let’s say you get $50.00 for a birthday gift or by doing some odd job) you have earned that this month, report it next month and it is deducted from the welfare money the following month. So anything they earn will later harm them and they cannot save it to use in the month it will be taken away.

A good example of this is in my state, Alaska. Each year every qualifying Alaskan gets a Permanent Fund Dividend check from earnings off the oil revenue. These checks range from a thousand to two thousand each year. Now take a family with a mother and 4 kids on welfare, that means they get between $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 dollars in a lump sum each fall. That would be a good deal of money to start getting ahead and be able to make it last over time while also getting started back in the workforce.

BUT, the state and federal guidelines require that every cent of that money be spent before the month is over. This is the only monies they can get that is not later deducted providing it is all spent before the last day of the month. The guidelines do not state what the money is to be spent on just as long as nothing is being saved and providing they don’t spend it on anything that could be considered an asset. In other words if they buy a car so they can get to and from a job that is considered an asset and their food stamps and stipend is reduce from then on out. But they can spend it all on alcohol and parties and that is ok. Where is the logic in that?

With the welfare to work programs they are even worse off because the minute they find a job their rent goes up, they face daycare costs (and they have to pay this until a daycare opening is available for them to get reduced daycare – and that is generally a long time if ever). To add insult to injury their food stamps are either reduced or cut off.

Most of these people are still working for minimum wage and rent alone is often more than they earn in a month, much less utilities, food, transportation medical etc.
What we need is a program that does more than sound good to the public. We need a program that gets people off of welfare and on the road to a solid lifestyle.

The assumption by the general public is that these people are lazy and don’t want to get ahead. But the truth is it is the system that beats them down and keeps them from getting ahead. Although many have come to make it a lifestyle because it is all they have known, that mindset was brought on by the way these programs work.

Does anyone wake up and say gee, I want to be dirt poor and living well beneath the poverty level for the rest of my life? I don’t think so. But when they are better off being on welfare something is wrong with the system – not them!

The picture painted in this blog focuses on one side of the picture not the whole picture.

Let’s take a look at the fact that a drug addict can go back to school and collect welfare and have their entire education paid for. They can spend years in school without ever graduating and waste a lot of the taxpayers money in the process. But the government says they need help and rehab. Now take the struggling single mother who never does drugs, tries to better herself and make a better life for her kids. Guess what, the government won’t pay for her to go back to school so she ends up stuck in a minimum wage job or on welfare.

Rather than focus on those that scam we need to focus on the lawmakers that come up with these programs – that don’t work- and we need real people designing the programs, not those that have never known a hungry or a homeless day.

Sheilah