Why do impoverished families always get catered to?

Question

Parents who made the wrong choices in life or when they were younger like not getting a college education, not getting a GED, doing drugs while carrying a child, and etc always get catered to in life. They receive food stamps, wic, welfare, and etc. When Christmas time arrives, people have toy drives, food drives, and collection of money. Why do those type of people always get catered to? Why isn't it the other way around? People who are middle-class citizens who made the right choice to get a college education, and finish high school. Those type of people hardly ever get catered to. They receive little to no benefits from the government. Freebies hardly ever come to them, unlike the poor. Why does the system work that way? Why isn't it all equal?

People who sit on their butts all day doing nothing, but receiving these good benefits while most people who work for their living get nothing. Anything they want, they have to PAY for it. No freebies. Why is this possible?!

Answer 1

It's our desire to help those that need help at war with the information we see in front of us - that so may scam the system.



We had a section 8 house a street over, and they were paying WAY less than what the rest of the neighborhood was working to pay for, and when they left, they took everything possible out of the house and then some. They even took out the interior doors with the hardware (to sell?).

Answer 2

Well you're looking at it from your perspective but in terms of spending our money we have to think about it in a bigger picture where fair or rewards isn't an emotional component we think about.



IT NEEDS TO BE AN INVESTMENT, NOT AN EMOTIONAL DECISION.



Basically, foodstamps, wic, education etc that's all social spending. Social spening isn't happening because our government thinks people need hand outs or we should just tax payers money as a charitable donation. SOCIAL SPENDING NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO INVEST IN EITHER GROWING A MIDDLE CLASS OR KEEP THE MIDDLE CLASS FROM SHRINKING.



Our economy does best when we have a large middle class. A successful social spending program would be to help people from the lower bracket income to jump into the middle class.



*Sure, using our tax dollars to help out Sandy and Katrina victims look great and seem really nice but the bigger picture is, those investments need to happen so businesses don't go out of business, unemployment doesn't rise, or the middle class stops affording things they would normally able to purchase, SO we need to make sure they don't fall into poverty by helping these victims survive. *not because its nice but to prevent a bigger economic disaster.



This is the same reason why unemployment checks exist, so even if you're poor or middle class if you were on salary and got fired you could collect unemployment checks until you get over your hurdle and move on with your life. The main reason is so that you don't fall out of the middle class bracket and fall into poverty.



That's problem with this country people look at this stuff with emotions and in terms of freebies but that's not why these programs exist. The sole purpose of these programs should be to either stimulate growth or keep minimizing the middle class from happening.



You could argue why there aren't enough programs to stimulate middle class to being rich but that's not our immediate crisis. OUR IMMEDIATE CRISIS IS MIDDLE CLASS IS SHRINKING. We've seen what a smaller middle class has been doing, imagine what happens when that gap gets bigger.



If people in poverty are getting help with healthcare, food, housing then the idea is give them more help towards training for employment. They're suppose to get more time to spend on getting trained for better jobs than Mcdonald. Just because people are poor doesnt mean they do drugs while their pregnant, those are just crazy stereotype. For the most part the American people do want to do better and are hard workers. If these people get stimulated in the right way and strive toward success then its a good investment because we need a growing middle class. And from what I've seen lower income people are really hard workers they just need the training. Even if there ar loopholes and they're working off the books while receiving benefits if it could help them afford a car, better education, or save for a house or even participate in consumerism that investment is still working.



but we do have problem in our programs, ineffective programs where we need to make mindful adjustments or eliminate inefficiency.

Answer 3

There are millions of low income americans who work hard, but due to other circumstances, some outside their control, they are unable to be totally independent. No one is really totally independent, everyone benefits from government, even if its not in the form of a direct payment. Helping these hard working people who need it and in the process also helping those who might not need it or might not be as deserving is better than being a third world country with millions of poor lining the streets.

Answer 4

The chronic welfare crowd is like tax attorneys for the wealthy - they learn the regulations, then game the system to take advantage of it.



Theoretically there is a 60 month limit on TANF, cash assistance, but there are so many loopholes it just does not work that way. All smoke and mirrors.

I have dozens of families on my caselod that would be eligibloe for TANF, but do not even appply, because they get all of the other benefits.



I started doing this work in 1977, it is worse every year.



If you think you can blame it on the D's, guess again.

Big busines gets those welfare dollars.



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Wal-Mart "gets a large fraction of Food Stamp dollars," which contributes 25% to 40% of revenue at select stores, according to Nestle. "These companies, therefore, have a vested interest in making sure Food Stamps are allowed for any purchase at all."

•At least 9 states have proposed bills to make health-oriented improvements to SNAP, but none have passed, in part due to opposition from the food industry.

•Coca-Cola, the Corn Refiners of America, and Kraft Foods all lobbied against a Florida bill that aimed to disallow SNAP purchases for soda and junk food.

•Banks and other private contractors are reaping significant windfalls from the economic downturn and increasing SNAP participation.



"The point here is that banks that administer SNAP have a vested interest in keeping SNAP enrollments high and makers of junk foods have a vested interest in making sure that there are no restrictions on use of benefits," she writes.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/marion-nestle-big-business-food-stamps-where-profits-164228337.html





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Myth: Most welfare recipients are on benefits a short time.

Let me make that clearer.

At any one time 80% of any given caseload is chronic, repeat for one or more lifetimes.

80% of the money being spent at any one moment in time, is for the chronic, constantly needy, needy by choice, more than circumstances.

The other 20% comes and goes on a regular basis, in one door, out the other, never to be seen again.

At any moment in time, only 20% of the total, but over a long stretch (say five years), most of the ones helped were short timers, came and went, just like the myth says, most of the recipients on a short time,. . . . . . . but they only use 20% of the total funds available.

80% of the financial help available, goes to those ‘few bad apples.’



That does not sound like a good taxpayer investment to me.

It seems to me the lion share of the money should be spent on the temporarily poor, the poor by circumstances, more than choice.

http://www.urban.org/publications/900288.html



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(Per the SSA reference below - SSI and children - "On average, SSI payments accounted for nearly 48 percent of the family income of SSI children,")

For all families with SSI children, SSI is nearly half of ALL income.

SSI and children.

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n2/v66n2p21.html



SSI – Supplemental security Income – not social security -for people who didn't work –

$50 Billion a year.

(see page 62 of the report)

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/ssir/SSI11/ssi2011.pdf



See SSI for your county and state:

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_sc/



2.6% of the population is on SSI, one of every 38 individuals, most never worked a day, the remainder worked so little, their Social Security is less than $678 per month.

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?ind=254&cat=4