Anyone on welfare who can feasibly contribute should be put to work to contribute to society in some capacity in return for the support. When collecting welfare by working, the relative ratio of work desirability to income should be sufficiently substandard that it incentivizes people to exit the welfare system and get jobs in the private sector. A great example of work that might be applicable to welfare recipients would be jobs made available through the deportation of immigrant farm workers. Other work might include cleaning up polluted rivers, waterlands or other public spaces including beaches and highway shoulders. Perhaps processing recycling could be an area where unskilled people could contribute.
Anyone who is disabled or a retired needs to be exluded from this policy. If you think about it, anyone who is physically able to work should not be on welfare in the first place. They should just join the work force and become a tax payer and contribute to society, like most are doing. Welfare beneftis are not made for a person to be living off of it. These benefits are supplemental for those who can’t help themselves and truly need the assistance. The only people who should qualify for welfare benefits should be the disabled, the retired seniors, and single parents who don’t receive any child support. These are the ones who are pretty much on a fixed income. Then benefits should also be avaliable to the public immediately in a emergency situation only, if you don’t have a income because you got fired or a lay off from a job with no benefits. Temporary benefits only for xamount of weeks or a month or so.
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the problem today is that “activities that pay a decent salary” and “activities that create value for society” don’t align.
so yes - if people get benefits anyway, they might as well do some useful work.
it would be a chance to get rid of litter and waste, have very neat and safe cities, towns and villages - and additionally, it would provide ro bake cities a lot more beautiful. plant gardens that need a lot of care - beautiful buildings - hand made ornaments on everyday objects - put the Commons to good use - make playgrounds and parks safe for everyone.
if such workers can link this with an apprenticeship and a professional title, so much the better.
make such work groups cook and eat lunch together, too - to build friendships and mutual help.
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I guess this is when people who can work, should work and stop expecting and using tax payer dollars for self-interest and earn a living by a paycheck. The law breakers should all have some form of community service added to fines and or jail time to keep our country cleaned up. I agree with everything you said.
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Community service after, jail release that is.
I live in KY and this is already a requirement.
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Hi Minnie,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I generally agree with you points. I would only point out that sometimes able-bodied people end up on welfare for reasons that have their root in psychology, and in some of these cases, providing them with an opportunity to work and contribute can help them get over the hump and get back into the right head-space to allow them to reintegrate into the work force. Others, even those physically disabled, may have an ability to contribute in various ways such as phone work, etc. The idea is that giving (many, but not necessarily all) people who have been knocked off their feet a chance to contribute, we would be then participating in their rehabilitation rather than essentially enabling a negative trajectory. Thank you for your good thoughts!
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I appreciate your input.
There should a limit to how long a person can collect welfare. To many people make it a career choice and their kids see how it is done and they do the same.
They also need to stop people on welfare from getting tax refunds back when they never paid a penny into taxes. Why do they deserve a refund?
There also needs to be a limit on how many children families can have. People should not be having children in order to get more welfare.
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if you limit welfare, you will have more homeless, more criminals, less safety, more gang wars, more dirt.
I prefer that my taxes go to paying for a modest home and no one being cold and hungry while I can walk all streets safely, instead of financing more police, more prisons, while needing to fear robbers in the streets.
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@Sotar I went a little further in my write up than you did. Would love some feedback. I did quote you in my policy proposal
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Immigrant farm workers arent gonna be the ones deported. A few, maybe, but the majority of immigrants flown in or that crossed illegally are gonna be in hotels, motels, shelters and other govt paid housings. The money saved from stopping those benefits alone will be staggering. Add to that the cancelled ebt( fs and cash) benefits from those illegally here because of the border situation recently is gonna be big numbers. Deportation military officials are only gonna come after the illegals that Biden let in unvetted. Esp if they came from jails institutions and asylums of countries that traditionally hate America. Since its the military that will be handling the deports, the new DoD policy that says the military can now legally shoot American citizens that are protesting/dissenting, comes into play. I advise anyone thats gonna try and protest or stand in their way to do so peacefully or they just might see an unfortunate outcome.
No, what do you all not get about Maga? We are trimming government not expanding it. Do you think enforcement is free??? Whos gonna pay to regulate all this??? We spent 6.3 billion in 2023 on child support enforcement. Waste of tax dollars for other peoples poor relationship choices and having kids. We shouldnt be paying for a welfare enforcement force either. If anything lets get more jobs created and just end welfare. Back in the day the local communities and counties took care of there own. Churches provided meals for the poor. We need to get back to helping eachother. End federal and state paying for all of this. The less we spend the more money in Americans pockets.
Most people can’t collect welfare unless they have children. And then it becomes a loan against their child support that is owed to them. So instead of child support being as low as $50 a month being based on somebody’s income let’s space child support on what it actually cost to raise a child divide that in half and that be the child support amount in cases all across America because it’s so hard to get non-custodial parents to actually pay that amount have the state pay that amount and then the state can require the non-custodial parent to go to work to pay the state back. It seems ridiculous to ask somebody who’s already working 40 hours a week to work more because they’re not getting their child support they should be getting and this would punish those who are out spreading their seed all over the place.
We have this in place already in several states. Like KY if your not on disability and can work you have to show proof of work and applying to be able to keep benefits. So maybe there’s a way to expand on the program some states already have in place. There are also jobs that don’t pay enough to survive so there are some instances that benefits should be accessible to those even working at times. This is somthing definitely that needs looked into.
This has been a big problem for over 50 years. When I was 21, with a child aged two, I enrolled in college with help from a program that put young mothers and/or fathers through school. The program had a 97% success rate: we were helped while in school, and then people graduate and got JOBS. But what I learned while on the program is that the case workers actually encouraged welfare recipients NOT to work, since that would lower their benefits. They also said we would get more money if we had a larger family. How screwed up is that? I have always thought welfare recipients need to contribute. There are many things they could do, while still retaining the benefits they need to feed their families. And there has to be a “hand up” not a “hand out” policy…welfare needs term limits!
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At this time welfare is not made for people to get off of. Welfare is made to make you dependent on the system. When we were young my husband and myself were on the system and we had a hell of a time getting off and into the workforce.
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A great many of those on welfare have a number of children. Will the government need to provide childcare? Transportation? They will have all manor of excuses as to why they can’t work for the free benefits. My personal opinion is that if they have 1 or 2 children when they apply for assistance, then that’s what the government should agree to support. Government will pay for effective birth control but having more will not gain additional support.
There is in Ohio! 5 years total.
Welcome to the new world " chain gang". While I grasp where you’re coming from, perhaps we need to address the " mutiple- repeating generational" recipients who knows how to " play" the system. Drug & alcohol abuses are also an issue that needs attention in this sphere. Otherwise, most people who are medically disabled have no other choice and are forced to receive these benefits because the system keeps the disabled flat broke and endlessly struggling. The entire system needs an overhaul. Honestly, I do not agree with the chain gang mentality because what you infer is that recipients are criminals vs. downtrodden due to a corrupt and broken system.
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