If You Could Make More Money By Going On Welfare Instead Of Working, Would You
Do It?
Posted: 21 Aug 2013 06:04 PM PDT
If you could stay home and relax all day and actually make more money than you
do at your current job, would you do it? That sounds crazy, but this is
actually a very real dilemma for millions upon millions of Americans. According
to a shocking new study that was just released by the Cato Institute, people on
welfare are actually better off than minimum wage workers in 35 U.S. states.
And in 13 states, those on welfare actually do better than those making $15 an
hour. So why bother? It is
very difficult
to find a job in this economy, especially
a good one.
As I mentioned yesterday, seven
out of every eight jobs that have been “created” since Barack
Obama has been president have been part-time jobs. Why slave away flipping
burgers, stocking shelves for some retail giant or working for some temp agency
when you could just sit home and make more money collecting government checks?
Yes, there is definitely a minority of Americans that hate the idea of
becoming dependent on the
government and would never want to take advantage of the system
like that, but that minority seems to be shrinking. At this point, about half
the country gets money from the government each month anyway, so why not collect
“your share”? If someone is offering to give you something for free, it is only
human nature to be at least a little bit tempted. And right now the federal
government is making it extremely tempting to give up on work entirely and
become a permanent welfare check collector.
Before people start getting really upset, let me once again reiterate that most
of the people that are receiving financial assistance from the government
actually need it. Not everyone is abusing the system, and not everyone is using
their food stamps
to buy lobster.
Poverty in the United States has
absolutely exploded
in recent years, and our economy simply
does not produce enough
jobs for everyone anymore. We certainly do not want those
without jobs to go hungry or to be sleeping in the streets.
But what we have today is a situation where there is a huge incentive in many
states to actually give up on work entirely and become a dependent of the state
instead.
According to the
Cato Institute, someone in the state of New York that goes on
welfare can bring home more in money and benefits than an entry-level school
teacher makes in an entire year…
The federal government funds 126 separate programs targeted towards low-income
people, 72 of which provide either cash or in-kind benefits to individuals. (The
rest fund community-wide programs for low-income neighborhoods, with no direct
benefits to individuals.) State and local governments operate more welfare
programs. Of course, no individual or family gets benefits from all 72 programs,
but many do get aid from a number of them at any point in time.
Today, the Cato institute is releasing a new study looking at the state-by-state
value of welfare for a mother with two children. In the Empire State, a family
receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, food stamps, WIC,
public housing, utility assistance and free commodities (like milk and cheese)
would have a package of benefits worth $38,004, the seventh-highest in the
nation.
While that might not sound overly generous, remember that welfare benefits
arent taxed, while wages are. So someone in New York would have to earn more
than $21 per hour to be better off than they would be on welfare. Thats more
than the average statewide entry-level salary for a teacher.
If you are going to live off of welfare, the key is to pick the right state.
Not all states offer the same level of benefits.
In some states, you have to make far more than the minimum wage before it pays
not to be on welfare. In fact, there are 12 different states where you actually
have to make more than $15 an hour before you start doing better than welfare
recipients…
Nationwide, our study found that the wage-equivalent value of benefits for a
mother and two children ranged from a high of $60,590 in Hawaii to a low of
$11,150 in Idaho. In 33 states and the District of Columbia, welfare pays more
than an $8-an-hour job. In 12 states and DC, the welfare package is more
generous than a $15-an-hour job.
Of course not all welfare recipients take advantage of all of the programs that
they are eligible for. But if you do know how to work the system, you can live
very comfortably at the expense of the government in many states.
So what is the solution?
Well, it would be great if we had enough jobs for everyone, but that is
definitely not the case. In fact, the U.S. economy is probably going to
continue to lose good jobs in the years ahead
if current trends
continue.
Unfortunately, that also means that poverty and dependence on the government are
likely going to continue to grow,
especially when the next
major wave of the economic collapse strikes.
If you want to get an idea of where we are headed, just look at
Detroit.
Once upon a time, Detroit actually had the highest per capita income in the
entire country. But now it is a rotting, festering, bankrupt hellhole where tens
of thousands of stray dogs freely roam the streets…
As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt
Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain and overwhelming the
citys ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths.
One Humane Society official that recently visited the city to help deal with the
dog crisis described what she witnessed as “almost
post-apocalyptic“…
The number of strays signals a humanitarian crisis, said Amanda Arrington of the
Humane Society of the United States, based in Washington. She heads a program
that donated $50,000 each to organizations in Detroit and nine other U.S cities
to get pets vaccinated, fed, spayed and neutered.
Arrington said when she visited Detroit in October, It was almost
post-apocalyptic, where there are no businesses, nothing except people in houses
and dogs running around.
The suffering of animals goes hand in hand with the suffering of people.
But don’t laugh at Detroit.
The rest of the country is going down the exact same path.
Just recently, Charles
Nenner told Newsmax TV that another recession is rapidly
approaching that that it is “going to be bad”…
Technical analyst Charles Nenner didnt mince words when asked about the United
States facing another recession.
“It’s going to be bad,” Nenner told Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview.
And it looks like the folks in Washington are getting very concerned about all
of the
economic warnings signs
that we have been seeing as well.
Just
this week,
Barack Obama “held a special,
closed door meeting
with the heads of the U.S. governments financial, monetary and oversight
agencies. It included members of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the CFTC, the
SEC, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.”
So why did Obama gather all of the top financial officials for a secret closed
door meeting?
John Embry
told King World News
that he thinks it is because the administration is deeply alarmed about what is
happening in the financial markets…
I firmly believe the reason the President has called this meeting today is
because if interest rates in the U.S. continue to rise, it could really unleash
something disastrous. We are talking here about the possibility of a meltdown.
Its interesting that the President would call in that many big hitters, the
head of every significant financial agency in the United States, as well as the
Fed and the Comptroller of the Currency, etc — this is a very large meeting
today.
Ive always believed that the global financial crisis of 2008 was just the
opener. We have now bought the better part of 5 years now through unlimited
money creation. But as we head into this next massive, and what I believe will
be a larger round of destabilization, I want KWN readers around the world to
understand that the central planners dont have the same weapons to fight this
global financial crisis. This is why I believe they are desperately attempting
right now, today in this meeting, to stave off this crisis.
And the truth is that our “leaders” in Washington have good reason to be
concerned. If interest rates keep going up rapidly
we are going to be in for
a world of hurt.
Sadly, most Americans seem to have already forgotten how painful 2008 was, and
that was only a preview of coming attractions.
The worst economic crisis in the history of the United States is on the horizon,
and most people are going to be absolutely blindsided by it.
I hope that you are
getting prepared
while you still can.