Hypothetical: How would you improve the welfare system for families?

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Theo520 said:
I don’t think the Govt owes everyone on welfare an all expense paid 2-4 yr degree. They can join the Army if they want it Govt paid.
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I don’t think the government owes them a degree either. If they are single moms, there’s already state and federal grants should cover most, if not all, expenses of a local community college.

I mean non-profits and other such groups should work to get welfare recipients into whatever training programs they have available. Employers such as CVS, for example, even provide on-the-job training for pharmacy tech certification.

And yes, the Army, National Guard, etc., is an excellent option if one meets the health and educational qualifications. The life training they provide is unmatched.
 
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Food programs at schools are fantastic but what about weekends, holidays, Christmas/Summer breaks etc. The programs do address some of the problem for sure but not the whole problem of making sure that children are fed. One of my “ideas” was for families with children would be required to have an agreement where “some” of the money is only released as credit at a grocery store that cant be used for cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol. Again, I’m not incredibly educated in these areas and don’t know how difficult a proposal this would be.

As for a support first approach for addicts, I agree completely. Brokenness, loneliness, Stress/Anxiety are 3 things that can keep a person addicted and these 3 things are helped “most” by support. Medicine can be important for stress and anxiety, but in my experience ,support/therapy/friendship, is actually more beneficial to people than the medicines themselves.
 
I also think its important to not have an " always suspect or suspicious" view of people on welfare. There is already a stigma attached to it. A label. A Stereotype. I think any improvements should also include trying to removing the stigma (like we’ve done with mental health, AIDS etc) I think its fantastic when people aren’t burdened by how they think people will perceive and view them. It only adds more difficulties.
 
blackforest said:
Cost of living is never a factor?
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Not really. Employers don’t consider their employees’ living costs when setting their pay rate.

The amount of rent a prospective employee pays, and the number of children the employee has to support, has nothing to do with what the salary offer is going to be.

Some people have very low shelter costs and other sources of income, they just don’t “need” as much in wages. Should employers consider that?
 
Mtdobbs said:
Food programs at schools are fantastic but what about weekends, holidays, Christmas/Summer breaks etc. The programs do address some of the problem for sure but not the whole problem of making sure that children are fed. One of my “ideas” was for families with children would be required to have an agreement where “some” of the money is only released as credit at a grocery store that cant be used for cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol. Again, I’m not incredibly educated in these areas and don’t know how difficult a proposal this would be.

As for a support first approach for addicts, I agree completely. Brokenness, loneliness, Stress/Anxiety are 3 things that can keep a person addicted and these 3 things are helped “most” by support. Medicine can be important for stress and anxiety, but in my experience ,support/therapy/friendship, is actually more beneficial to people than the medicines themselves.
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Yeah, this is why I like the “FreshExpress” idea. Fresh meat and veg portioned and easy to cook. Not much resale value but good food
 
Mtdobbs said:
Food programs at schools are fantastic but what about weekends, holidays, Christmas/Summer breaks etc. The programs do address some of the problem for sure but not the whole problem of making sure that children are fed. One of my “ideas” was for families with children would be required to have an agreement where “some” of the money is only released as credit at a grocery store that cant be used for cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol. Again, I’m not incredibly educated in these areas and don’t know how difficult a proposal this would be.
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There is such a program in the U.S. The problem is it ends up being fairly easy to cheat. One major problem is that certain retailers will mark sales as food and then actually sell people alcohol or tobacco. Or people will trade away their benefits and buy things for others and receive money in exchange. These things are illegal, but it’s hard to monitor everyone to stop.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Yeah, this is why I like the “FreshExpress” idea. Fresh meat and veg portioned and easy to cook. Not much resale value but good food
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I like the basic idea, but I know an awful lot of people don’t know how cook, don’t have time to cook, or don’t have the facilities to cook. So you’d need some variant that accounted for that. I do support cooking classes, but that won’t address the other two issues.
 
DarkLight said:
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Mtdobbs:
Food programs at schools are fantastic but what about weekends, holidays, Christmas/Summer breaks etc. The programs do address some of the problem for sure but not the whole problem of making sure that children are fed. One of my “ideas” was for families with children would be required to have an agreement where “some” of the money is only released as credit at a grocery store that cant be used for cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol. Again, I’m not incredibly educated in these areas and don’t know how difficult a proposal this would be.
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There is such a program in the U.S. The problem is it ends up being fairly easy to cheat. One major problem is that certain retailers will mark sales as food and then actually sell people alcohol or tobacco. Or people will trade away their benefits and buy things for others and receive money in exchange. These things are illegal, but it’s hard to monitor everyone to stop.
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Yeah, where I lived formerly EBT cards were frequently “lost” right after the first of the month. By the hundereds.

It wasn’t because people were using them, its because people sold them to poor families not on EBT for a steep discount for cash. It was fairly well known that you could pick up a $400 EBT card for around $200.

Then once the money was spent the EBT recipient would simply say they lost their card and get a new one.
 
Like i said, I’m not very educated in this area. I don’t know how easy to abuse it would be. But I could see how if a grocery store gave you 100$ credit, you could sell it for 80 and 50% of people would take you up on that offer.
 
They should be IDd using the cards.

Should cut down the sale of them.
 
If you were an employer with many employees, how would you take into account “monthly living expenses”? Assume you are the HR VP for Walmart, and you have 2 people to stock shelves:
  • Employee “A” is 18, lives at home with his parents
  • Employee “B” is 35, has 3 children and a wife, who also works part time
Do you have an hourly wage that is different for each worker? Does the employee’s need for insurance, car, cell phone, daycare also impact the wage? Or do you overpay the younger worker beyond his needs?

Does the value the employee generate for the company considered in the wage, or just their needs?

Very curious.
 
blackforest said:
Again, people’s money to meet monthly living expenses has to come from somewhere. Where should that somewhere be?
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Different people have different living expenses, if an employer hired strictly teenagers and senior citizens who have low living expenses,or have other means (savings, parents) to pay them, should they be allowed to pay less?
 
Elf01 said:
They should be IDd using the cards.

Should cut down the sale of them.
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Fake ID’s are super easy to make. And just try to require real, goverment-issued ID to do anything. Good luck.
 
Here’s a way to reduce poverty: find ways to strenthen marriage and relationships. Including solutions to families having to move far away from relatives to pursue work.

Society makes many demands on marriages and families that results in splitting up. That’s how you lose neighborhoods, too. Used to be Catholic neighborhoods and Baptist communities and so forth banded together to help each other out.

We’re a society of little islands now.
 
At a federal level I would bring it to an end. Welfare needs to end for both individual and for companies. All welfare allows is companies like walmart to keep their pay low because they know the government will subsidize. Same with the EITC if a company knows a family will get 3 to 6 thousand from EITC they know they can pay less per hour. You can not improve the system because no matter what you do it will be abused.
 
RCIAGraduate said:
How would you improve the welfare system to better meet the needs of families with children?
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Poor billions into welfare so that they become the new 10 percent owning 90 percent of all the wealth.

When asked by the use to be rich why have i done this, i grin and say i’m just shaking things up man. You’re the one who elected me!
 
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Mandatory drug testing, free child care if they are enrolled in school or working, free city transportation if needed and benefits expire 3 month after graduation and not to exceed 5 years.
 
Angel_Bradford said:
Mandatory drug testing, free child care if they are enrolled in school or working, free city transportation if needed and benefits expire 3 month after graduation and not to exceed 5 years.
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Are you talking about public transit systems, or a more general transportation method?
 
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