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DEAR EDITOR:
No one really wants to talk about this. Welfare was designed for those individuals not capable of working -- widows, children, the elderly and disabled -- not for an entire family that is capable of work.
The continuation of government dependence induces destruction of the family unit, a subtle destroyer to work. Since the increasing divorce rate and people not entering into marriage have increased poverty and have pushed more onto welfare, 18 million people in seven states alone are on welfare, but not for more than five years. Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Nebraska have no time limits.
Since 1964, $22 trillion has been spent on the "War on Poverty" but it has had little impact on reducing poverty, so our government and the politicians are doing something wrong.
President Bill Clinton required that people on welfare must work 20 hours per week. President Obama took that rule away. President Trump put that requirement back. President Biden took this away. This gives individuals an incentive not to work, and more people therefore go on government assistance.
Baby boomers did their job, and 85 percent of us worked. Now it's up to the younger generation to go to work. In 2020, only 63.5 percent of the population worked, and the actual unemployment now is 6.3 percent, not 3.9 percent.
The government is lying to us. Surprised? In 1964, there were 18 workers per Medicaid recipient. Today it is two.
The money was to be used for a hand up, not a hand out and to turn tax eaters into taxpayers. But it has turned out to be the opposite.
Welfare discourages work and penalizes marriage. Forty-one percent of children are born outside of marriage; in 1967, it was 7 percent. The collapse of marriage is the main cause of child poverty today, not to mention the father figure needed for the child.
An estimated 59 million Americans receive welfare. So you can see 50 years of failure. Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioners, two-thirds have cable or satellite TV, 40 percent have a wide screen TV, three-fourths have a car or truck or both, 96 percent of people on welfare ay their children do not go hungry.
So, as you can see, this country is not poor, just poorly run.
RUTH LILLEY
Niles