Fisher
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2012
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The average amount of time someone stays on food stamps is about 9 months. Maybe a little longer now, given economic conditions from the past few years.
Welfare reform in '96 (passed by Clinton) essentially ended "chronic" welfare and replaced it with TANF. You get a maximum of 60 months in your lifetime in most states. After 2 years, recipients are required to work ("workfare") in order to continue receiving assistance.
TANF benefit are also around half as much as welfare benefits in the 1970s.
Social Security Disability is indefinite, but doesn't pay much and is difficult to get.
No, you couldn't.
The cost of the purchases would be immense, as would maintenance and upkeep. It would distort the market, far more than subsidized housing for people with low incomes. It would lock the individuals into those homes, far more than being limited to affording subsidized housing.
We actually pretty much did that in 1996. And here we are, less than 20 years later, hearing the same complaints.
In addition, it was only a few years ago -- with the same exact benefits and safety nets as we currently have -- that unemployment was at or near record lows. What's changed since 2007? The benefits haven't gotten more generous, their motivating power hasn't changed, people still want to work. What's different is that companies just aren't hiring.
Any program or solution to any social program can be improved. However, tossing an entire system overboard that already has limited benefit durations, relatively small payouts, and shows little sign of discouraging people from finding work -- offers minimal benefit.
There are multiple welfare programs people work like a champ. SSI is the final solution and no it is not that hard to get on mental disability. That you think a system can be designed for all times without adapting to a changing society speaks volumes to why the whole thing should be rethought.