The problem is two fold:

«» Stealing from the government (and to a lesser degree big business) is not considered bad and not considered to hurt anyone.
«» In many cases there is no positive or negative motivation to remove yourself, or your family, from pubic assistance.

Coming from a poor background I have more instances of people happily living well off welfare and cheating the system than I do of people that are really in need. I can only think of one instance where a family used welfare when they needed it and then got off the dime. Even in that situation they could have survived without it by say: canceling their $70 a month cable TV and cutting back. I have even known people to quit their jobs so they could get on public assistance because they didn’t want to work anymore.

A gradually diminishing assistance program would really help to get the slackers motivated. The truly unable to work should be thoroughly screened. Getting one doctor to sign a paper saying you have ADD and can not work is not a ticket to live off the government for the rest of your life (another antidotal example from my experience).

I have rarely seen anyone in true need. The one’s that are in true need on streets usually have some major mental health or addiction issues and refuse help.

This is a complex issue but should not be rocket science. You would think the government could do a better job at monitoring and handing out the cash. I’m sure they’ll do a great job with they new healthcare they will be administering, not.