My parents were on welfare for about a year when we got in to Canada. No one really wants to employ chemical engeneers that don't speak English.

Even if 50% of people on welfare abuse the system, the other 50% of people it genuenly helps to get started in a country are worth having welfare.

I don't think we should have any welfare or support for people. When did welfare become a basic human right that people seem to think they're entitled to?

What country are they originally from?

Yugoslavia FTW! :)

Don't let them black people reppin' a Yugoslavian heritage get you down. We both know who the O.G. Slavs are.

Tru dat! Tito 4 life!  :)

Well, I didn't think farmers would get brought up in this, but they don't deserve near the federal money that they get.  Has anybody ever noticed how when a farmer retires, he will often have several million dollars worth of land, not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and it is all paid off.  I really just don't get why we still think we have to subsidize these "poor" farmers that have such a tough time getting by...despite them being able to pay off the millions that they have.

As for welfare, it isn't compassion at all.  All it is is greediness.  Elected officials who side with the welfare systems are trying to get a huge majority of voters on their sides.  If people would know anything about economics, a welfare system actually doesn't help the lowest class of people that much at all.  When taxes are increased, the incentive to work is lower, which means that less overall taxes will be paid.  When less overall taxes are paid, less money will be distributed to the poor people.  In the end, higher taxes actually lowers the living standard for everybody (including the lowest levels).  And I never have liked somebody who says you will have to go live on the street...I have seen shows that discuss "professional" beggars, and it talks about how a prime spot can earn you $60k a year or more just from people giving you money.  Not just this, but if you would go to a McDonalds, get a job, and work 30 hours a week, you can afford life (whether or not you can afford the luxuries is besides the point).  People on welfare don't want to get a job because it is all just being handed to them without doing a thing.

It became something that people are entitled to when a larger majority of people (people that don't make a lot of money) decided for themselves that it isn't fair that other people have more money than them, whether or not this is caused by them not working or not giving a rats butt about school when they were in it.  The funniest part about the whole thing is that even if these people made an average of 100,000 a year, and the conservatives made 50,000 a year, in the end, the conservatives would still have CONSIDERABLY more money than the wasteful liberals...and they would still manage to get some of this money from you (in the form of you investing the money, making a profit on it, and then getting taxed on it, rather than them just spending it and not making any additional profits on it).

Something funny that I know from personal experience is a friend of my Mom's that was working part-time.  Based on the number of hours that she worked, she would either receive unemployment benefits for the week or wouldn't receive them (I think it was based on working more or less than 20 hours per week in her instance) (Now I don't know 100% of the story, but this is the just of it).  While she didn't take advantage of it, she would have been better off to work 20 hours and get the benefits than to work anywhere from 21-27 hours, and the 28th hour finally got her a little more money.  So this lady had to work an additional 8 hours a week to make a couple extra dollars, what is the INCENTIVE to do that?

The Mcdonalds comment is hillarious... You expect people who have 10-15 years of education and work experience in a field to come to America as immigrants, get off the boat and go straight to work at Mcdonalds in order feed themselves and their families? I mean, they can learn English while serving freedom fries right?

Anyone thinking welfare is a waste is just being ignorant or uneducated of the good it does. I do agree that there need to be stricter guidelines to who can get welfare, and manditory job training as well as volenteer work...in order to filter out people abusing the system.

Farm subsidies are wrong.  Won't get any arguement from me there.  No bid contracts though... the government needs them.   They can get abused, but often times are needed for the government to get exactly what it needs quick.