@Cakers3 wrote:
We can argue statistics to death about who abuses the system and who should pay more taxes etc. etc. etc.
This is not about fraud and free school lunches; there is more underneath that is not being addressed.
Why do we have so many hungry children (and adults) in this country?
Why do we have so many famiilies in distress that we lack enough social workers to assist in this area?
Why do we assume that all folks with money are hoarding their hard earned money and not doing their share of helping out? Loopholes aside.
We need to look back and see how it came to be that more children need these services and that there are more families facing being torn apart due to abuse - physical, emotional, drugs, alcohol - name your poison.
Unless we get a grip on why families and children especially are in dire straits we will never be able to minimize the need for these services.
What a terrible reflection on priorities. Worry about a free lunch instead of why that lunch is needed in the first place. SMDH
@Cakers3
You ask many good "why" questions, and there are some partial at least, answers.
More people are in poverty in this country than before.
The jobs are gone. The good ones. The higher paying, with benefits, don't need a lot of post secondary education, last 30 year jobs. A combination of corporate greed, government taxation and regulation, and automation. Until we solve the jobs problem (and it isn't by raising minimum wage to $15 an hour) we will see the poverty.
The breakdown of the family. I'm sure I'll be taking a hit with this one, but it is true. Two parent families with strong values, mom's having help raising and developing the children's values, supporting the importance of education, and demonstrating responsibility and love. The influence of multiple generations in a child's life.
The politically correct attitude that everyone is entitled to...(health care, housing, food, education, etc., and the list is getting longer everyday) regardless of whether they are willing to contribute to the earning of it or not. None of this is free. The money for it has to come from somewhere. When fewer and fewer people are paying into they system that supports it, it simply isn't sustainable. But more and more people are qualifying, and many who don't, still find a way in. Back in the day, people had pride. They didn't want to take help, if they did, they only took what they needed for as long as they needed it, they were motivated (some, even if only by shame) to return to being a contributor not a recipient.
Lack of personal responsibility. Fewer people really take responsibility for their actions in life. And they do it because the can.
The system itself begins to feed on itself. It continues to grow, and begins to promote it's goods, as a means of growth and survival. The radio here is full of ads encouraging people to come on down and get some benefits. In one, there are two ladies that are supposed to be of retirement age, and one is pretty much telling the other, who never really asked, to go and sign up for the free food and phone that the government is giving away. People no longer have to go and look for 'help, the agencies are recruiting people, like they have some kind of a quota to fill.
And some of the other things you mentioned. Drugs, such a big thing, and alcohol, that lead to so many not able to take care of themselves, or their families.
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