john2jer wrote:Is our welfare system screwed up? Definitely. When someone can sit home and make more money by popping out babies than going to work, that's screwed up. Unfortunately I know people like that. But I think it's a good thing to help those that are making a good faith effort to improve their situation, but can't on their own. We need a lot of reform, not deletion of these vital programs. IMO. But, hey what do I know, I'm just a T-Wolves fan.
I completely agree with you here. The welfare reforms of the '90s made by clinton and the republican congress were the best legislation to come out of that decade. A hand up, not a hand out. For years, since LBJ's "Great Society" program, people were stuck in welfare, sometimes for generations, because there was no real benefit to really trying to break free, and risk involved. I don't think anyone is really talking about deleting those programs.
Medicaid and medicare are being abused heavily, not by the people they help, but by the hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics they pay. There is no real way for the government to keep track unless it gets really outrageous. I read somewhere that a place billed the state for an employee working over 400 hours in one week and WE PAID IT. That is where government-based health care is really open to abuse, because a person getting it for free is not going to complain when they are overbilled. A person who actually has to pay the bill is going to notice it though, and an insurance company getting soaked is going to notice it too. But not the government.
My girlfriend is 5'8", with like I said a very tall family, so here's hoping my son can be a 6 foot point guard.