[jhynesrockmtn]

I worked for a few years managing an office for a non profit that did "representative payee" work. Most of our clients were on SSI which is supplemental income for the "disabled" that don't have enough work experience to have paid anything into the SS system. A few years back that got you about $750 per month.

There are folks that are legitimately disabled in this system. There are others that could work but the system discourages that by eliminating any payments when income comes in. If that work is seasonal or irregular in hours it gets really messed up. Many are afraid to even try. It's definitely generational. Folks with limited cognitive ability have kids that function the same. I've met with 3 generations of folks "in the system".

I've testified in front of panels of both SS management and the board that provides guidance to the SS system about making the system work better for folks who want to work. Any feedback basically falls on deaf ears. These are the stereotypical Govt. employees completely entrenched in a system that makes no sense.

It is a complex problem that would be difficult to fix. Yes, being poor is expensive. Poverty is generational. It becomes more difficult with increasingly limited opportunities for simple manual labor type jobs as manufacturing is shipped overseas and done more by computers/robots. Our society is not getting smarter so the problem will get worse. I hate to think what things will look like a few generations from today.