So many things in this thread. so little time.
a)
single mothers on welfare - its the cliche, isn't it? Does anyone actually have any idea what percentage of people on welfare are actually abusing the system? The stats I've seen for New Zealand (and we have a much more generous system) are that it is pretty minimal, and that is measuring it in the least accurate way (percentage of people remaining on welfare for long periods of time). I guess all I want to get across is that it is pretty easy to say "worthless people on welfare" but not everyone on welfare is worthless, and those that meet somebody else's definition of worthless (personally, I'm pretty uncomfortable with that term) are, I would guess, not material.
b)
single parents with kids earning a low amount of money - once the kid is there, I'm guessing you're screwed. In between trying to raise a kid(s) alone AND work, I would expect that for the majority of single parents (and even many low income married couples) the concept of continued education and career advancement is somewhat of a dream. It is simple economics to state that the pay rate for minimum wage, unskilled jobs will increase by only around the rate the economy grows. Often, these jobs are hard work.
Having said that, I'm not sure what the solution is - the thing I'm most uncomfortable about with governments redistributing income is NOT that it takes away from me and gives to someone "worthless". My problem is that it compresses income levels at the bottom of the range and effectively subsidises certain products and services (those performed by low income workers). This is inefficient.
c)
Racism measured by access or outcomes - highest level, minorities are relatively poor. Digging down, adjusting for other factors, minorities may be approximately as poor as non (poor people are equal?). These are the "outcomes". The "access" might be slanted the other way (more access to minorities) to outcomes. At the highest level, there is an outcome problem. So what is the proper measure - access or outcomes?
Not sure I made much of a point in most of that. But who cares
