[CamB]

Matt

I tried to figure out the number, and gave up... hence I handed it over to you.

What I did find was something (reputable) which suggested that less than 2% of the population "depend" on welfare (more that 75% of family income from welfare) and that only around 20% of people on welfare are long term (>5 years).

It is pretty bad statistical practice to multiply those numbers to get the number of those dependent on welfare in the long term, but I'm gonna do it. That makes 0.4%. Given that includes people who may genuinely be unable to work, and a degree of solo parents for whom a job isn't necessarily the best choice (I believe that, because I believe in parenting), then maybe my 0.1% on welfare out of laziness isn't far off.

Seriously, being on welfare long term would suck. Sure, you don't have to work, but as you've noticed you do have to live in a trailer park and do cash work to make ends meet. For a certain bad apple percentage of the population, this is apparently acceptable. I'm happy to see a minor level of abuse and have a functioning welfare system for those who need it.

Why is it that I can accept that some soldiers do bad things in war, but few soldiers are bad people, yet many conservatives can't accept that most on welfare need it, and only a few are screwing the system?