That says it all!Bro Tom.....the poor already, generally speaking, get back THOUSANDS of dollars every year when they file their federal tax returns, literally many times what I could ever dream of getting back, due to claiming dependents. I know a lady who said that her cousin who is on welfare with 3-4 children, and a husband who works sporadically, literally gets back $10,000 per year, and she pays no federal income taxes. Does she take that $10,000 per year, and put it towards her child's education? No. Does she take that $$$ and get job training? No. According to my friend, she gets flat screen tv's and other tech gadgets.
See, this is the thing I think you and other well-meaning socialists forget, and please don't get offended. Where I think you and other progressives miss it is that you are educated, have a good job, and want to help the poor. I find this a noble and honorable thing. But because very few of you actually live among the poor, and see their day-to-day lives, you do not accurately access the root of the problem, for the most part. Money management, drug addiction, family cohesion, lack of proper job skills, etc....are at the root of it all, with the spiritual component the most important thing of all.
The fact of the matter is this. Illegals have been using stolen SS#s for YEARS and claiming dependents on their tax returns (dependents that live overseas and probably completely fictitious) and many of them get back $10-$12,000 a year as well. This has been investigated and guess what? Our government knows about this and still allows it.
So what I'm saying is this. The poor get PLENTY of benefits. They don't NEED anymore. They need spiritual help, self-awareness, job skills, etc....they don't need one more darned thing from the government. Again, I believe you mean well, but you and other progressives live in the land of theory, and because you don't actually live in these poorer neighborhoods, and look at the lives AND tax returns of these poor people you want to help so desperately, all that happens is that the taxpayer just keeps getting slammed with paying for all of the freebies and HUGE tax refunds poor people get (people with children or dependents, anyway).
We don't need to "help" the poor anymore. There are literally dozens of programs that help them.