So, where's the incentive for anyone in this ‘Age of Obama’ to go in search of an actual job, even one that pays the minimum wage, when in 35 states welfare benefits top the amount one could earn, after taxes are factored in. That little bit of information comes to us by way of a recent study conducted by the Cato Institute. And you may not know that many welfare 'benefits' are actually tax-free. "The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work," the report for the libertarian think tank says. "Welfare currently pays more than a minimum wage job in 35 states, even after accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit." Is that not just plain nuts?
And if that doesn’t get ya, in 13 of those states, the total value of welfare 'benefits' actually exceeds $15 per hour, or $600 a week. "If Congress and state legislatures are serious about reducing welfare dependence and rewarding work, they should consider strengthening welfare work requirements, removing exemptions, and narrowing the definition of work," the report states. The report went on to say, "Moreover, states should consider ways to shrink the gap between the value of welfare and work by reducing current benefit levels and tightening eligibility requirements." Well now there's a no-brainer, but what do think the odds are of it actually being done?
The federal government spends $668.2 Billion a year on welfare, while states dole out another $284 Billion. So what we're really talking about here is nearly $1 Trillion, much of which is nothing more than pure waste! The report goes on to name Hawaii as being the most generous to its welfare recipients, followed close behind by Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts. No surprise there, as these are three of the most liberal enclaves that you'll find anywhere in the entire country. Such are the symptoms of the disease known as liberalism where it has now become accepted behavior for able-bodied people to simply forgo employment and to instead simply live off those who do choose to work.
Is this not completely the opposite of what it used to mean to be an American? The American work ethic was the standard against which the work ethic of others were measured. But somewhere along the line that all changed, and now, as we find ourselves trapped in the 'Age of Obama', this willingness, if eagerness, to become what is really nothing more than a parasite on our fellow man, is now at near epidemic levels. What happened to us? When taken as a whole, many countries now work more hours than do we Americans. We no longer set the standard. We've essentially become nothing more than a joke, a has-been, and therefore no longer worthy of respect.
And yet, I see very little evidence that most Americans even care. We've allowed ourselves to become convinced that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being with being mooch. It’s beats having to work for a living. And there would seem to be no amount of shame or guilt that will convince very many in this country today that there is much more to be gained than a paycheck from going out and putting in an honest day’s work. Try to tell that to someone who expends the majority of their daily exertion going no further than the mailbox to pickup their welfare check, and all you get in return is that proverbial deer in the headlights look. Ah yes, the "Age of Obama."
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