The 4 Types of People on Welfare Nobody Talks About
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-4-types-people-welfare-nobody-talks-aboutDo read it all. And for those about to blather right-wing arguments, I direct you to the three last sentences before the lemon bar picture.
(...) Getting out of poverty requires massive sacrifices. This is the part that seems to be the hardest for others to understand, because the easy answer is "Well, no shit, I sacrifice hobbies, sleep, and even time with my family for my career. If I can do it, you can do it, too, Poor Person!" But urging someone to sacrifice is making a huge, unspoken assumption: that they have something to sacrifice in the first place. If they're unemployed, they're in a Catch-22 where they need a car and a working phone to get a job, but they need a job to afford a car and a working phone (and yes, if you are lacking both of those things, your application is almost certainly going in the trash -- they won't hire somebody they can't call in for work on short notice).
And if they are employed, it's actually worse. This is why that stat about how most of the poor have jobs is so important -- it's one thing to ask somebody to sacrifice sleep and bong time in order to get a job, but it's another to ask them to sacrifice their paying job in favor of college classes or an internship that won't pay anything. At that level, the current employer doesn't give two shits what else you're trying to fit into your schedule. Throw kids into the mix, and it gets more complicated still. You can't get ahead because all of your time, money, and energy are being poured into just maintaining the life you're currently living.
That's how they get stuck in perpetual welfare. They're using 100 percent of their time, money, and efforts to maintain this level of basic life -- including the government assistance. Without some kind of outside intervention, they just never break free. This isn't theory -- I've seen it happen. I grew up with it. And it's terrifying to see that machine in action. After continually fighting it for so long, people just give up and resign themselves to that life.
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I was lucky and able to (so far) get out of that cycle, but it wasn't easy, and luck + being a tall white guy had a lot to due with it, too.
I haven't forgotten where I came from and will not let a off hand remark at the office disparaging the poor go without challenging it, and using it as an educational opportunity... though some still resist the info I give them, some do turn around though it often takes years.
What really get's me are the ones who came from poverty, yet forget that and spout the RW BS talking points to try to fit in corporate america, though I got an 'up-by-your-bootstraps' story that is hard to top, I point out every way I was only able to get where I am today with the help of many, MANY people and institutions, that they rely on, too but often over look.
Thanks for sharing 
my sociology professor said that one of the projects he had to do was to survive for one month in a different city, without contact of friends or family, with just the shirt on his back and a social security card. he learned how to survive on the streets. I don't recall just how far he got in one month.
my point is that there are so many variable that can effect or determine the course of your life. and I hope I don't offend anyone but what I have learned is those variables include what your born into, healthy or unhealthy family relations, the color of your skin, whether you have a physical or emotional disability, do your parents, where your neighborhood is located(is there public transportation? are you close to gov't services or community programs?), the local economy, ... and there's luck. Sometimes it's just luck.
am I making sense? We really don't start with a level playing field.
