I am happy for you that in your lifetime you have never had to depend on government largess. 50% of us, or more, are not in the same boat. Good thing we had some, miniscule social safety net to protect us ... from you and those who think like you.
Stuff happens. Most of the poor people I know became poor through no fault of their own. They got unlucky. It's that simple. I hope you never get unlucky. If you do, I hope your ideology bites you in the buttocks.
-Laelth
Bovine organic waste matter. I've been thru harder times growing up than you EVER have. I'm sure many people here can say the same thing. Not once did I think to blame someone else for my "bad luck". I've had a job of some kind or another since I was 8 and could push a lawn mower and deliver papers. That money was to help out the family because Pa Perky did not believe in welfare. Things were damned tough here back in the late 70's.
I have been formally unemployed exactly 1 week and 2 days since 1981, the day I turned 16. The 2 days were when I was 17 and got fired cause the manager pissed me off, and the week was when I was leaving 1 job and going to another and took a week in between to go on vacation.
No loser, luck had nothing to do with it. I have worked harder and longer than everybody else at every job I ever had. So much so that I never had to worry about being laid off. Company I worked for one time folded. I went out to all my clients that day, told them the company went tits up, and had 6 job offers to do the same thing I was doing. Had a job by noon.
No, luck has nothing to do with it. You make your own luck.
Now that does not mean I do not support having a safety net for someone that has hit hard times. Everyone needs a helping hand along the way from time to time. The way it has turned out is that the safety net is now a cradle. Too many people with your way of thinking. Sooner or later, you will outnumber the people that think like me and it will all fall apart. See Greece for reference.
I don't care though. I and my kind will survive. Your kind will shrivel up and die. Rightfully so in my opinion. It happens in nature to the wildlife, it will happen to your type.