What do you think of the following statement? Is it true or untrue? Is it fact or fiction? Do you agree or disagree?

@Mamapolo2016 great answer

@GlassDog That's encouraging.

@Mamapolo2016 We're slowly making a difference. What we're finding is that women are more responsible with money than men and many traditional charitable donations get given to men and some are not used properly.

@GlassDog In my opinion, that's because the government has all but erased the practical responsibility of men for the children and the messes they leave behind. It has resulted in a perpetual male adolescence and a sharply curtailed youth for women.

I am not speaking of the men who DO take their responsibilities seriously. They are just a shrinking minority.

@SteelHands Those are two anecdotal reports. I said it DOES happen. You just said it does happen. We're not disagreeing. There are thoughtless stupid people who do not care how their behavior affects their children or anybody else. There are people like that everywhere always.

That does not mean it's the norm.

At least in Pennsylvania, anyone who adds children to increase their income as far as actual cash is concerned is very bad at math. Food stamps are a different matter.

That business about having children to scam the taxpayer has just enough truth to give it stamina and legs...but it is, set against the larger picture, very small in numbers.

You cite experience one way, I cite experience another way. Let's just call it a draw.

@SteelHands I appreciate your position. I have years as a caseworker dealing with primarily honest and sincere people who were up against it. A few of them were mad as hatters, and a slightly larger percentage were scam artists. SSI IS a more fertile field for scamming, no question. But even that doesn't begin to hold a candle to other fraud - such as Medicare and Medicaid doctors billing for services not performed, or even the individual Medicaid recipient receiving services they don't qualify for.

Cash/rental assistance is finite. Infuriating, but relatively speaking, almost insignificant numbers. SSI fraud coupled with medical insurance starts to become quite relevant.

The TRULY frustrating situation for me was the person who was doing their damndest to make a go of it and punished for working.

One of my clients was divorced, raising her own two children, a nephew whose parents were both in jail and a niece whose mother had died of a drug overdose. She was working full-time, the kids were always clean, as well-dressed as she could afford, and in good health. They were also courteous and making the grade in school. That almost qualifies as a miracle. Yet, the harder she worked, the less help she received. I finally urged her to appeal a decision I had to make based on the numbers. She needed to be talked into it, but finally did appeal. The day of the hearing, one of her kids got injured at school and she was at the Emergency Room instead of at the hearing.

To the horror of my supervisor, who was also at the hearing, I laid out my reasons for the decision, which was entirely valid based on policy, but was so wrong, and then I gave my opinion of HER position.

The reason this is interesting is because separately, the Judge Advocate presiding over the appeal AND the Department of Welfare ruled in her favor and granted the 'good' medical card she'd appealed about. Why? Because they cared about wrong and right? No, because they didn't want to be held up to public scrutiny.

My action was clearly adherent to policy. Their later action of granting the medical card I had to deny was just as clearly contrary to policy.

We fold when we come to grips with illegal activity - drug dealers and users are financed to an absurd degree while the kids and the elderly go begging.

And the real raw truth of the matter is that whether a child was a failure of birth control, a drunken mistake or an intentional act to increase benefits, the government set it up that way. Stupidly. But the child is still a child who is not responsible for its parents' illegal or immoral behavior. Ignoring that fact will lead to more children growing up as a drain on the system.

We should drug-test welfare recipients. That should be a separate program. if they test dirty, a different way of disbursing benefits should be used to ensure the food and the shelter get to the kids and that they get the medical attention they need.

Punishing the parents will not save the kids.

One final blither: Our Welfare system is DESIGNED, purposely or not, to create a dependent population. We should not be surprised when it works out that way.