Precisely what I'm getting at.

we have child allowance here as well. i would rather see it vary on your income (so someone on the poverty line gets much more than someone well off) so that way they wouldn't need a welfare cheque as well.

What do you consider a livable wage?

Maybe it's different in different states but you have to provide information about how much you make and if you are going to school. You also provide your social security. So if you end up lying to them and telling them something that isn't true then you are committing fraud and will be arrested when they do fraud sweeps which they do every once in awhile. Unemployment benefits are something that the employer pays into and I don't see that the same way as applying for food stamps/welfare. Unemployment is a good buffer to help you out after an employer fires you/get laid off/downsized while you are looking for another job. What your younger brother and his gf are doing is illegal if they lied about it and they will get locked up sooner or later.

They have job corps that is focused more of trade skills. It's kind of similar to military school but it's usually for 18 years to like 25 I believe.

Unfortunately job corps doesn't really seem to advertise. It would be amazing if high schools would steer students not on the fast track to college to job corps, but that just doesn't happen as far as I know.

Oh man. This is hysterically horrifying.

He's so sure that he's going to be in for two terms.

There won't be another presidential election.

I think one truth that a lot of lower class people don't want to admit is that most of them are only where they are because they put themselves there. Yeah, they work their asses off at their job, usually harder than most upper class people can fathom, but they never put the effort into getting themselves out. Dumb decisions and ****ty spending habits will forever keep certain people down.

Now the truth that upper class people don't want to admit is despite the fact that yes, you did have to work to get to where you are at, where you are at has much more to do with luck and being in the right place at the right time than any kind of work ethic that set you apart from the lower class people. Face it, if these people were put in the same place as many lower class people were they would get stuck too.

Of course there are always exceptions, but hey.

Oh, and as for taking advantage of the system for welfare and food stamps, it's pretty damn easy. People are always getting away with lying because they don't check up on it is often and strict as they say the do. I know, I've seen it happen. At the same time it does not happen nearly as often as people think. Most people that have admit to using these benefits are the people that used it for a short time when they needed it. And they didn't make it well known that they used it. In fact, a lot of people are embarrassed or ashamed of it. Something I noticed when discussing the topic before.