Ever wonder why no one ever seems to get off Welfare? Maybe it’s because the money is so good. As of Labor Day 2013, 35 states paid more in welfare benefits than workers making minimum wage do. Everything was taken into account in the report by Cato’s Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes. Making more than minimum wage includes the average Earned Income Credit refund made to working families. But in some states, the benefits are much higher. In Hawaii, you would need a job paying over 60k to make the same as you do on Welfare. The median income in Hawaii is only 61k. So basically if you are on Welfare, you are in the middle class.
“The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work. Welfare currently pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states, even after accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit,” which offers extra subsidies to low-income workers who take work. In 13 states [welfare] pays more than $15 per hour.”
In five states, you make more than a worker making 20 dollars an hour. Is it any wonder people make a career out of Welfare? Don’t let the liberals fool you when they tell you that Welfare recipients get a very small cash benefit. But you get your rent paid for you. You get your medical paid for you. Your food is free as well as your utilities. You get a free Obama cell phone. And you can pick up extra money as a paid protester for any number of liberal demonstrations.
In Sweden, which is considered the ultimate welfare state, the government taxes welfare benefits and now 85% of all citizens hold jobs as opposed to the European average of 70%. Under Obama, benefits have increased at an unprecedented rate.