For one thing, it creates dependency. It's a band-aid approach to an old problem but it's in no way the solution.

Welfare should be temporary not a life style.

There's no follow up for the people receiving it. It's one thing to need temporary assistance to survive, but it another thing to use those services for illegal substances. I think that all recipients of welfare should be drug tested throughout the time period they receive services. They should also be forced to provide receipts for items purchased to ensure they are using their money and food stamps appropriately. For example, there are many stores that will "buy" food stamps. They will give cash (I've heard around 60 cents to the dollar) for people who want money. These people then take the money and buy drugs and alcohol. If they fail a drug test or don't have receipts to show what was purchased, then they have their assistance cut off completely. This way the people that truely need temporary help receive it and the people that abuse it won't get shit.

In a temporary situation the welfare system is a pretty good system,but.. The system as it is now does the recipients a great disservice. People have gotten to the point of being totally dependent on the welfare system and fall into a pit that is very hard to get out of. The system needs to be adjusted with provisions set in place to assure that the recipients are taught a skill or educated so that they can become gainfully employed.

Abuse by those not in true need of assistance. It burdens an already overwhelmed bureaucratic mess.

It seems like the people who really need the help don't qualify and a lot of those who do qualify abuse the system. There needs to be a balance in the right direction.

it doesn't appear to work. I find that pretty negative.

It is meant to be a temporary help but they punish you for trying to improve yourself and once you are on the system, it is almost impossible to get off no matter how hard you try. It seems the only ones who can get off the system are the ones who didn't really need it in the first place or those who are lucky enough to have gotten to go to college and get a degree and get a great job. everybody else is screwed.

Well, the people above are right. It should be temporary, and it shouldn't punish those who work hard and do the right thing. Most importantly, it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution says the government can provide for the general welfare of the public, but then it goes on to list EXACTLY how it is to do that. NOWHERE in the Constitution does it say that the Government has a right to take from the people to feed others. This is a huge issue no one seems to be willing to address. Please read the following link about Davy Crockett: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1311972/posts Once this country started pushing more and more welfare programs, the deterioration of our liberties began. The government recently bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, look what happened to them now... The government has now taken them over. This is outrageous! When you let the Government feed you, it will eventually eat you. Our nation was founded on the principles of the free hand of economics, outside sources were not to rule the market (Read Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations). When that free hand is tampered with it messes up our economy every time, that is why we are in the shape we are in. More money is spent on social programs than on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Government was not meant to take over businesses (same thing the Communists did), and it is not supposed to be feeding the poor with our tax dollars. The poor should be fed by private and individual charities not by the Government.

I see three problems with it: 1) It gets spent on the wrong people. Billionaires and lobbyists don't really need it. . http://www.amazon.com/Take-Rich-Welfare-Mark-Zepezauer/dp/0896087069 2) Said fat cats come to be dependent upon this welfare and come to think of it as their 'right'... . http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/20/fed_bailout_of_bear_stearns_first . http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5988183.html . http://www.cnbc.com/id/26382896 3) The Welfare Corpratocracy spends a great deal of time, effort and money trying to convince the American public that it's the AFDC-dependent single mother down the street 'stealing their money' and ruining society, not the people who dumped $2 trillion down the endless black hole of the Iraq war. . http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/ . http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307408027/104-5779746-9579942 . http://www.amazon.com/Big-Con-Washington-Hoodwinked-Economics/dp/0618685405 . . .

welfare is / was suppose to be a "safety net" for those in dire straits.Now its a "entitlement"that strips one of self respect and a desire to rise above their problems in most case's. People grow dependent and that is the greatest disservice of the program

I have nothing negative to say about welfare. It helped my family out when I was younger... when my dad was unable to work and my mom had to take care of him and myself and my brother. I'm sure the program can be improved upon... but I've read a few people state that it's a useless program and is abused more times than not, and I disagree with that.

I think that a lot of people just fall through the cracks in the welfare system/ Not only in America but in other western countries as well.....It is pretty hard to generalize when a lot of the people on welfare are also emotionally disturbed to get an accurate picture of exactly how the system is failing...but it does fail often...That said--it has also helped a lot of people in trouble.

Ignorance, Stupidity, Discrimination and Idiots. *** That is.... the people who have time to dwell on negative issues. Welfare by definition is a "time of prosperity" enjoyed only by the very rich, Celebrity and Stars. The only Government that prints US currency in our country is the American Government. Why give it all to a bank.... go straight to the source. If you were praying to G-D would you go to a shoe sale-man first?

Computers are welfare! Duh!

The biggest problem is the people who abuse it. It makes it so those who really need it can't get it.

It's a burden to the taxpayers, it makes people dependent on it, it strips them of their dignity, doesn't give 'em an incentive to get out and it is often misused to buy alcohol and drugs instead of food and other necessities

Dependency in perspective: Employment based on an Employer paying you and providing benefits. Government works the same way. Its just some of us choose to be socialist or communists instead..... As a boss myself I provide for my employee's families and welfare myself. This is not all that different from what the government does. We just call it something else.... Always ask yourself. Where did this money originate and then take a close hard look at the cash you got from your last paycheck! IT SAYS GOVERNMENT ALL OVER IT!

There are two things that come to mind. One, usually when people are on welfare they have come on hard times, usually becuse they have been out of work for quite some time. Welfare "enables" them way an enabler enables an alchoholic, to collect money for not doing anything. Now I dont mean this as calling people freeloaders which some are and some are not, but what this does is keeps them out of the game. What people need when this gets to this point is to get back IN the game. Not out. They need to get used to working again. When people havent done something for awhile its just harder pshychologically to get back in. Two, there are 10 million things to get fixed in this country so these folks should have no problem doing some sort of government sponsored work. Or there governenment could even pay their welfare to employers who let let them work for them while on welfare and then they would get paid by the employer. Meaning you would get your welfare check you after proof of working. This way those people are back in the game, they get the experience of learning perhaps something new or even a trade that will allow them to get work and perhaps even the employer would ultimately hire them. Its a win win. There are variations but you get the overall idea. Get back in the game, gain some self-esteem and experience and fix all the crap that this country needs help fixing.

Put most simply, if you wish to expand an activity merely subsidize it. Conversely, if you wish to curtail an activity, tax it. "Welfare" as we have come to know it, is an embarrassment, riddled with corruption and fraud. It should rightfully be a service of charities and religious organizations not institutionalized sloth.

It should require that recipients get a real education while they are collecting..and that the welfare be paid back..even if it is $5 a week