Mickey Kaus Quotes

I was once a welfare recipient and am very aware of the successes and failures of this critical safety net. There are those that would have us believe that those receiving TANF benefits are lazy, shiftless, freeloaders who are just sitting around thinking of another way to suckle from the government teat.

A third of all the children born today will be on welfare.

On the one hand we have got to ask, are there some areas of universal benefits that are no longer affordable? But on the other hand let us look at the issue of dependency where we have trapped people in poverty through the extent of welfare that they have.

One of our most unfortunate believes is that a person who lives on welfare is not only unfortunate, but somehow defective.

You're never alone on the dole in Manchester.

It is very easy for middle-class people who come from moneyed backgrounds not to understand what it's like for people when they first go down to the dole office because they've lost their jobs.

This administration is cutting the programs that our Nation and its citizens need most, while dissolving the safety nets created to protect the elderly and less fortunate in this wealthy Nation.

After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair.

The worst thing we could do is impose time limits and then expect people to sink or swim once they move off welfare.

When they seek to cut programs that help families living in poverty, I will fight them every step of the way.

It is rather a shame for a rich country like ours ... that it should allow those who have toiled all their days to end in penury and possible starvation.

What is this War on Poverty? Money is going to people in Chicago who are against me.

The nation’s welfare system is a monstrous consuming outrage…. There should be no government program which would make it more profitable for a person to go on welfare than it would be to work.

Means-tested benefits have one incredible feature in that they impose huge poverty traps.

I wrote my thesis on welfare policy.

For women who turn to welfare, Big Brother becomes Husband.

The biggest and most deadly 'tax' rate on the poor comes from a loss of various welfare state benefits - food stamps, housing subsidies and the like - if their income goes up.

If someone believes that living on benefits is a lifestyle choice, then we need to make them think again.

Programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, and job retraining help Americans get back on their feet when they are down and out and laid off through no fault of their own.

Safety nets for the poor and disadvantaged are a must for any compassionate nation, but encouraging folks to go on the dole when not absolutely necessary is disgraceful.

Governments allocate enormous resources for social programs. And it is true that for many years we have had one of the best social service systems in the world. Yet we are still incapable of meeting the needs of tens of thousands of Canadian families.

There was no welfare state, and people had to rely mainly on the Poor Law - that was all the state provided. It was very degrading, very humiliating. And there was a means test for receiving poor relief.

A large part of crime is economics - if people are working and and have a home and family to support, then I believe you can reduce the crime rate.

The issue I highlight in the book is welfare reform.

There are people who believe in expanding the welfare state across the spectrum of races and ethnicities and creeds.