Do you know anyone completely living on government welfare?

[Niagara716]

I got to know someone at the gym quite a while ago who was 28. I was impressed with how often he worked out and we got to know each other. What I discovered later was pretty shocking to me. This person has never worked, never graduated from high school and never even signed up for selected service. He has been on SSI his entire adult life; apparently his mother, who had 10 kids with 8 different men, got all her kids on it and never worked a day in her life. That is how she survived - having these kids, reading up on what you can get SSI for, coaching them on how to behave at school, etc.

I was very angry at this guy's mother for basically creating a disability (where none exists) primarily for her own financial gain and her desire to never have to work. This woman just died last month, this guy is now 35 and has never worked, and I do not believe he is disabled. He even writes books, he works out, he does all these things any functional adult does yet is vehemently opposed to ever working or even volunteering. He uses this 'I'm disabled with ADHD & OCD' every single time. It infuriates me that he is getting SSI while the rest of us are paying for it, and I know of people who truly need it - and are working full time jobs in agonizing pain - and are denied. There has to be a way to weed out these people who are using this as a way to survive because they either don't want to work, or they used up their 5 year maximum on welfare and now are suddenly 'disabled'.

I think a lot of these people hopped on the SSI/Disability train after the welfare laws went into effect (the 5 year limits) because I see a lot of people who were previously on welfare and rather than get job training they figured out how to carve out some kind of disability and now they are getting government money - permanently.

SSI/Disability was meant for people who can not function - like can't stand, or are so mentally disabled they can't go out in public, etc. It was not meant for people under 30 who are looking for a way not to have to work.

I could contact SSI and 'turn him in'. But here's the saddest part of this: his mother created this. This person, at 35, with no education, zero work history, zero work ethic, will never survive without SSI at this point. He would be on the streets and I will not be a part of doing that to him. It is really a shame that there isn't some kind of Job Corps (which is a great program but only for people 16-24) for adults because people like him need to be able to get some kind of job skills/training and develop some kind of trade. Those who will be taken off these programs will be otherwise on the streets without some kind of job training.

At 18 or 20 I think there's still hope for someone like this but by 35, I'm afraid it's too late. You can't teach someone to value working or care about earning a living when they see the wages they'd get working at 7-11. But I will say this: people like him do very well at acting the part, but are very, very intimately aware of any/all benefits and free services available to them as well as their civil rights in depth. This guy even moved to California to rent a cheap room from some guy because apparently you get more SSI money a month in California. It's just insane to me that someone can work that hard at trying to get something for absolutely nothing (and the cherry on top is when he calls that SSI check 'his money').

[Buckeye77]

I haven't read the whole thread so pardon me is this is redundant...

How about the 100 U.S. Senators and the 435 U.S. Representatives as a starting point?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Originally Posted by want to learn

........do you know anyone like this and what is their story?

I meet them all the time. They come in and apply to rent from me. They can't make it to early morning appointment and even at 10 AM, if I call them, I wake them up.