Quote from Scataphagos:
The Government SHOULD guard the public purse like it were the Crown Jewels... which in fact, it is.
But those in power toss benefits around willy nilly in order to secure votes. They should be caned/whipped/jailed for that.
As with most everything else, the lashing out at recipients masks where the bulk of the blame should really be directed at -- the feet of government and corporations.
We'd have a whole lot less of all entitlements if the "right" to vote had to be suspended while on government subsistence. Same goes for the "right" to contribute to a political campaign if you're in the midst of laying off workers or shipping jobs off-shore.
Interestingly enough, the WSJ did a piece on foodstamps today. Funny how a lot of the capitalist "red" states have higher percentages of foodstamp recipients than the socialist "blue" states. CA and NJ at less than 10% while TX is just as bad as NY with 15% receiving foodstamps.
About 1 in 7 in U.S. Receive Food Stamps
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/05/03/about-1-in-7-americans-receive-food-stamps/