On the cycle of dependency

"This is why the distinction between cyclical unemployment and structural unemployment matters. If you’re a construction worker in Florida, for example, the recent recession has been terrible, but there is every reason to expect that eventually the housing market will recover, and there will be more work. So if you go on unemployment for a few months or accept Medicaid and food stamps, this is not necessarily the beginning of a cycle of permanent dependency.

On the other hand, if you’re a teenage girl in Owsley County, Kentucky, and you go on “the draw” after you get pregnant, it’s likely you’ll never get out of poverty, because there is just no prospect of economic growth in your community."

I've seen this cycle up close and personal.  I've also seen the abuse of this cycle.  People who work under the table in order to continue to receive benefits, stealing from those who cannot.

I've seen families that for 3 generations have had no one have a real job or education.  Why would they?  When they get a check for staying at home, having kids before they graduate from high school and the dropping out of school.  They get their rent paid, most of their utilities paid, their food paid for by all of us.

What incentive do they have to get off the dole?

What incentive do they have to try to better their lives?

We right now have lost not one but two generations of our society to the apathy of free stuff.