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Charles, the numbers are 18 years old. Do you have more recent stats? I think the overall welfare roles have declined and the racial percentages might have changed, too.

However, the "right wing lunatic fringe" press gives the impression that only black teen age, crack smoking, welfare mothers with children from different fathers are on the public dole.

And they also imply if only these people could straighten up and fly right we would be able to overcome our financial problems in this country.

I don't know what the magnitude is of these welfare programs, but I suspect it is a very small fraction of the public funds that we used for the corporate bailout and the War on Drugs.

I went to the Urban studies Institute and found this data, I then just googled demographics by race people on welfare got the same numbers.

I keep finding these statistics for the year 2008 on welfare 38.8 per cent white, 37.2 per cent African America, 17.8 per cent Hispanic, 2.8 Asian, Other 3.4 percent
It needs to be included that African Americans make up 14 percent of the population.

Yichel just made an excellent point that I was going to make . It is misleading and intellectually dishonest to throw out only half a figure the way you did Charles . To be meaningful the incidence of welfare has to be expressed as a percent of the total population . If one does that and presents a TRUE FIGURE , one then finds out that the welfare rate for blacks is more than TWICE as high as it is for whites . Your protestations of not being racist to the contrary , Charles , you just presented a misleading and racially biased post .

I was a welfare mother. Back in the early 70's I was on AFDC for about a year, then in the 80's I was enrolled in the Food Stamp program. I was one of those who used it as a springboard to jump off to somewhere better. But back then they had training programs (like Manpower and a half dozen others) to give a hand up to people who couldn't afford college.

Charles, it is no secret that there are some whites on welfare. It is the proportions to overall population that are alarming. Here are some interesting stats:
view link

" But back then they had training programs (like Manpower and a half dozen others) to give a hand up to people who couldn't afford college. " lollykoko

I attended one of those vocational schools in the early 60s. There are even more of them now.
view link

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Sure there are vocational schools, if you can come up with the big bucks for tuition.

Just for fun, I went to my state and looked up my job classification. How do you gain certification as a machinist at an on-line school, I wonder? On-line or mail-in the three links said.

So then I went looking for a link to an actual brick and board school for any job classification. There are none located in this town, someone would have to drive at least 90 miles round trip each day for classes.

I guess I didn't spell out clearly that my training program in the early 70's AND my college education were funded by the Federal Government. I received grants to pay for a portion of my expenses and took out student loans for the rest. I worked and raised kids at the same time. But if it hadn't been for that federal check to pay my tuition I might still be a frustrated person in a service job wishing that I'd be able to retire.

BTW, the first year I worked in the plant allowed me to pay off my student loans. By the time I had been there three years I had put enough federal income tax back into the system to re-imburse all the tuition checks I received. For the next 17 years I paid as much in federal taxes as was earned by a full-time minimum wage earner annually (assuming 2000 hours as full time employment).

There are grants and help now as well. My daughter got a Pell grant for a techinical school and had to take a loan for the rest. I pay $50 a month for her loan. People with NO money do way better getting these grants than people with a little money, so say that you have NO money.

She could not pursue the career she was trained for, however, because she failed the internship because it triggered an addiction that she has. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Still paying here.

They say that there are three types of lies: "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics."

However, coming from a Mathematical background, (I like statistics), and I am interested in looking at the numbers, especially when it involves a large population, because that says something more than simple prejudiced thinking.

For example, when I was an actuary, I was establishing the death rates of smokers and non smokers. Now we all know somebody who lived to be a 100 and smoked three packs of cigs a day. And that is the exception. But the large number of smokers die about five years before the non smokers.

Because of that fact, I gave up smoking. Now I may not live to 100, but I was trying to get the odds working for me. Because I really do want to live to 100.

When looking at the welfare roles, everyone will agree that we have a problem. And only by looking at the numbers we might find a way to solve it.

For example, on another discussion in this group, the proposal was made to forcibly sterilize welfare mothers after so many babies. (BTW That was done in this country up until 1981.) However, aside from the legal and moral issues involved, did that really work? Did we really reduce the number of welfare payments and / or the number of welfare mothers? And the other question would be was that the real reason or cause for that reduction? Perhaps by birth control, abortions, or a general reduction in the youth population maybe that was the most significant factor.

To have a simplistic plan like "JUST SAY NO!" I don't think that will solve the problem. And to be relatively flexible with ethical considerations would also be helpful. For example, if a person does not believe in abortions, then don't have one, but don't prevent someone else from having one.

I start with the assumptions that very few people want to be on welfare; And that most people do not want to have more children than they can manage; And that most women do not want to have an abortion. Then agreeing on the assumptions, to design policies that will help solve the problem.

Bernie, I can agree with those assumptions. I wish everyone could.

I did post the date of this post for a reason. If you read the thread " Another true Americanby Kerry Cook ", you might get the context of this thread. This post is about those assertions in that thread.~Smile~