It's sad that we even have jobs so below to poverty line, reliant on social aid programs to live. Someone working 40 hours a week should not be on government aid. Unfortunately for Walmart's terrible pay (and the terrible minimum wage in general), it's quite common.
My fiancee has been steadily employed by a different retail chain and was on Medicaid/etc because of the useless minimum wage pay.
Now we're double income (along with a moderate engineer pay), so she no longer needs that, thankfully.
"Someone working 40 hours a week should not be on government aid."
This has nothing to do with Walmart, because they pay above minimum wage.
If you have 3 kids (a personal choice) and have no choice but to work at Walmart (because of a lack of skills), and you are forced to get government assistance, you need to start re-evaluating your personal choices.
The problem is that everybody has different needs and should make decision accordingly. Many people make bad personal choices and can't support themselves on the standard, minimum wage. The healthcare system does need to be fixed, but also needs to be more stress on personal responsibility.
"My fiancee has been steadily employed by a different retail chain and was on Medicaid/etc because of the useless minimum wage pay."
I have a hard time believing she was getting minimum wage. My Wife has worked at almost every single retail chain stocking and doing other various jobs and has always gotten paid more than minimum wage.
All of the fast food chains and most retail stores in my area pay at least $2/hour above minimum wage. The reason is because market competition has pushed the wages up and they wouldn't be able to find many workers at anything less.
> you need to start re-evaluating your personal choices
Note that at that point, you have essentially no option. You can't retrain because the Government is entirely unwilling to look after your family while you do, and you can't save money on retail wages to be able to quit your job to retrain. You're stuck until your children are able to support themselves.
"You can't retrain because the Government is entirely unwilling to look after your family while you do,"
So the answer is to just shrug our shoulders and make it easier and easier for more people to get themselves into the situation because the government or the taxpayers will bail them out?
Why is this the job of the government? If this is the case, I, the taxpayer, should have a lot more control over the people that decide they need me to pay for their kids while they retrain. The government should have complete control over the family and money decisions (IE: no drugs, alcohol, or expensive gadgets) while on the dole.
The people that do the right thing and make better personal choices always seem to get punished these days. I don't have a problem using some of my tax dollars to help the needy (I donate money every year to the poor), but when there are egregious abuses of the system, we should have some say in how our money is spent.
How about making it easier for people to get themselves out of the situation?
It is the job of the government if people decide it is the job of the government to provide a safety net.
And it ought to be in part on the assumption that a proportion of those who finds themselves in such as situation either is there without fault and/or want to improve and stop being a drain on the taxpayer. Investing in their future is also investing in increased tax revenue and reduced future benefits payments.
> So the answer is to just shrug our shoulders and make it easier and easier for more people to get themselves into the situation because the government or the taxpayers will bail them out?
It's already easy to get into a situation where you get stuck working paycheck-to-paycheck and can't get out of it. Very, very easy. What's your solution for people who are actually in this situation?
Also, your country's obsession with controlling people on the dole is insane. In pretty much the entirety of the rest of the world, people get money and are expected to spend it on housing, food, and a little bit left over to spend on things to keep mentally healthy. If it turns out they can't manage that, then money can be sent directly to your landlord and municipal-funded organisations can come in to help you sort your llife out.
My fiancee has been steadily employed by a different retail chain and was on Medicaid/etc because of the useless minimum wage pay.
Now we're double income (along with a moderate engineer pay), so she no longer needs that, thankfully.