Welfare Woes

After conservatives have spread so many misconceptions to the American public, it is hard to know what facts really show. I credit conservatives with making the current public view on welfare so well....wrong. The inescapable, underlying conservative theme, regarding government entitlement programs, is that most of those that receive welfare benefits are lazy, refuse to work, and they are poor because of it. Therefore, they do not deserve the benefits they receive. As you all know me, I was unwilling to take this argument as a face-valued, fact. However, I was, at the time, unable to provide factual data to support a counter argument. So, I did some research for myself today consulting FedStats, which is an online compilation of survey, polling, and census data brought to you by Big Brother itself. I found the following data in a matter of minutes. All of these numbers are considering the 16 years and older population. Of those who were unemployed in just the year 2009, 88.6% sought jobs. I think that immediately raises a reasonable question of the integrity of the statement "those receiving unemployment benefits are lazy" Another mainstream misconception is that those lazy recipients are mostly African American. However, the data shows that 94% of unemployed Blacks sought work, while 86.9% of Whites sought jobs. I would say that successfully busts the welfare minority myth.
Additionally, I stumbled upon an article from Wiretap Magazine, in which Nathan Tobin states, "The most ridiculous idea is that welfare recipients simply refuse to work for a living: they are lazy bums taking us all for a ride. Mike Males says: "Of course [welfare] recipients don't 'work.' Two-thirds of its beneficiaries are children... Two-thirds of the parents... are disabled. Thus at most, one-fifth of AFDC beneficiaries are 'able-bodied' non-workers." If you have time to check out all of Nathan's piece, I would highly recommend you take a look at it. Just please keep all of this in mind with current debates about the budget, and whether entitlement programs are necessary.