I think ya'll have some misconceptions about those poor, welfare dependent people. First of all, if you've ever tried to live on welfare or know people who have, you'd know that it can't be done. So the very fact that these people continue to walk and breate proves that they're providing for themselves and each other, whether they also get welfare or not.
Most, I would guess, do not; especially since we started making it harder and harder for anyone to qualify. If you want statistical type evidence (not to be confused w/ proof) here's one neat little trio of stats. Over the last couple of years 1.4 million more americans fell below the (rediculously low) official poverty line. During those same years, the right-wing zealots have been patting themselves on the back at every opportunity, bragging about how effectively they've reduced the welfare roles (w/ the strong implication that this is synonymous w/ reducing poverty, it is not). Then, just this past week, after we suckers got done paying over $3/gal for regular old gassoline, Exxon reports setting a brand new record for quarterly profits. Not net earnings, not cash flow, but profit--that which is left of net income after taxes and all other inventory.
So... who's fuckin who and where'd the money go?
Finally, of the 150k or so people stranded in NOLA when someone (Nat Guard, maybe?) blew a hole in the 17th street levee, only a few behaved like criminals. The rest behaved like people normally do in a crisis; looking out for their own and their families' and friends' basic needs and lending a hand to others where they could.
The government response to NOLA has been essentially the same as the government response to IRAQ. First, send in the guns and start killing people. If we get around to it, well maybe we can scrape up some food and water for the survivors, if they behave themselves anyway.
But that's government for ya'. Giving them money and power is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenaged boys. When will we ever learn?
From the bottom of any large organization looking up through the ranks, human greed and stupidity look a lot like a conspiracy.
--S. Gilbert