Working Joe vs. Welfare Joe

Another email tale that has been making the rounds for years.
Some are exactly the same, except it's Joe Legal vs. Joe Illegal. Now that one is way off base, as illegals are not fully eligible for welfare bennies as the comparison would have you believe.
But this one is fairly accurate, except for the author being a bit math challenged right at the beginning.

WORKING JOE vs. WELFARE JOE 

You have two families: " WORKING JOE " vs " WELFARE JOE ". Both families have two parents, two children, and live in New York . 

WORKING Joe works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted. 
Welfare Joe does not work, has a Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 per hour "without leaving the house". 

Ready? Now pay attention... 

Working Joe : $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. 
Now take 30% away for local, state, and federal taxes. 
Working Joe now has $31,231.00 net.. 

Welfare Joe : $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200..00 per year. Welfare Joe pays no taxes. Welfare Joe now has $31,200.00 net. 

Working Joe pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Working Joe now has $24,031.00 net. 

Welfare Joe has full medical and dental coverage through Medicaid and local free clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net. 

Working Joe makes too much money and is not eligible for welfare. Working Joe pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year. Working Joe now has $18,031

net. 

Welfare Joe has no documented income and is eligible for welfare. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net. 

Working Joe pays rent of $1,200..00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Working Joe now has $9,631.00 net. 

Welfare Joe receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Welfare Joe pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Welfare Joe still has $31,200.00 net. 

Working Joe pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for auto insurance.. Working Joe now has $7,231...00 net. 

Welfare Joe says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $31,200.00 net. 

Working Joe has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc. 

Welfare Joe has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, buy gas, prepaid cell phone card, (alcohol/cigarettes) and play at the Casino. 

Working Joe now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. 

Welfare Joe has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family and friends. 

Working Joe and Welfare Joe's c hildren attend the same school.

Working Joe pays for his children's lunches while Welfare Joe's children get a government sponsored lunch.

Working Joe's children go home after school, while Welfare Joe's children have an after school program provided free. 

Working Joe and Welfare Joe both enjoy the same police and fire services, but working Joe paid for them with his taxes and Welfare Joe did not.

The numbers may be off a bit. For example 70% of 52k is about $36,400. But the overall idea of this is spot on.
Now, some folks out there may claim that I am a racist. Go ahead, I don't give a rat's ass. The race card is dog eared and no longer has much bite.
Some may claim that this is all preposterous. The ravings of a right wing loon making crap up. Well Che, when my wife and I first married, we lived in a very low rent apartment complex with a large percentage of section 8's (welfare folk in CT getting housing assistance). Mostly white, so suck it on any racist attacks.

I can tell you from that first hand experience that welfare recipients in CT get some pretty hefty bennies. Housing assistance, heating assistance, medical paid, food stamps, school meals, and God only knows what else.
Well, OK, the kid's need shelter and food and so on, and they are innocent in all this, so shouldn't be punished. But consider that those kids grow up to be on welfare, and their kids, and so on. We have several generations of welfare recipients. They know no other life.

Here's a little story to illustrate how utterly corrupt and foul the system is:
One of our neighbors in the aforementioned apartment complex had two kids, each from a different father. She was not married to either, but was currently dating another guy. One day, while chatting with us, she said that if she had a third child, the state would rent her a house. She really wanted a house, so she was considering getting pregnant so she could get one. But she really wasn't sure she wanted a child by her then current boyfriend.
She thought nothing of this. She spoke about it in the same way that we would talk about considering a car purchase. She simply considered welfare to be the way things were, and she would take advantage of whatever was offered.
That was one woman among how many thousands upon thousands?
There are other stories I could tell you about those days, but in the end, all that matters is that I saw and experienced first hand the waste that is the welfare state.

Here is a breakdown of the CT budget.

Where Your State Tax Dollar Goes

Granted, Medicaid is huge, but man there's a lot for programs such as the one our former neighbor was milking.

Don't give me any crap about helping the poor. President Johnson had the best of intentions when he foisted the Great Society on this country, but the end result is a disaster. Poverty is still huge, and no, it's NOT Bush's fault. Hunger, disease, crime, all no better. A permanent underclass has been created, and continues being bred, on and on. We have institutionalized poverty, and enslaved generations to welfare, just so some of us can smugly say "look at all we are doing to help the poor." Don't throw your shoulders out reaching around to pat yourselves on the back.

I offer no thoughts on fixing the problem here. There are many ideas out there, by men and women far smarter than me. I will at some point in the future link to some of those ideas, but for now, this post states the problem that desperately needs to be solved.