Reminds me of the Reagan lies about "welfare queens". It's been the hot strategy for conservatives for the past four years. A strategy of repeating myth after myth about those who are on welfare or food stamps until the entire conservative base is singing the same tune. People on welfare are lazy! Most people on welfare don't want to work!
I'll re-post mine from earlier...
In the other thread pertaining to Paul Ryan's statement, I linked data from a report from the Washington DC area that showed that less then 1/4 welfare recipients were meeting their obligations for receiving their check (mandatory community service and/or job applications), yet continued to receive them.
...if kids see that mom & dad get the check in the mail, and then blow off the responsibilities that are supposed to be tied to that check, it doesn't exactly foster a culture of responsibility.
D.C. struggles to meet welfare work requirements | WashingtonExaminer.com
Only about one in five D.C. welfare recipients able to work did the necessary job searching required by law to be eligible for government payments in fiscal year 2012, according to Mayor Vincent Gray's budget proposal.
Those requirements can include job training classes or participating in community service activities.
Just 22 percent of welfare recipients whose cases are managed by private vendors -- a majority of those receiving federal funding in the District who have been determined eligible to work, according to the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute -- met federal guidelines. That's even lower than the District's 26 percent target.
While the "conservative lie", as you put it, about "all welfare collectors being lazy and not wanting to work" might be a slight exaggeration, to pretend that there isn't a problem with the welfare system is equally naïve for liberals to believe.
As noted, there are places in this country where less than 1/4 actually meet the obligations (searching for a job, community service, or free job training), that means the other 3/4 that are collecting (that are able to work), simply collect the check, and give the government the finger when it comes time to hold up their end of the deal.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I don't know what's more sad, the fact that only 22 percent of people receiving free money hold up their end of the deal...or the fact that the district's goal is 26%. If you're giving someone free money, I would expect the goal to be somewhere around 90%.