So because you have a lazy ass sister-in-law everyone else is abusing the system? There are plenty of corporations abusing the system but that's ok right? The reason people don't want to get off welfare is because the job market sucks. If she were to get a job it would be most likely for minimal pay when she also must afford day care and other expenses. Where is your brother in all this? Is he assisting her or? Leaving out that piece of information is important.

Assumptions... assumptions... you're good at those. I have no siblings. She is my wife's sister. Her husband left her because he's a scumb-bag (although quite frankly, she is hard to deal with too). He too lives the social handout lifestyle. So does most of his family. He was raised to think that is the smart way to live. No need to work or try hard. Let the government take care of you. That is what they are there for. You likely assumed the person that left her was my brother because we are engaged in an argument. So to you, I'm the bad guy. So since I'm the bad guy, pretty safe to assume that a person I am related to is the one causing these problems with her. Never even thought for a second that sister-in-law could mean she's my wife's sister, did you? Oh, and my point is yes. Most people I've that are involved in multiple social welfare programs do enjoy the fact that they don't have to work a dead end job to get by. But I shouldn't be taxed more because I worked hard and put myself through college and got a decent career and they chose to throw in the towel early on in life and not fight for a better future. And no. The corporations abusing the system in the way they do is evil too and should be stopped as well. I'm not for turning the U.S. in to the Wild West and deregulating everything. I'm just saying raising taxes to bolster social services and "redistribute" wealth is always a veil for take hard working peoples money, throw a crumb or two at the poor to keep them happy and ignorant, and lets make ourselves (the politicians) richer.

You are looking way too much into the brother thing. Nowhere did you mention you had a wife so when telling someone you have a sister in law the most logical answer is you have a brother. Making a bad guy wasn't my point. My point was to show that there are many factors that determine why someone chose a certain lifestyle. I agree holding people accountable and having them take responsibility helps. However, while college was accessible for you it might not be for others. Absorbing a slightly larger cost now will pay off in the future. Reducing the cost of college means more people can attend and graduates have less money to worry about. All of these student loans are given to some loan agency that makes billions of dollars. When more people get better paying jobs, the cost can be spread among even more people. Splitting a $1000 debt between 5 people is a lot easier then splitting it between 2 people. I don't know about you but I would gladly pay higher taxes even though there are people like your sister in law. Because guess what? For every 1 of her there are 10-20 families that struggle and work hard to get by. Our economic system requires people to be at the bottom so to just forget them is ignorant. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Ways to get through college when you have virtually nothing: 1. Go in to the military and serve to obtain the post 9/11 Montgomery G.I. Bill. 2. Go to a community college and utilize BOG fee waivers and grants to not only completely pay for college, but also make money via grant while there (nearly everyone qualifies... especially low income people). 3. Setup a GTA from a community college to go to a state university which will effectively pay for the majority of your final two years of under grad school. 4. Find a great two year program that equates to high pay and good career like being an R.N. (in my state RN's make 80K to 100K annually) and this doesn't even require ever going to a four year college. You can obtain this at the community college level. These are just some of the options available to most of the people that I know that live the social welfare life. All the ones I know could have taken advantage of any of these or multiple and got ahead in life if they just would have been willing to sacrifice and work for it. But they would never do that. Way too tough. I suspect it is because they are lazy and all of that above is harder than sitting on their ass all day eating frozen pizza bites. See you seem to tend to see the world in the light of, "Hey man, it's tough out there... show some compassion.. people are trying." I see the world through the lens of, "Seems like people are lazy and make excuses. I'm sick of having to sacrifice money from my paycheck that could be going towards my family to let people not work because life is tough and scary."

"Join the military!" as an argument is a joke. No one should be forced to join our army because it's the only way to further themselves. This idea is based around the principle that the poor should fight our wars while the rich get to dictate our wars. Community colleges do provide a pathway. I chose this route because it is inherently cheaper. However, the programs that you suggested like RN are highly impacted. My local CC's receive hundreds of applicants a year and can only accept a small minority of them. What are the rest supposed to do? They can apply for other schools but ultimately there is a limited amount of spots available. By removing the cost barrier of Universities we can encourage those that can handle higher levels of college to pursue the higher levels of education. Those who want too can pursue the lower level training that comes with AA programs.

Hey, I joined the military to put my self through school. It is not an argument. It is a viable option and it helped me tremendously. To call it a joke is insulting. Most of your comments have been asinine in my opinion, but that is the first comment you've said that is actually insulting in my opinion. I served with plenty of people who came from good homes and weren't poor. My father made great money and I grew up in an upper-middle class home and he wanted me to go to West Point to become an officer in the Army. Poor has nothing to do with it. I'm just saying it is a viable option that will get you through school. And an honorable one at that. Yeah, RN programs are stacked and tough to get into, guess you better work your ass off and have the best grades and beat out the others. Every point you try to make looks at society as a whole. How can we all be happy? How can we all get by? Because that naive viewpoint of yours isn't is hollow and false. It always has been. And it always will be.