I managed to get my girlfriend pregnant when I was 18. What can I say — I was young and ridiculously stupid. In order to pay for the doctor visits, delivery, etc., she went on medical assistance. Had we had to pay for those visits, we would’ve been in a ridiculous amount of debt, I likely would’ve needed to put my college career on hold, if not drop out altogether, and it would’ve set me back years, if not decades — making it even more likely that I end up on welfare or some other form of assistance to get by.

Instead, we had a healthy baby boy, who some of you have met a few times. And while the relationship with his mom didn’t last, I was able to stay in school while working a job and holding down an internship to get a degree, pay rent, and come out on the other side with a degree and a career.

Bottom line — these programs do far more good for people, and society, than many give them credit for. Take a look at societies without functional government programs and assistance for examples of what life could devolve into without them. Leaving whole segments of society and creating a class of people unlikely to ever claw their way out is a quick way to foment class warfare in the streets, rather than on message boards and blogs.

From what I understand, the 5 years was only for cash payouts and excluded support services such as medical and childcare. Some states tried 2 years and some states were able to extend the program to 8 years, although I can’t remember what the guidelines were for the extension.

The findings from 5 year programs were interesting in that they realized that the cost for pushing someone through the system that quickly was more expensive and that instability in the home took longer than 5 years.

Just don’t call me Teucer’s mom.

That is the grossest thing I’ve ever read.

(barfs)

The hope of us all but I don’t know if it will happen.

I think must people prefer the new place, the Happy Gnome (especially the beer lovers).