https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/11/28/when-work-is-punished-the-tragedy-of-americas-welfare-state/feed/HotAir is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the Biden administration, politics, media, culture, and current elections.en-usTue, 09 Jun 2026 01:42:28 -0400<![CDATA[Exactly two years ago, some of the more politically biased progressive media outlets (who are quite adept at creating and taking down their own strawmen arguments, if not quite as adept at using an abacus, let alone a calculator) took offense at our article &#8220;In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year.&#8221; In it we merely explained what has become the painful reality in America: for increasingly more it is now more lucrative &#8211; in the form of actual disposable income &#8211; to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work. This is graphically, and very painfully confirmed, in the below chart from Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (a state best known for its broke capital Harrisburg). As quantitied, and explained by Alexander, &#8220;the single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income &#038; benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.&#8221;]]>Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:00:50 -0500<![CDATA[Allahpundit]]>https://hotair.com/headlines/2012/11/28/when-work-is-punished-the-tragedy-of-americas-welfare-state-n280493