Research Belief in God has been overwhelmingly linked with do-gooders

[Magical Realist]

70% returning to welfare is not "raising people out of poverty" and not "get[ting] your life together." It's keeping them permanently dependent.

Yes it is. It's helping them out of poverty every time. Even if it means falling back on it again after a few years of being off of it. Having enough money to get your life together is virtually the whole definition of getting out of poverty. They wouldn't go back to it and wouldn't qualify for it if they WEREN'T in poverty.

"In most countries, rich and poor people alike worry that social programs for low-income households end up weakening work incentives and create an underclass of indigents. In fact, recent research suggests just the opposite: the longer families receive stable and predictable support, the better they and their children do."

"this stigma is based on the widespread criticism of welfare programs for stimulating the so-called dependency culture. People receiving help are considered idle, with no motivation to work and earn money on their own. Thus, others view them as dependants who rely on the government to provide for their wellbeing.

Such an approach is rather conservative and does not possess any evidential value. On the contrary, studies show that ensuring consistent financial assistance to citizens with low income not only provides children with education and improves their general health but also increases working productivity in adults (Hanna, 2019). It happens because the financial stability created by regular payments motivates people to put effort into sustaining a decent lifestyle."

[Syne]

Repeatedly ending up in poverty is not "getting your life together." It's actually an unstable lifestyle that greatly impacts childhood.

[Magical Realist]

Repeatedly ending up in poverty is not "getting your life together." It's actually an unstable lifestyle that greatly impacts childhood.

Repeatedly getting out of poverty IS a chance at getting your life together. And we have welfare and SNAP and other govt programs to thank for that. So what's your alternative? Doing nothing and letting them stay in poverty and pass that down to their generations? Better to help them out and risk dependency than do nothing and guarantee a whole lifetime of poverty.

"..beliefs about dependency can have real and tangible implications for the poor and the protections they need. But what if those beliefs are wrong? For example, far from creating dependency, it is possible that welfare programs actually give people the necessary tools to achieve financial independence, provided that the assistance is dependable rather than sporadic and temporary. In that case, the provision of government assistance over an extended period of time could yield high social and economic returns, not least by allowing low-income families to make longer-term investments for the future."---
https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoin...na-2019-08

[Syne]

"But what if..." and "...it's possible that..." are wishful thinking.

The number one way welfare harms society is by incentivizing single-motherhood. Every study has found single-mother households to be one of the largest predictors of criminality, substance abuse, mental illness, etc.. No amount of "dependable assistance" can remove the inherent problems of children not having a father in the home. And "dependable assistance" also means that there are no significant consequences to failing. You don't have to develop self-sufficiency when you'll repeatedly get bailed out.

Again, according to your own statistics, 70% return to welfare. If you think failure is success, that's your own malfunction. Perhaps what you have to justify to yourself.

[Magical Realist]

Your hatred of women is showing again..

You complain that welfare makes the poor dependent, so when they aren't and are single self-supporting mothers then you complain they don't have husbands to raise their kids properly. As if women are inherently incapable of raising their own kids. And you blame that too on welfare.

Here's what we know:

"There has been a lot of research over the decades that has shown children of single parents report more family distress and conflict and live at a lower socioeconomic status compared to those growing up in two-parent households. Two-parent families usually have more income and are generally able to provide more emotional resources to children, and that’s also a reflection of how little the United States in general does to support working mothers with parental paid leave and access to more health services and quality education.

And of course, it’s difficult to compare single parenting outcomes to hypothetical alternatives. For many, a single mom can create a much safer or more stable environment than living with an abusive parent and spouse. Just growing up in an unhappy marriage has an effect on children.

A 2017 study, however, looked at the long-term effects of single parenthood on kids and found that it had nearly no impact on their general life satisfaction. The authors also found no evidence “supporting the widely held notion from popular science that boys are more affected than girls by the absence of their fathers.” What mattered most in terms of thriving, they concluded, was the quality and strength of the relationship between children and parents.

A separate 10-year study on single parenting that collected data from 40,000 households in the UK came to a similar conclusion last year. “There is no evidence of a negative impact of living in a single parent household on children’s wellbeing, with regard to self-reported life satisfaction, quality of peer relationships, or positivity about family life,” the report states. “Children who are living or have lived in single parent families score as highly, or higher, against each measure of wellbeing than those who have always lived in two parent families”----
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/14/health/si...index.html

[Syne]

I'm just telling you about the vast bulk of corroborating studies. How are facts hatred? You can cite a few outlier studies, but that vast bulk of corroborated academic work on the subject shows poorer outcomes for children of single-mother homes, even compared to single-father homes.

Where are these supposed "single self-supporting mothers," without either welfare or child support?

[Magical Realist]

You can cite a few outlier studies, but that vast bulk of corroborated academic work on the subject shows poorer outcomes for children of single-mother homes, even compared to single-father homes.

The correlation between crime and poverty is well established. And since single mother households are statistically farther below the poverty line than any others, it makes sense that poorer outcomes would higher.

Setting the record straight:

https://www.tiktok.com/@expatriarch/vide...18?lang=en

Where are these supposed "single self-supporting mothers," without either welfare or child support?

Right...because single mothers are just too lazy to get a job. Here's the stats:

"In 2019, 77.6% of single, widowed, or divorced mothers with children under 18 were in the labor force, compared to 72.3% of all mothers. In 2021, the rate for single mothers was 75.3%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 78% of single parent women are employed, and 45% of them have more than one job."

[Syne]

Poverty is easy to control for in studies.

There's plenty of working single mothers. Again, where in your feverish little head do you imagine I said otherwise?
But working is not the same as being 100% self-sufficient. You can both work AND receive welfare or child support. Hell, you even said it yourself:

"People stay on welfare to supplement their income from their job."

[Magical Realist]

There's plenty of working single mothers. Again, where in your feverish little head do you imagine I said otherwise?

You said it yourself: "Where are these supposed "single self-supporting mothers," without either welfare or child support?"

But working is not the same as being 100% self-sufficient. You can both work AND receive welfare or child support. Hell, you even said it yourself:
"People stay on welfare to supplement their income from their job"

"Fewer than 17% of all single moms receive government assistance even in the minor form of food stamps. (Economic Roundtable). Although two-fifths of all single mothers are poor, only one tenth of all single mothers receive TANF. Though a small percentage, they represent more than 90% of all TANF families. Even for those who did receive assistance, the amount was far less than the minimum they’d need to stave off hardship — like hunger, homelessness, and utility cut-offs."--- https://www.coabode.org/index.php?/press/page/2

[Syne]

There's plenty of working single mothers. Again, where in your feverish little head do you imagine I said otherwise?

You said it yourself: "Where are these supposed "single self-supporting mothers," without either welfare or child support?"

You're not self-supporting if you require external support, like welfare or child support. If you think you are, you're delusional.
I notice you never answered that question. Tough one, huh?

But working is not the same as being 100% self-sufficient. You can both work AND receive welfare or child support. Hell, you even said it yourself:
"People stay on welfare to supplement their income from their job"

"Fewer than 17% of all single moms receive government assistance even in the minor form of food stamps. (Economic Roundtable). Although two-fifths of all single mothers are poor, only one tenth of all single mothers receive TANF. Though a small percentage, they represent more than 90% of all TANF families. Even for those who did receive assistance, the amount was far less than the minimum they’d need to stave off hardship — like hunger, homelessness, and utility cut-offs."--- https://www.coabode.org/index.php?/press/page/2

I notice you've completely ignored the "child support" part of that quote.

71% of single mothers receive SNAP and TANF benefits annually. (USDA, Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households, Fiscal Year 2018).
- https://thelifeofasinglemom.com/single-m...ngle-moms/