I Very Nearly Didn't Vote for Bill Clinton for Re-election Over This

I KNEW at some point the TANF program would hit people hard once the economy tanked, but I guess Clinton was more concerned about "triangulating" the Republicans over this issue than worrying about whether his policies would work in the long term.

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But the distress of the last four years has added a cautionary postscript: much as overlooked critics of the restrictions once warned, a program that built its reputation when times were good offered little help when jobs disappeared. Despite the worst economy in decades, the cash welfare rolls have barely budged.

Faced with flat federal financing and rising need, Arizona is one of 16 states that have cut their welfare caseloads further since the start of the recession — in its case, by half. Even as it turned away the needy, Arizona spent most of its federal welfare dollars on other programs, using permissive rules to plug state budget gaps.

The poor people who were dropped from cash assistance here, mostly single mothers, talk with surprising openness about the desperate, and sometimes illegal, ways they make ends meet. They have sold food stamps, sold blood, skipped meals, shoplifted, doubled up with friends, scavenged trash bins for bottles and cans and returned to relationships with violent partners — all with children in tow.

These shameless hussies and their kids can just die for all the neolibs care. Remember, these neolibs are of the philosophy that if they don't need to use government services, they shouldn't have to pay for them.

We live in one sick society.