Our idea of poor these days is so far from really being poor. Now people think they are poor because they can't cover the cost of food AND an Iphone, so they think they deserve food stamps so that they can spend their other money on iPhones, or expensive purses, shoes, clothes, video games, etc.
We don't make a lot of money. We are a 1 income household and make way less than the national median. Growing up we lived on about $25,000/year....never used food stamps/welfare/medicaid, and while we qualified for free lunch, my mom still picked me up everyday and fed me lunch too! I have a family that has said, no one can live on $25,000/year..little did they know that my parents managed without using govt assistance! The thing is people don't want to make it work, and take responsibility when they can get "free money". Buy a smaller house, a cheaper car, skip getting your nails done, you don't need internet on your phone, and many people who claim to be so poor, and who get government assistance spend more on their kids Christmas than we do!
If it was because they were really truly so poor, I would be a lot more concerned. (Yes some people really are THAT poor, but not half the country) We make choices, and I get so tired of seeing people say they have to eat beans and rice for the rest of the month, however they just posted a picture of the new such and such they just got from their iphone.
When we had Mason we would have qualified for WIC, and since we had to use formula, free formula would have been awesome, but I didn't do it because we didn't NEED it. It is not right to accept assistance if you really do not NEED it. At the time we had satellite, which is about $60/month, if we could afford satellite, we could afford formula. If we couldn't then we could have cut the satellite to cover the cost of the formula. We do not NEED satellite TV, my child does NEED to eat, it is mine and my husband's responsibility to make sure that is possible. If it means giving up satellite, then that's what we do, we don't accept assistance just so we can keep our luxuries, that is not what it is for.
And you do NOT need a college degree to make more than minimum wage.
My husband's friend that works with him is totally impressed with how we make it on our income, because they have 2 incomes and say there is no way that she could stay home right now and just live off his income, even though he actually makes a little more than my husband. It is not really about "ability" it is about the desire to (in the words of Tim Gunn) MAKE IT WORK.