Here here! Been there, done that, got the kids still on Medicaid but just about off once my "contract to hire" gets to the "to hire" paperwork finalized. (Not to mention having needed unemployment for 5 months not too long ago, but most people confuse that with other "handouts" and don't realize that is it technically called Unemployment INSURANCE for a reason.)

So you can certainly point to the free loaders taking advantage of the system, but for every one of them, each of us probably personally knows 5, 10, maybe more, who quietly went through some times that managed to be "really rough" rather than "life shattering" thanks to the government safety net.

Thanks for making this point. All too often it gets forgotten.