I don't think that anyone here is willing to personally accept the standard of living that welfare offers. I've seen claims here that minimum wage offers a lower standard of living than welfare, which is one reason that so many people stick with it.

If this is the case, what can we do to create enough jobs to allow for an acceptable standard of living? Manufacturing jobs used to be the outlet for unskilled labor to move to skilled labor, but those have move offshore, and they aren't coming back. Regardless of how we think the politicians need to act to create jobs, what jobs are we actually thinking can be created for the folks currently on welfare? If we want them off welfare, that means meaningful employment. What can this country offer?

Alternatively, let's assume that we only need to offer jobs roughly equivalent in standard of living to the current welfare population. What jobs would those be? In the cases of single parents, how do we think a balance between wages and childcare can be met? Let's not politicize this, but look at it from a strictly economic view. What jobs would these be?