I never said that living off welfare was "luxurious".Originally Posted by mike
Think about it this way: a poor woman on welfare with 2 children out of wedlock meets a nice man. Does she marry him? The answer is often no, because if she DOES marry him, she loses benefits. And there's no disincentive to having more kids out of wedlock, because her payments will go up. Heck, if she already has the clothes, etc., having another kid might increase her net worth!
It's not saying that it's a large amount of money, it's that getting married involves a pay cut, thus preventing marriage. If you're poor, you'll do everything you can to maximize your net income, including avoiding marriage and having children.