nothing better than supplementing your government support -welfare, unemployment, disability, etc. - with a cash paying job that will not jeopardize your benefits.
I had a Davis-Bacon wage job come up recently- needed a few guys for 6 weeks, at a wage well over the prevailing rate here- talked to several guys of a contractor who I knew had been laid off and were on unemployment. Not one of them would take the job. Too lucrative to be on unemplyment- it's very close to your regular rate, its steadier than actual work, and you become eligible for all sorts of other benefits, too.
And that is more or less exactly what it is. The whole dam country is on food stamps. If I didn’t have to spend $300-400 a month on food I could sure buy alot of crap.
Was talking to a friend about this the other day when she was out shopping as cheaply as she could and she noticed everyone elses baskets were full.