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for labor. Ahhhh. Forgot about this little American slavery tidbit did you? It was because of the major abuses in the 'reform' system and the absolute corruptness of the corporations and the 'faith' based organizations, that the whole idea of welfare at that time collapsed entirely. Which was what they intended all along, after making a bundle off of the government first of course.

Finally, after decades of suffering a true Gilded Age in America, men of compassion stepped forward and gave us a Progressive Era and a New Deal. The implementation of government programs to keep the poor from starving to death, obtain medical care, and have a home to live in actually did alleviate poverty and suffering in this country. But of course, where ever the smell of money is coming from, there you will find lurking like jackals the bankers, the lawyers, and the corporations. Almost from the beginning of the New Deal, they sought to take it over in much the same way as they did in the 19th century. Slowly, ever slowly, they turned the poor into the fall guy for all of the ills that befell the nation, ills conceived and implemented by the very people who spoke out against the poor and the welfare system.

After years of beating it into the very soul of the United States that the poor were to blame for every budget deficit, and that the only way out of the monetary crisis was to 'reform' welfare, the American people once again were hoodwinked into handing control of government and this time, taxpayer dollars to the hyenas in our midst. Here's what they've done with 'welfare reform'.

Since Bill Clinton's election year capitulation to the Republicans, welfare reform has cost this country more money than the system that was in place ever would have. In fact, the first year alone, 1997, the states ended up receiving $4.7 billion dollars more than they would have under the old system. The trend continued on for year after year, with the money that was allocated for programs such as child care going instead to fill state budget gaps, due to the new leeway given to the states as to how best to spend their welfare dollars. In 2004, New York State alone used $1.4 billion dollars of it's welfare money that was to go to pay for education programs and child care on budget gaps entirely unrelated to the poor.

As the the welfare reform of old, faith based initiatives were put forth. More and more of the grant money that was supposed to be helping the poor and even the middle class, went to faith

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