mommiepoppins said:are you saying that poor people should not have the same opertunity as others?
not all people on ssi or other public assistance are "poor" by any means (not saying the majority but a percentage)-i administered many cases wherein people with relativly small families (maybe mom/dad/2-3 kids) were getting as much as 60-70K per year in tax free income (between work incentive programs, earned income tax credits, specialized grants....) and they had far more opportunities than the adverage full time working family could dream of (full ride financial aide for the kids in private schools, fully paid high end camps for the kids to attend, fully reimbursed daycare expenses, access to "season of sharing" funds for trips to disney and other places, housing subsidies that required only 5% of thier income be paid on housing/utilities...). these were not people who lacked by virtue of their being "unemployed", nor were they incapable of gainful employment.