I have a family member who applied for welfare because he lost his job driving a NYC Taxi and didn't want to drive at night as a new hire for a different company. He applied for welfare, as a lark, and was accepted. He is disabled and that helped, although he has a degree in accounting from a very good college. He then applied for SSI and was rejected. On appeal he was accepted and received a years retroactive SSI payments and the medical benefits that go with it. He's been on the dole for the past 30 years or so, still with that college degree in his pocket. Why?; because it's comfortable enough, he has a rent controlled apartment and he eats regularly. How many more people are comfortable enough to forget about working?