It looks to me that accepting handouts from the Government is the way to poverty and ruin. It seems that all government assistance is designed to be a disincentive . A couple years ago I was below poverty level barley making it .  One day I got a phone call from a nice lady who was with the energy assistance program with the county , and she wanted to see if I was interested in applying for energy assistance I would have just made it to qualify for $250 or so a month . The thing that bothered me was I could not earn any more. I did a quick calculation If I got $250 a month that works out to $3,000 in a years time. If I worked ten hours of O.T. a week that's 15,000 a year 120 hours of O.T. (about three months worth) the rest of the overtime money is mine ! Sure working long hours sucks , but , when you go into work on Friday and you are already getting overtime Its a Good Day.  The moral of the story ? Don't take the easy cheese , it might be a trap