At the age of 12/13 I wanted things so my father said go get a job.
Now being 12/13 I was not going to find to much other than cutting the neighbors grass and shoveling snow in the winter.
So that is how I started.
At he age of 14 I started working washing dishes and pots and pans at a restaurant."You know the jobs most Americans don't want to do"
At 17 I was a busboy."You know the jobs most Americans don't want to do"
My first real job was At 18 working for an electrical supply house.
When I was ready to move out on my own My one job was not enough, so guess what I got a part time job.
At 23 I was getting married and buying my first house, guess what, now I had a full time job and two part time jobs.
At some point ( while still working my full time job) I quit my two part time jobs and got a part time job with better pay and still worked full time.
The point I am trying to make, when ever I needed more money to live I would work more. I don't think the Idea of collecting food stamp's or welfare ever entered my mind.
Now a days when I hear a young person or any one tell me they don't make enough money I ask ( what do you do for a part time job or do you work overtime at your job) most just look at me with a blank stare then tell me they don't. When I ask why not they tell met they don't have the time.
Up until a few years ago it was not uncommon for me to be working 50 to 60 hours a week on a regular basis. Back in the 90s 70 or more hours a week was a normal work week on top of being an active volunteer firefighter.
I know their are people that need the help from the system, that is what it is for.
The government system was never meant to become a way of life. It was meant to be a hand up not a hand out.
Unfortunately this is what it has become for many people.
Blaming big or small business for their employees being on food stamps regardless of how much the CEO or owner makes is irrelevant.
If people don't like what they are making at their job, find a better paying job or take a chance with their life savings and start their own business.

I got my paper route when I was 12 to supplement snow shoveling and lawn mowing. Back then we all wanted the paper routes so they pretty much went to the highest bidder.

Amazon can solve this problem, and is likely working, on it. Just automate all the low wage jobs in its warehouses / distribution centers out of existence. Now it won't have employees collecting food stamps.

This phenomenon is basically the same at WalMart, and the entire Fast Food industry, and all racial groups are well represented (mostly white, then black, then hispanic, etc), and many members of both political partys are recipients of these kinds of benefits. It's a poor people, low wage, problem much more than a race or political persuasion problem.

I bet the majority of people who work 15/hr or less jobs are getting some kind of help. And many of them can't just work twice as much, being parents or in school, etc. I'm not suggesting any particular solution, nor that some don't abuse it, or higher taxes, but living in 2018 on ~$12/hr, even if it's 40hrs/week, is far from adequate in many markets.

I don't know how anyone lives on less than $20/hr, myself, without a sad existence. I actually hope we eventually automate all of those low paying jobs, as I don't think they're even worth doing. It's the job equivalent to eating celery - or perpetuity treading water.

These are interesting times. A whole boatload of people need to figure out how to do something valuable enough to live on, to live fairly well on, as inflation outpaces wages. Let's expel the illegal immigrants, automate low level bullshit, then figure out the rest in some manner that makes sense, and it surely won't be some Universal Basic Income crap.

Changes in technology and the economy are racing past too many people's ability to adapt, and we spend tons of government resources (taxes and effort hours) on band-aids and dumbass ideas, as though no one is actually trying to solve any of these growing problems, and far too many Americans aren't well equipped enough to figure it out for themselves.

It's a mess, with no real solution in sight. I only hope Trump continues to resist the further slide toward Socialist or Communist "solutions". I've all but given up on any real progress. I'm just trying to earn as much as I can myself, and live within my means, in order to be as unaffected as possible, but I see the affects all around.

Our whole work/assistance/education culture is pretty jacked up. Neither High School nor a Bachelors Degree provide adequate enough or relevant enough preparation for life or real jobs In too many cases. And traditional trades are still undervalued. There's a huge mismatch, and no quick or easy solution path.

They be fucked.