> The real problem here is that I find most middle-class people have no idea how welfare works. I got a taste when I applied for PFL in California when we had

> The real problem here is that I find most middle-class people have no idea how welfare works. I got a taste when I applied for PFL in California when we had a baby. The scale of people the State serves is insane, and navigating the system could be a full-time job in itself. (PFL is California's supplemental program that pays some fraction of your salary for family leave - in my case new child bonding) I took 3 weeks leave, and on the last Friday got a phone call from the PFL office: "We have a question about your PFL application, and if you don't return our call today we will deny your claim". I call, and after battling the phone tree got, "Our system is over capacity. Please try again later click". I finally got through at the end of the day via email. I finally got paid the first day I returned from leave (!). Luckily for me I wasn't depending on the money or else my kids would have been eating rice. What a nightmare. I don't envy anyone who has to use social services.