Now, Annie, that is not entirely fair.  Although there are always some people who want to collect welfare instead of working (just as there are those who embezzle money from the companies for which they work), very few people would rather get welfare than work.  Living off welfare is hard and unpleasant.   After the so-called welfare "reform", it is even harder to receive long-term welfare benefits.  Most people who are on welfare are disabled, or elderly and poor, or mothers with young children, or children.  The hardest and dirtiest jobs in the US have always been done mostly by African Americans (this changed slowly with the passage of Civil Rights legislation) and immigrants.  The difference is that the immigrants through the mid-20th century were not Latinos.  After the GI Bill, with a greater number of the middle class going to college, many white Americans who were here longer were able to move on to better jobs.  And, yes, I know this is a simplification.  I have run out ...