You make some good points. I have one question. Lets say a man works hard all of his life. He has a family and is doing just fine. He has paid his taxes and payed into all the other programs like Social Security and such. Lets say also he works a an independent contractor. One day on the job he has a accident no fault of his own. As an independent contractor, he has no workman's comp insurance. He is left permanently disabled. It takes 3 years because of all the B.S. involved in filing for Disability, all of his savings are gone because he has to feed his family and pay the bills for 3 years with no income. Now he is on Social Security Disability totally dependent on the government for income. Do you consider this person a bum because he draws income from the government?
Nope. Not one bit. I consider the ones that are perfictly capable of sitting on the poach drankin fotys all day, that are every bit as able bodied as myself, but are sucking on the government tit to be bums.
I do ask, however, why the man in your instance has no workers comp? That is gross negligence on the employer (the only way you can sue your employer in La.)