I have a brother-in-law who has been living on government welfare for the last 6 years. This wouldn't be particularly amazing if he didn't have a wife and three kids. His wife doesn't work either. He is not disabled nor is his wife. They simply found a way to escape the regular, routine, work life. Near as I can tell he gets about 1100 a month on his EBT card. He currently has 3100 in rollover credit on the card. The government also gives him 500 a month in what they call "EBT cash." This is money you can withdraw from an ATM for any purpose. He has also been receiving 750 a month in child tax credits.  Thus far we have about 29k a year in direct payments. He gets a 6k "tax refund" each year.  He and his family receive medicare from the state. I'm not sure what else they do to game the system but 35k a year is simply the base case. If they work, they work for unreported cash. The sum total of welfare I have taken directly from the government works o