Comedian and Author Adam Carolla on America as a Welfare Nation
It’s estimated that the United States spends more than $15 billion dollars a year on welfare to more than four million people. Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor, Adam Carolla shared his experiences growing up on welfare, which is also the topic of his new book “Not Taco Bell Material.”
Carolla recalls an instance when he was nine years old and said to his mother, “Why don’t you just get a job, then we could have a nice car and some furniture and a color TV … And she said 'if I get a job, I’ll lose my welfare.' And I thought that is a horrible message
to send, but it inspired me.”
Bill O’Reilly asked Carolla if his mother was a bright woman who could have made something for herself had she gotten job. “The point is we’ll never know,” Carolla said. If someone had given him $850 dollars a month when he finished high school and told him he’d never have to work again, Carolla speculated he’d “probably still be on the same futon that I slept on in my dad’s garage.”
If his mom hadn’t received welfare from the government, Carolla said he believes she would’ve been able to provide for himself and his sister. He said, “I think we’re all capable of doing a ton and capable of doing almost nothing depending on what’s demanded of us.”
