Why bother working?

No, I'm still going to start my new job next Monday, but this article here does have me asking why I bother--except for the fact that God says that if a man shall not work, neither shall he eat.  Here's a graph from Pennsylvania demonstrating a very scary reality.

In a nutshell, the single parent earning nothing actually has more disposable income than the same person with an annual paycheck of $50,000.  The single parent earning $29,000 (a decent factory or clerical job) has more resources than the same person earning $69,000--the wage of an engineer with a few years' experience.

Now of course, not all states are the same, but I'd hazard a guess is that, apart from the absolute numbers, the same principle will apply.  Someone working at "Chez Mac," or not working at all, gets pretty close to the same goods and services (at least the government's cost for those goods and services) enjoyed by someone who busted their rear to get into a well paying profession, and people in DC are wondering why it's hard to persuade people to bust their tails to get into a profession.

Or, for that matter, into any job that offers the hope of advancement.