Joseph: I’m “latching on to a half dozen programs” because those pretty much cover everything. Pell Grants only work for max maybe 5 years. Food Stamps pays for stuff, granted, but the Israeli equivalent takes you just as far. Stuff in the US is just more expensive. Nothing in the US pays the entire cost of childbirth. And those that pay anything are notoriously difficult to get. In Israel if you’re a citizen it’s automatic. You have full healthcare coverage.
“The bottom line is that full time learners in the US are financially better off and receive more government aid than their counterparts in Israel.”
Shtuyos. It only looks that way because there are less American yungerleit and more gevirim. They get far less government aid than in Israel, but are generally a little better off because rich people fund their kollels so they can pay a bit better.
“the Americans who learn instead of going to the army are not legally prohibited by the State from working in the future until age 27 – as Israel forces poverty by making it illegal for them to work.”
Irrelevant and narischkeit. We are talking about people who choose to learn full time after marriage. 27 is about 5-6 years after marriage, long before any major financial burdens set in. Kollel yungerleit in Israel aren’t poverty stricken because they can’t work until 27, they’re poverty stricken because they choose not to work even after 27.