1) It's a volunteer job (AmeriCorps), and it's meant to pay poor. The goal of AmeriCorps is to eradicate poverty in the US through projects, capacity building, and other things. By teaching us how to live like the poor do, we're able to understand the issues we're helping defeat, and connect with our community better.
AmeriCorps can be a huge resume builder, especially to those lacking decent job skills. You learn a whole bunch of trades, and lots of employers view volunteer service favorably. For a lot of other volunteers this is the better job. Plus, it leads to an education award (to help pay for school) and easier job placement within the Fed.
And, of course, I know that there are some people that NEED help. But there are plenty of much better and more constructive ways to help people then government welfare.. again because the government is not really interested in helping people.
So, then when is your solution coming? Tomorrow? Next year? 30 years? Until some massive change comes along, we're going to have people who depend on welfare for survival. It'd be nice if that wasn't the case, but for the moment it is, and cutting that lifeline isn't the answer. Working to remove ourselves is the answer, through giving our money and time to those who we see as oppressed.
Which is being suppressed by the state by taking wealth away from the productive class of people in the country and giving it to the unproductive class not only suppressing the economy, ruining industries and undermining the people that are producing the wealth needed to support people that can't support themselves.
There is nothing from stopping you, or any other person, from donating your time, effort, and money to the poor. There is nothing stopping you from handing a homeless man $50, or letting him stay with you in your home/apartment (pending landlord approval). There's nothing stopping someone form donating $5 to the Red Cross.
Even if this is all on purpose, that doesn't mean we still can't do anything. I took a year off of my life to serve the poor. Nothing prohibited me from doing that - in fact, it's government sponsored!