Should Welfare Have More Strict Requirements? Picture this, every year you are given $38,004. You don't have to work for it, and it’s not taxed, you’re simply handed this money to spend on basically whatever you want. This is welfare (Tanner). One hundred and twenty six different programs, all funded by the federal government, aim towards aiding low-income individuals. seventy-two of these programs provide cash benefits to those eligible, the remaining programs all fund low-income neighborhoods as a community rather than individuals. No one benefits from every single one of the seventy-two programs, but they can receive aid from a handful of them at any given time. Even though welfare seems very generous, and it certainly is for families …show more content…
Resulting in the others stereotyping welfare recipients as lazy and drug involved individuals, which there has been NO evidence supporting either of those statements(Pyke). For example, Tennessee recently concluded a drug screening on individuals who applied for welfare. The results revealed that less than one half of one percent of individuals failed the drug test. In other words, only 37 out of 16,000 people tested positive for drugs in their system (Pyke). Now given that not every state requires a drug screening, people slip through the cracks, again portraying welfare as a bad thing. With such a bad rep, a constant question is brought up to the surface; “Should welfare recipients be required to work(Pyke)?” In a newsletter Tim Brown talks about a study that was recently conducted by the Cato Institute where it was found that individuals are “mooching” more money off of the government than those who are working in a private sector (Brown). For example some people work a …show more content…
Emily Badger said in The Washington Post “The reality, though, is that a tremendous share of people who rely on government programs designed for the poor in fact work — they just don't make enough at it to cover their basic living expenses (Badger).” To even go a little further, according to the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education seventy-three percent of individuals who benefit from assistant programs in the U.S, live in a household where at least one individual is earning/bringing in an income. Even with that income they just cant afford the tedious things such as medial bills, paying for childcare/daycare services, or buying groceries after they receive their paycheck or get done paying all of the other bills that factor into everyday life (Badger). If there was a crack down on the requirements for welfare, yes it may be a little harder to receive but for people who TRULY need it would get it. As long as one can prove that they cannot make all of their bills and provide their family with all of the necessities with the income they have, they should absolutely receive welfare. If you do not have a job you should be given the option to either find a job by a certain deadline, or participate in community service. If half of the individuals who abuse welfare we caught, and forced to
The article "Flat Broke with Children" Sharon Hays gave a lot of insight about what people think of welfare. She took the opinions of people using welfare and also the people not using welfare. Welfare has helped many in the united states. Most that are on welfare think of it as a security blanket. Times do get rough and life does happen.
Maybe by providing stricter guidelines, such as job search requirements, along with proof of the job search, welfare would not be as attractive and recipients will be more likely to get a job. Newt Gringrich, a Former speaker of the House of Representatives, wrote an essay titled “Renewing America” “The welfare system has sapped the spirit of the poor and made it harder to climb the first rung of the economic ladder.” (usnews.com). Sucha system has placed an unfair burden on the hard workers who are forced to pay for these programs. Gringrich states, “Why should taxpayers be forced to take fiscal responsibility for those who do not take responsibility for themselves? He continues to say “As individuals,we are responsible for our own actions and their consequences.” If people do notcare about their own well being then why should I be forced to care? As Gringrich sees it, “If society is responsible for everything, then no one is personally responsible for anything. With that said, without responsibility, are we truly free? Welfare should be used for the right purposes; to help those who are truly in need get on their feet and become successful. But because of the excessive misuse, welfare has now developed a stigma, and should be reformed to its original notion, and that is for its help and not
That is equal to approximately 109,631,000 people. Not all people on Welfare abuse the advantages, most use the program the way that it was intended for, but in 2015, 10.1% of all Welfare payments were improper, meaning the recipient misuses the funds given. The 10.1% is equivalent to $71.5 billion and 11,072,731 people exploiting the system (federalsafetynet.com). To be using the money of people who work hard to earn a living, to be lazy is incomprehensible to me. Living off of other people who are working hard is not living, although the idea of not having to work and instead just be given money to spend on whatever you desire may seem enviable, it is the epitome of the “fun oriented” society. “Did the natural right to pursue happiness become somehow the right to get happiness and did that right inevitably degenerate into a right to have fun- for the simple reason that the impossibility of guaranteeing fun is less obvious than the impossibility of guaranteeing happiness?” (Can we survive the fun explosion?). There is a legitimate fear that the other millions of people not on Welfare will see how the other half living off Welfare will think that it is a viable option because they no longer have to put forth any pursuit for happiness. Their ticket to happiness is handed to them. Then our country will evolve into a crumbling mess because no one will be working to support
Welfare is money from the government to help those in need, if someone in the household is pregnant, it’s the gross income for the month, if there are migrant or seasonal workers in the home, how much rent or mortgage payments are for the household, its individual gross incomes for each family member, and its actual available cash on hand for the household including checking and saving account. $200million dollars are put in for welfare from the tax payers’ money. Kimber Yee said “Receiving a public benefit is a privilege, not a right.” Anyone who gets welfare should be glad, and it’s nothing to be ashamed
Welfare is not intended to be a way for citizens to have a way out of having to look for employment, but for many that is what it has become. An estimated 21.3% of all Americans were on some sort of Welfare program each month in 2012 (Bureau). Fraud is a commonly found problem within the welfare system, and it can come in many forms. The eligibility of welfare applicants are reviewed annually, but this allows for errors to occur in the manner of which the applicant could be eligible for a half a year, but they still receive assistance for the rest of the year when they no longer need it (Ribali). The annual check for eligibility accounts for the fair amount
Since its conception welfare has been a source of continuous controversy. The main negative throughout the years has been that people on welfare will never attempt to find a job and just live off the government, but recently there has been a lot of attention brought specifically to the recipients that are drug abusers. Therefore, some taxpayers are calling for a system in which recipients are drug tested prior to receiving aid, but these systems are strongly opposed by those who are current members of welfare.
With a new president, and many policies and procedures changing in the government systems, it has recently been brought to many people’s attention how certain recipients in government assistance programs do not use the money correctly. As a result of that many now believe that everyone on government assistance should be drug tested. The welfare system can provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and targeted social services to poor and low income Americans (Duffy). Drug testing the recipients would ensure that no one was receiving aid that was using any type of illegal substance. This is a very controversial issue in today’s society and has both sides fighting hard for what they believe in.
After one year of receiving benefits, welfare recipients should be able to find employment and become self-sufficient without governmental assistance. Following one calendar year of receiving benefits, there is a reasonable suspicion that the recipient may be using drugs that hinder securing employment. A majority of employers drug test newly hired employees so it is not unreasonable to test those in assistance while they seek employment. That data collected from Florida’s failed attempt to drug test applicants does not accurately show the percentage of welfare recipients that abuse drug because many refused to take the tests while the law was in
Welfare is made for people who have been hard on there luck. The idea that the government gives assistants in order for recipients to become financially stable in order to improve the economic statis works very well in theory. Welfare can be looked at in two different ways. One of these ways is that welfare should be used as a temporary source in order to supplement an existing paycheck until you can make ends meet. The other way is to completely get a person of out of poverty and to become apart of the working society.
The welfare systems are based on the principle of public responsibility on equitable wealth distribution and equality of opportunities to citizens who are unable to afford minimal levels of quality and good life, through provision of universal education programs, health care and subsidised housing. In most of the states, welfare systems are not used in the right manner they are intended to. Although the systems are meant to reduce the poverty level and at least assists individuals to get decent jobs, many recipients develops news ways every year to prolong their dependency in the system. Statistics show that women easily abuse the welfare system by simply having more children each year since this means that more money will come in their mails. Most of the recipients on welfare are able to work
Welfare should not be reformed because it helps single parents. 40 percent of single mothers are poor, 12 million single parents-mother-headed families are poor (Freeman). Welfare can help keep these single parent families stay stable to be an effective families. 12 million single parents mothers headed families can be reduced to less underachieving families with the assistants of welfare. Also with single parents they never had an significant other.
In our society today, we face many problems such as racism, police brutality, and government issues. One problem that I feel is being over looked is the abuse of the welfare system. Coming from a very low income county, I see how the system is abused, and I also see how it helps those in need. People who are capable of working and supporting their family on their own take advantage of the system to get free money. In 2013, the Census Bureau said that there were fewer full time working Americans than were on welfare. It is absolutely astonishing that there are more people on welfare, who supposedly are unable to work, than capable working people. Americans who truly are unable to work or support their family should have every right to be on
Welfare is intended for families or individuals that are in need of assistance with no or little income. For those who do not know, Welfare funds come from hard working individuals that are required to pay taxes. Now we wonder, are the tax payers’ hard earned money going to the right deserving recipients? Welfare fraud is on the rise in this country. Many are taking advantage of the system taking away the help that is meant for people that truly needed help to provide for their families or people that need assistance until they can stand on their own feet. Statistics clearly show that “785,000 to 1.2 million families are illegally receiving welfare benefits. At the average rate of $11,500 per year, this means taxpayers are being
Throughout history, there have always been people willing to work for what they want, and those who expect things to be handed to them as if it was a natural-born right. While the welfare system does positively impact some families in need, many people take advantage of it. With this being a well known fact, the government still continues to use ten percent of the federal budget on welfare (“Budget” 1).
Most of the people believe that many welfare recipients are abusing the system in more ways than one.