Homelessness, poverty, and unemployment issues are a growing concern for every American. You might be plugging away at your daily job and one day your employer fires you due to budget cuts, etc. What do you do now? Jobs are not easy to find. The job market is saturated. Someone always has better credentials than you do. You are passed over repeatedly. You have spent what little money you had in savings, possibly cashed out your 401k and still have not found viable employment. Time to look into what the government has in place to help you.
In the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, the government responded to the overwhelming need to aid families who had little or no income by creating a welfare program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children. It gave states unlimited matching funds and offered families extensive rights with few requirements and no time limits. This welfare program stayed in the hands of the U.S. government until Bill Clinton passed the Welfare Reform Act in 1996 giving the control of the welfare system to the states. This allowed each individual state to se...
In the years immediately following America’s independence from Great Britain, the United States established their own form of a welfare system – a “government-sponsored form of indentured servitude, whereby poor of unemployed people were auctioned to employers who used them as laborers.” In addition to this program, the new United States also created a financial incentive to well-off families who would sponsor a poorer individual or family (Issitt).
The prospect of the welfare state in America appears to be bleak and almost useless for many citizens who live below the poverty line. Katz’s description of the welfare state as a system that is “partly public, partly private, partly mixed; incomplete and still not universal; defeating its own objectives” whereas has demonstrates how it has become this way by outlining the history of the welfare state which is shown that it has been produced in layers. The recent outcomes that Katz writes about is the Clinton reform in 1996 where benefits are limited to a period of two years and no one is allowed to collect for more than five years in their lifetime unless they are exempted. A person may only receive an exemption on the grounds of hardship in which states are limited to granting a maximum of 20% of the recipient population. The logic behind this drastic measure was to ensure that recipients would not become dependent upon relief and would encourage them to seek out any form of employment as quickly as possible. State officials have laid claim to this innovation as a strategy that would “save millions of children from poverty.” However, state officials predict otherwise such as an increase in homelessness, a flooding of low-waged workers in the labour market, and decreased purchasing power which means less income from tax collections. The outcomes of this reform appear to be bleak for many Americans who reside below the poverty line. How does a wealthy country like America have such weak welfare system? Drawing upon Katz, I argue that the development of the semi-welfare state is a result of the state taking measures to ensure that the people do not perceive relief as a right and to avoid exploiting the shortfalls of capitalism ...
It is well known that the Social Security Act of 1935 created a federally financed and federally administered retirement insurance program for people who had worked in certain sectors of the economy and had paid payroll taxes on their wages. What is less known is that the Act also created a federally financed but state-administered program called Aid to Dependent Children (“ADC,” later to become Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or “AFDC”)? As Sheldon H. Danziger and Jeffrey S. Lehman stated in “Welfare”, “When Americans speak of “welfare” or “relief” they are usually alluding to ADC and its successor programs. From the outset, the design and implementation of ADC highlighted the central conflicts of welfare policy. Issues of race, gender, work, and parenting style were, then as now, matters of great social tension”(Danziger). From 1935 to 1960 the only changes to the welfare structure was the inclusion of widows and disabled people into the social security system.
It is a commonly known fact that a large percentage of Americans are living on and relying on welfare, which is a government program that provides financial aid to individuals or groups of people who cannot support themselves. Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of assistance offered by the government, which include healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The type of welfare and amounts given depend on the individual, and how many children they have. There are many people who honestly need the government assistance, but there are also many who abuse the privilege.
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Since the Welfare reform law was introduced in 1996 it has impacted American society greatly. The new welfare policy, named the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), replaced the Aid to Family and Dependent Children (AFDC) program; they have five known differences that only affect the ones who need the assistance. Critics argue that the TANF has negatively impacted the society while some argue that it has not. Linda Burnham, author of “Welfare Reform, Family Hardship & Woman of Color,” asserts that “welfare reform has increased the hardship faced by many women leaving welfare for work and their movement into low-wage jobs, exposes them to higher level of housing insecurities, homelessness, food insecurity, and hunger.” She also argues that women of color “are especially vulnerable to the negative impact of welfare reform” (38).
The issues surrounding welfare and welfare reform are controversial, political, and difficult to resolve. The debate continues today as to who deserves benefits and who does not. In 1933, President Roosevelt created Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as part of the New Deal. This early form of welfare was available to those who could demonstrate a need and the ability to maintain minimal assets of their own. It specifically targeted aid to single women with children. It was a controversial and highly debated subject. Even now, many years later, Congress continues to debate and reform welfare programs. It still brings with it the same intensity, controversy, and conflicting opinion it did years ago.
The United States is often referred to as a ‘reluctant welfare state.’ There are various reasons for this description. One of the primary reasons for this is the differences and diversity of the political parties which are the motivating forces that control government. The Liberal Party, for instance supports government safety nets and social service programs for those in need. “Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all.” ("Studentnews," 2006) They believe it is the responsibility of government to ensure that the needs of all citizens are met, and to intervene to solve problems. The responsibility of government is to alleviate social ills, to protect civil liberties and sustain individual and human rights. Liberals support most social and human service programs; such as TANF, including long-term welfare, housing programs, government regulated health care, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, and educational funding. Their goal is to create programs that promote equal opportunity regardless of gender, age, race, orientation, nationality or religion, along with many others. Liberals believe that government participation is essential and a means to bring about fairness and justice to the American way of life.
The welfare system in the United States has had many problems arise in recent years and there has been nothing done to try and fix these issues. Welfare is supposed to be a financial boost for people who are struggling to survive by themselves. However, there are many people trying to take advantage of the system and use the money provided by the government for certain items that are not necessary to live. The other major problem is with the inefficient government that is so divided ideologically that nothing has been done to repair the system because both parties believe that their ideas are more effective than the others. In order to resolve the ongoing dispute of the welfare system, changes to the process of screening recipients and how the government conducts changes to the system have to be made.
Society has engraved in our nation's mind that social welfare is pointless and something to be ashamed of. Through the media society has put a certain image of what welfare is. Most people believe those who benefit from welfare are mainly people of color and thanks to the media most people also believe that people of color are violent and frequently committing crimes. However, research has proven that the majority of traditional welfare recipients are non hispanic white citizens. The image one has been taught about welfare is that welfare is free money for people who are too lazy to work. However, welfare is much more than free money for the poor, welfare is any institution supported by the government. Some institutions that can be considered welfare are public education(K-12), CSU’s, medicare, medical, veteran benefits, public housing, food stamps, free or reduced lunch, public transportation, and the most popular cash aid. (Popple Leighninger). Almost everyone is benefiting from welfare. Welfare is not what society has portrayed it to be, in fact welfare was alleviate symptoms of poverty.
President Bill Clinton had faced a difficult reelection in 1996. The Republicans for the first time in 50 years gained control of the House and Senate. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House, was pressuring President Clinton to aid in creating welfare reform,as this had been a conservative goal for awhile. Proponents for the welfare reform, an example being Florida U.S. Representative Claw Shaw, introduced the bill by playing the ideals of liberty stating that, “The inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty was written before welfare. ... People came to this country to work. Now the question becomes, Are these handouts a magnet that is bringing people into this country? To some degree, they are”. In 1992 President Clinton also won his election partly due to his promises for welfare reform making him forced to work with the Republican Party as it would be unpopular to go against his own word.
The welfare of the people in America is put in the hands of the public administrators and political leaders of the United States. These public administrators and political leaders are voted into office to promote new bills and come up with solutions that will be in the best interest of the public’s welfare. When the subject of welfare is debated the first thought that comes to mind is giving underprivileged and disadvantaged people money to help them get out of a financial predicament and/or temporary unemployment. The welfare of the middle and upper class is not as common because the fact that people collect financial support from their employment. There are several biased assumptions about the welfare program in America that leave the subject open for discussion. Such as food stamps, and how low-income Americans are given our taxpaying money to provide food for their households. I’m against the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and what toll it’s putting on the taxpayers of America.
Welfare in America is not even a 100 years old, but it is still a very controversial subject. Everyone you meet can tell you a story about a people that have welfare and how it can work for a good cause or bad. Welfare in its most basic meaning is assistance to meet individual’s basic needs whether it is food, housing, or medical needs.
up for her pregnancy which meant she had no money to take good care of