The Pros and Cons of Welfare

1102 Words3 Pages

When you hear the words “welfare” what comes to mind? To me, the word welfare has always had a very negative connotation. However, after looking further into the concept behind it all, welfare isn’t always such a bad thing. In general, welfare provides financial stability for those who are otherwise unable to do so. Welfare can be very beneficial to a multitude of people with many different ways to make life easier. Welfare in the United States refers to a federal welfare program that has been put into place to benefit unemployed people or just your average lower class person. The most common forms of welfare are Medicaid and food stamps. Believe it or not, a welfare program is not a new idea. Welfare has started long before we were born. In the early days of welfare, the British put into place something called “poor laws”. These laws distinguished who was able to work and provide for themselves and who wasn’t due to physical condition or even how old they were. This was very similar to what President Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the times known as the great depression. The Social Security Act was amended in 1939, which gave lower income people more money throughout the depression. Unemployment Compensation and Aid to Dependent Children are two welfare programs that are still out there today. Welfare programs can benefit you in areas such as health, housing, tax relief and just more money in your pocket. Welfare is not only an American idea. In the Islāmic culture the word zakat means charity. Zakat is actually one of the five pillars of faith. This money has been collected by the government since the 7th century. The taxes, however, still have the same benefit to us. The taxes were collected and used to provide income to ...

... middle of paper ...

...benefits of it.

Works Cited

Arrow, Kenneth. "Economic welfare and the allocation of resources for invention." The rate and direction of inventive activity: Economic and social factors. Nber, 1962. 609-626.

Harsanyi, John C. "Cardinal welfare, individualistic ethics, and interpersonal comparisons of utility." Essays on Ethics, Social Behavior, and Scientific Explanation. Springer Netherlands, 1976. 6-23.

Pigou, Arthur Cecil. The economics of welfare. Transaction Publishers, 1924.

Pierson, Paul, ed. The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford University Press, 2001.

Sen, Amartya K. "Collective choice and social welfare." (1970).

Arneson, Richard J. "Equality and equal opportunity for welfare." Philosophical studies 56.1 (1989): 77-93.

Moffitt, Robert. "Incentive effects of the US welfare system: A review." Journal of Economic Literature 30.1 (1992): 1-61.

Show More
Related

  • The United States Welfare System

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    Welfare can be defined as “systems by which government agencies provide economic assistance, goods, and services to persons who are unable to care for themselves” (Issitt). The United States welfare system is an extremely complex and unique entity that encompasses ideas and concepts from an abundance of different places. Many people believe the current system is an excellent resource for the population, while others believe the current welfare system requires reform and budget cuts to become effective.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Welfare Reform

    2400 Words  | 5 Pages

    ?Off Welfare, Better Off.? National Center for Policy Analysis. October 1,2002. http://www.ncpa.org/iss/wel/2002/pd100102a.html. (March 26, 2003).

    Read More

  • The Pros of Welfare Reform

    364 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the summer of 1996, Congress finally passed and the President signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996", transforming the nation's welfare system. The passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act sets the stage for ongoing reconstruction of welfare systems on a state-by-state basis. The combined programs will increase from nearly $100 billion this year to $130 billion per year in 6 years. Programs included are for food stamps, SSI, child nutrition, foster care, the bloss grant program for child- care, and the new block grant to take the place of AFDC. All of those programs will seek $700 billion over the next 6 years, from the taxpayers of America. This program in its reformed mode will cost $55 billion less than it was assumed to cost if there were no changes and the entitlements were left alone. The current welfare system has failed the very families it was intended to serve. If the present welfare system was working so well we would not be here today.

    Read More

  • Should Welfare Recipients Be Drug Tested?

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    Welfare is a federally funded program that provides health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing that is under the umbrella of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Per Welfare Information, eligibility is determined by net income, family size, and any crisis situation such as: pregnancy, homelessness, and unemployment. TANF also requires the recipient to obtain employment within two years of receiving help (2014). A majority of the monies that support Welfare come from taxes paid by the working class and donations from private companie...

    Read More

  • Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

    2980 Words  | 6 Pages

    Jeff Grogger, Lynn A. Karoly, Jeff Grogger. Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change. New York: Harvard University Press, 2005.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Welfare Reform

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s America, there are many people who would either be disgusted at the very mention of Welfare or be highly grateful for its existence. I believe that in order for welfare to be more effective in America, there must be reform. From the time of its inceptions in 1935, welfare has lent a helping hand to many in crisis (Constitution Rights Foundation). However, at present many programs within the system are being abused and the people who are in real need are being cheated out of assistance. The year after the creation of welfare unemployment was just about twenty percent (Unemployment Statistics). The need for basic resources to survive was unparallel. Today, many people face the same needs as many did during the 30s. Some issues with

    Read More

  • The Reluctant Welfare State

    2100 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Welfare

    1565 Words  | 4 Pages

    Welfare can be defined as health, happiness, and good fortune; well-being; Prosperity; and Financial or other aid provided, especially by the government, to people in need (Merriam-Webster, 2014). It can be very beneficial to people in need of it. Tim Prenzler stated that, “Welfare systems are often seen as providing a ‘safety net’ that prevents citizens falling below a minimum standard of living (2012, p2). Everyone is able to use is if they are in need of it. People have successfully used welfare to get out of their slum, and started to support themselves. Others have decided to not try to get out of that slum, and live off that welfare. They decided that they didn’t have to try, and let the government support them. Welfare is a good tool for people to get back on their feet, but shouldn’t be that persons steady income.

    Read More

  • The Welfare Reform Law

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albelda, Randy. “Fallacies of Welfare-to-Work Policies”. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 577, JSTOR Sept. 2001. 66-78.

    Read More

  • The History of Welfare in America

    2743 Words  | 6 Pages

    Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.

    Read More

  • Why Torture is Morally Wrong

    2139 Words  | 5 Pages

    Pojman, L. (2002). 6: Utilitarianism. Ethics: discovering right and wrong (pp. 104-113). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

    Read More

  • Welfare

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    Welfare means to kelp out people who are in need of help. It can include people who are out of work, or people who do not make ends meet even though they have a job. Welfare is made to help people who can not work because they are disabled. Welfare was made to make sure that all Americans can have a sense of well-being which means all Americans deserve to be happy, safe, and healthy. Welfare helps people in our country to make a better life when they do not have the money or ability to do it all on their own.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Welfare

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Welfare program is a good thing for those that are struggling in the community but most of the time, it is being overuse and abuse by those that are greedy. Many says that welfare is a perfect program without any problems, any flaws and it does not have any negative effects on anyone but it is far from that. Frauds are common in the welfare programs. The abuse and misuse of welfare encourage those that do not need the assist to apply for it and receive unnecessary benefits. All these problems effects on the nation and the citizens in a big way.

    Read More

  • Arguments Against a Welfare State

    1501 Words  | 4 Pages

    America is the greatest nation in the world. That is a sentence that has been stated many times by many different people, for many different reasons. Whether those reasons are militarily related, based on global political influence, or even economically. However one reason that this statement is repeated over and over again is the fact that America is the “land of opportunity”, a place where anyone can come, work hard and make something of themselves. No matter your age, race, religion, gender or creed, in America you have the opportunity to make something better for yourself and your family. However this ability, this “American Dream” is under attack. Not only is it under attack, it is under attack from within, from our own citizens. The motto of America seems to be changing, from “the land of opportunity”, a place you can work your way to prosperity, to the land of giving, a place where you can lounge yourself through life on someone else’s dime.

    Read More

  • Welfare Program Benefits

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    Welfare programs are regulated for those who live under the minimum accepted level set by the state. Welfare program benefits fall under a certain criteria which requires certain limits for eligibility to be meet before being considered for one of their programs. Welfare is used to provide benefits and economic assistance to no or low income Americans, it’s also defined as financial assistants helped supplied by the working class. One of the main goals of

    Read More

More about The Pros and Cons of Welfare

Open Document