Welfare is the “organized efforts on the part of the public or private organizations to benefit the poor, or simply public assistance (Mount).” In today’s society, there are many programs available for people in need, but there are an abundance of people who are participating in these programs who view them as necessities instead of privileges and abuse them. Government assistance programs are not a new idea. In the past, government programs have been used to help alleviate the financial and economical strain on citizens; however, if federal and state governments were to enforce new or revised regulations to these programs it could help to combat the growing problems plaguing the programs that are the framework of the welfare system.
Government assistance programs were actually formed in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (“How Welfare began in the United States”). President Roosevelt put programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) into effect. This program was fashioned to help support children who had been “deprived of parental support or care,” because a parent was continuously absent from home, incapacitated, deceased, or unemployed (page). Another program that started in this same era was the food stamp program; this program was implemented to use surplus items (James). There was a great deal of effort put into the program to make the recipients feel as if they were not just receiving handouts (James). Instead of just receiving food or vouchers for food recipients bought one voucher and received a second for an equal amount for free (James). The Food stamp program had a great impact on not only the recipients, but also the agricultural workers who provided the goods (James). In the late ...
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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.
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
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.
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
Living in the United States most people rely on the government to construct our society to better the people. The gap between rich and poor in our society significantly varies. In America, the government offers special programs to help those who fall below the poverty line. This is well known as welfare. The word welfare comes from a positive definition known as “well-being”, but most Americans would debate that welfare has become a disaster to our society as they increased welfare dependency, illegitimate babies, and family break-ups. In fact I agree with these clams, poverty programs have been abused by many Americans, causing more pressures and strains to American welfare.
The welfare system arose in the United States during the Great Depression, by the Social Security Act in the 1930s, providing medical and monetary aid to minorities such as women and their children, the elderly and later, entire families. During the Great Depression the Welfare system helped many families survive. Like many of the relief programs that were put into effect Welfare became a reform program, and remained permanent. Extensions to the original programs that had been created during the Great Depression were created in the New Deal, and Great society. Over this time, Welfare reform became stricter with its policy and was only attainable for a short term. Welfare which was once meant to provide relief to families, has been abused greatly, and has become a serious issue in the United States. The Welfare program is a negative aspect of the government’s social programs, because of the increasing fraudulency and abuse that occurs, in order to meet the welfare eligibility requirements. Welfare system is financed along with the total finances.
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.
Being raised in a single-parent lower class home, I realize first-hand the need for welfare and government assistance programs. I also realize that the system is very complex and can become a crutch to people who become dependent and complacent. As a liberal American I do believe that the government should provide services to the less fortunate and resources to find work. However, as able-bodied citizens we should not become complacent with collecting benefits and it is the government’s job to identify people who take advantage of the system and strip benefits from people who are not making efforts to support themselves independently. I will identify errors that exist within the welfare system and several policy recommendations to implement a change that will counteract the negative conditions that currently exist.
uring the time of the great depression, there was SOME assitance provided to assist the poor and needy but when Roosevelt came into office the "New deal," was put into place. During the 1930's this policy was a piece of legislation that kicked off the process of taking care of the masses of poor. Of course over time this began to be tugged at once its policies etcetara were handed over to the states to deal with and also when different presidents were in place to insert their ideologies about welfare into the law,"Providing welfare benefits has been controversial throughout U.S. history. Since the colonial period, government welfare policy has reflected the belief that the indigent are responsible for their poverty, leading to the principle
45 million Americans with low income rely on at least one of the many welfare programs. Of these government assistance programs, many of them deal with fraud and abuse. “Some cases of government assistance misuse are more blatant than others, but some aid recipients are using sneaky tactics that give other needy Americans a bad reputation” (calonia 1). Clearly, people are abusing the system in order to receive money they do not deserve. This makes it harder for people who need the welfare programs to get the money they need to support a family.
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
The idea of the United States government assisting the poor financially, originated nearly 70 years ago (Modern Welfare Programs). The depression was in full flux and the American people were demanding help from the government. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first federal poverty assistance act called Aid to Dependent Children Act in 1935 (Background: Time for a new Approach). This laid the foundation of the current government entitlement program now called welfare. World War II brought thousands of jobs to America and slowed the growth of the entitlement program. A vast majority of people were employed either directly by the government or through other war related jobs. After the war the economy held strong for the next ten years (Modern Welfare Programs).
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.
Welfare is supposed to be financial support given to people in need. The welfare program began in the 1930's during the Great Depression. The US government wanted to help people and their families that was in need of aid, so they created a welfare program that assistant those who had little or no income. There’s nothing wrong with assisting people who need the help, but the problem arises when people abuse the program. It’s not fair when the government takes money from the hard working people and redistribute the money to the citizens that’s “needy”. Some argue that welfare is a good thing because it helps truly desperate and deserving individuals. If the individuals were truly desperate, then there would be no problem with welfare.