Synthesis Essay: Welfare Keeps America Alive

The social welfare has been a debatable argument for year in the U.S, many since the people have different beliefs in the welfare policy. Many time being is that the federal government had chosen to stay away from social welfare while also choosing to be heavily involved with it, making the federal agencies heavily involved in policy making. Since poverty was considered a problem, they believe that the problem would get better within time if there was a sudden change to make anti-poverty programs. In the great depression 1930’s the local and state government provided support for the poor, many assistances coming from churches were people would receive free food and agencies supplying the size of aid available to them.

In the article is said that over half of Americans don’t have a small emergency fund of even $400. With taking income and subtracting all the persons bills it would be a lot more work on the welfare end, but it would help families out that cannot provide for themselves beyond bills. On the other hand, people can use this to get a bigger house than the need/can afford just so they can receive more benefits if the system where to change. Any

The idea of welfare might represent that there is always a way to make things work, even when times are tough. The idea that we can overcome difficult circumstances and achieve success

1.In your own words, state why it is important for social workers, or for anyone, to understand social welfare policy. Anyone should understand social welfare policy because the more you know the more leverage you have. Hence, understanding the social welfare system will give you the ability to question, advocate for change, make good decisions about people’s lives including your own, and better plan for the future with prior knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of social programs. It is more important for social workers to understand the social welfare policy because as a professional in the field of human services, having a greater understanding of social welfare policy can make them a better leader and a better source of information.

Welfare itself is no longer a federal entitlement. The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill dramatically reduced the percentage of people receiving welfare benefits. Today, the benefits are small and declining. The number of families receiving aid has declined, and the recipient families collect an average of $363 monthly in TANF benefits. Under PRWORA, states are not required to provide assistance to everyone who applies.

Furthermore, an article written by Robert Rector, Katherine Bradley, and Rachel Sheffield for the Heritage Foundation, states that all means-tested from federal and state sources combined were $956 billion. This $956 billion in annual welfare spending is distributed among as many as 100 million people which average about $9,500 per beneficiary. I am in agreement with the article in Discover the Networks intitled; “The Welfare States’s cost to American Taxpayers” that says, “If converted entirely to cash, these benefits equal more than five times the amount of money needed to lift every poor person in the United States out of poverty” (2012). The Federal Income Tax returns filed in the United States is approximately 143 million.

The United States welfare system was created to assist those in situations where they couldn’t work or were in bad financial situation. The aid offered can be received through multiple different federally funded programs. This has helped many of those kinds of people who couldn’t help themselves get out of financial crisis. However, the system has been abused by those who are too lazy to work. Plenty of people use welfare to gain an income while avoiding work or looking for it.

Some of the positives of the welfare system are primarily straight forward such as helping the poor buy necessities for day to day living, provides food, medical care, help people get their lives on track to where they can provide for their families. Welfare is intended to be a temporary assistance not long-term. After reviewing some of these positives it’s easy to tell that the intent of these programs were good hearted and with the desire to help pull our citizens up and on their

The article addresses the myth surrounding welfare. Americans common belief government's aid enhances corruption among poor people has its roots in the past —even Franklin Delano Roosevelt considered welfare “a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.” However, recent statistics highlights the beneficial’ effects of cash assistance for the poor. The welfare positively impacts the life of children, improving the quality of their nutrition and education. Moreover, in a moment of great economic recession the welfare is the only net that can support people in need.

How do you think the average American feels when he pays taxes to the government, just to know that it is going to people who use the money to buy drugs? According to Missouri, Oklahoma, Utah, Mississippi, Kansas, Tennessee, and Arizona only 10% of people receiving welfare are getting caught using drugs, the reason we only catch a small amount is the state government tells the recipients when they are drug testing them. In the technology we have today we can tell if a person is on drugs by three ways one way is urine, another way is blood and the last way is hair. These ways to drug test recipients are all efficient and effective. The most effective way is if you use hair to see if someone is using drugs you can usually tell for about 9 days it also depends on what drug they are using.

However, as people always do, some manage to find their way around this problem and sell their debit cards for 50 cents on the dollar for cash (Roskin et al, 273). So how much of our taxes do these food stamp “traffickers” (USDA) rob us of? In 2012, approximately $80 billion was poured into the SNAP (Burke) and according to the USDA, a little over one percent of food stamp funds is misused. This sounds insignificant but that comes out to 800 million of taxpayer dollars. Hardly a trifle amount.

According to statisticsbrain.com, their are 110,489,000 Americans who are on welfare and more and more Americans are applying for welfare each year. Many Americans rely on welfare for their families and for individual needs. Welfare recipients should not be permitted to take a drug test because drug testing is expensive for states and the country, drug testing is unconstitutional and welfare recipients do not do drugs any more than people who do not receive welfare. Drug testing is expensive and cost states a lot of money one drug test cost averages to about 42 dollars, not including the cost for equipment and hiring people to conduct the test. States start programs that require welfare recipients to take a drug test and the programs end up costing them up to 1 million or, even more, depending on the number of welfare recipients that reside in that state.

Over 35.4 percent of the United States is registered for welfare. An average family of four, that receives money from the government, can expect as least $500 in food stamps, and at least another $1,500 for whatever else, and top it all off, the government pays all bills and also for any medical visits for the family. So

All nations at one point have experienced a few different types of challenges in their history. America suffered through plenty of challenges throughout its history that have been overcome. America has been through many obstacles, but they were only realized after the problem was solved or confronted. These challenges include slavery, women’s rights, tyrants, terrorists, and innumerable more. Though confronted with challenges throughout America’s history, the main three obstacles in America today is the divisions between the public, sensitivity of some individuals, and sense of entitlement among some of the youth.

People on government assistance actually needed it. This is another problem that has arisen in our