Breanna Shultz Mr. Karwatsky Freshman Seminar, Per. 1 23 October 2014 The Welfare System The United States is one of the many countries that has a welfare system. This program is both beneficial and a disadvantage. Some people abuse the welfare system simply because they do not want to work. If a person applies for welfare, he/she should be anonymously tested for drugs and alcohol. Welfare generally refers to government programs that provide needy people with money, medical care, food, housing, and other necessities (Garfinkle). There are many different types of welfare programs. A common welfare program in Pennsylvania is known as SSI. This is a program that supplies people who are disabled to work. Food stamps are also a well-known …show more content…
One way people abuse the welfare system is by participating in illegal drugs and consuming alcohol. If a person has the money to buy drugs and alcohol, then why do they need our tax dollars too? Why should the people be responsible for feeding someone else’s addiction? Most related studies show that one-third of welfare recipients use illegal drugs (Rector). If the government would anonymously give welfare recipients a drug and alcohol test once a month, then the amount of people who abuse the welfare system would dramatically decrease. If the person who is anonymously tested monthly fails his/her drug or alcohol test, then he/she should immediately be cut from their benefits and should be charged with governmental fraud and with illegal drug charges as well. By doing this, the people wouldn’t have to pay as much money to the government, there would be less drug abuse in the system, and there would also be a very large drop in the amount of welfare abuse in the …show more content…
In Los Angeles during the years of 2004 and 2005 there were 60,634 reports of welfare abuse. The government has conducted investigations on some of these reports and has found that 10,789 of the cases that they investigated were really abusing the welfare system. Surveys also show more than fifty-eight million people receive Medicaid. According to the statistics taken in 2011, there have been 10,685 cases that resulted in fraud investigations (Rhode). Today, the level of fraud investigations is a lot larger due to the difficulty to get jobs. People are having harder times getting a job so they apply for government assistance when they really don’t need
The U.S Government has social welfare systems that supports lower class in need. From home providing programs like “Welfare” and “Section 8 housing” to food providing programs like “Food Stamps” and “WIC “( Women, Infants, and Children ). The U.S government economy has declined immensely over the years resulting in a high unemployment rate and very high market pricing. Therefor, theres a very large group of people who are struggling financially, in need of food or shelter, cant find a job, income cant support their kids, etc .. Also there is an additional group of people mainly immigrants who simply struggle to speak the language and can’t really find there place in this country.
Welfare America, home of the brave, the free, and the blessed! In this country many programs have been established to help those in need. One of these programs is welfare. Welfare is a public assisting aid, which gives citizens who live in the minimal level of poverty free money. This program is funded from the taxes payed by all working Americans.
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.
Welfare dependence creates behavioral poverty. Perhaps President Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best: “Continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.” To become comfortable relying on the work of others instead of your own work will change your character, and the character of the nation. Americans want to give everyone a helping hand, but hand-holding year after year, generation after generation, patronizes, corrodes, entraps.
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
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
If there is no new money put into the welfare system, the states are not going to be able to run the programs any better than they already are. The state of Wisconsin’s W2 program invested millions of dollars to support the kind of envisioned welfare reform. Money to get poor people to the jobs they’re required to find, money for health care, money for day care because single mothers cannot leave their young children home alone while they work, and money for job skills training, which welfare recipients need to find work in a competitive market.
Welfare main goal is to help those in need get over the hump and
While regulations exist in the United States society to determine who needs food stamps and when those families need them, the abuse of this federal program still occurs. Assistance to needy families is crucial and normally temporary with the exceptions of those who use the program as a way of life. All 50 states have many different variations of regulations for food stamps. In Oklahoma, the federal program for assistance for food is called SNAP.
The system is a legal arrangement where the government provides assistance like shelter, food, healthcare and education to citizens in need (Couch np). The program is extended into further programs that include, Medicaid, WIC Program, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (Couch np). Before welfare became a federal program, welfare was originally a state program. The history of welfare can be tracked to the Progressive Era 1890-1920 and the Great Depression 1929-1939. The roles and responsibilities of the federal government changed drastically during the Progressive Era (Couch np).
Close to $1,000,000,000 is used on drugs and alcohol, out of the $1,000,000,000,000,000 we spend on welfare. Since 2008 the welfare system has increased an extreme amount, we need to decrease this with one solution. Background check and drug testing are a necessary part of the welfare system due to using the taxpayers money. We need to reinforce our welfare system,inform people where their money is going, ensure that the taxpayers money is not being used on drugs and alcohol, and make sure we are not providing criminals or drug users with money; however we need to limit the spending by background checking. The American welfare system is broken and unconstitutional and we need to make it great
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.
One of those reasons being, drug testing welfare recipients could waste taxpayer’s money. The government would use tax money to administer drug test (Cunha, par. 3). Many taxpayers do not feel like they are obligated to pay for a person’s drug habit (“Editorial: Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Doesn’t Add Up,” par. 1). In Tennessee, only one person to the 800 who applied for government assistance tested positive for drugs. In Florida, during four months of drug testing , only 2.6 % of welfare recipients tested positive, which was under Florida’s illegal use of 8%, which meant that fewer people using government assistance used drugs.
Drug testing individuals is not worth the money in the end because most people will not test positive. Most people tend to forget that most people receiving aid also are taxpayers. In 2010, nearly half the poor mother or near poor mothers were at least working part time (Cunha). If the people receiving aid are paying for the drug tests to they would probably rather keep that money then have it be wasted. Drug testing recipients is a waste of money since the government would be wasting more money on giving the tests then they would be
Today in American society, countless people feel that they are entitled to everything no matter what. People who abuse the welfare system is a perfect example of how people believe that they deserve everything without having to actually do any work, causing laziness and selfishness. These individuals misuse welfare that helps countless people by taking the money for individuals who can’t support themselves or can’t find a job, and use it as a way to get free money without working. Another problem is that some of the youth demands respect of others without earning it and expect a successful job right out