Social welfare programs account for one third of all U.S. wages and salaries (welfareinfo.gov). Is this staggering statistic really necessary or should there be a farewell to welfare? There are two ways of seeing this particular coin; one is to say that the system of government assistance (Food stamps, Welfare, WIC, SNAP, etc.) is flawed and abused and therefore needs to be eliminated or redesigned. The second thought process is that of apathy, in that there are so many people in need that the current staggering amount of recipients is justified because there just is not any other option. The concept of welfare like so many things, started out as a good idea. Once it was combined with the attitude of society as a whole, it began to be abused and taken for granted. The entire welfare program and any government assistance program for that matter needs to be completely overhauled so as to prevent the unethical abuse and unjustified use of these financial aid tools for people in true need. The reason why such drastic reform is needed on a program that clearly affects so many people is because the United States government is literally spending billions of dollars to pay for people who are not using the allocated funds appropriately thereby costing tax-payers who fund the program more money. It is a vicious cycle that unfortunately comes back to hurt the ones it was meant to help.
The federally funded welfare program was started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. The purpose was to help families who had minimal or no income meet their basic needs. For over sixty years, the federal government retained control of this program until 1996 when President Clinton and the U.S. Congress passed a reform law giving power of this program back to the individual states. During the Great Depression, the need for a government assistance program was a very helpful and appreciated system, but as the years progressed so did the abuse. People were claiming unemployment and still working which is stealing. Many were also allowing the federal assistance money to take the place of what a paycheck use to do and sadly quit looking for a job all together. So the decision was made to enact a welfare reform. It seems that welfare and other social programs are most prevalent in urban and low income areas. States like California and Arizona boast some of the highest unemployment rates in the country which tend to share a direct correlation with those people receiving government assistance. Before the issues surrounding welfare and other types of government assistance can be addressed or reformed the different types must be established. The most typical types of government assistance are SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan) otherwise known as food stamps, TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), and WIC (Women Infant Children). Food stamps used to be an actual book of redeemable stamps used to get groceries. There was an overwhelming abuse of them so the government decided to begin using an EBT card that can be tracked and monitored. In December of 2011 the USDA released that 45.7 million Americans and 21.5 million households were using the SNAP program. TANF which stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has replaced what was previously known as welfare. TANF is a federally funded grant to states allowing them to conduct their own social assistance programs. And finally WIC, which is a program for Women, Infants, and Children. According to www.welfareinfo.gov WIC is another federal grant to states for supplementing foods, doctor referrals, and providing nutrition education for low-income women who are pregnant, breastfeeding/non-breastfeeding, and for children up to age five who may be at risk due to poor nutrition. It’s important to remember that not all of these are considered welfare per say but all is considered to be government assistance.
Support for welfare reform can only go so far. Regulations and enforcement can be put into place but that will not change the fundamental causes of needing the programs. The need for any type of social assistance can be attributed to mostly three causes. The first cause is unemployment and disability, meaning the inability to secure a paying job or being unable to perform certain jobs. The second is being or thinking that a capable person is better than any job that can be offered. The last reason is growing complacent and stale in the pseudo protective arms of the government welfare system. Unemployment is a plague on the economy and society as a whole. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) reported that at the start of 2012 unemployment was at 8.5%. That is the official number but like so many things when you look at in context it takes out a lot of the gray ambiguity and shines light on factual truth. The BLS reports that 8.5% of Americans are unemployed. The truth is that the BLS does not take into account the millions of people who have dropped out of the workforce all together which means they are not working or looking for work anymore. If the employment rate was kept in context the number would be significantly higher. Erica Groshen, Vice President of microeconomics and regional studies at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says; “If you plot job losses versus gains on a chart, it’s shocking.”. The number of job losses since 2009 far surpass that of any previous recession recoveries. Simply losing your job is not always the reason why you can’t work. Disability while unfortunate is a way of life. If someone is truly unable to work at all than the welfare system could be an alternative, in addition to their family or relatives helping them if able. The second reason why welfare reform alone may not be enough is because there is a risk of growing complacent in a free steady paycheck. People fail to consider that unemployment benefits do eventually run out. Assuming that employment lasted for at least 12-15 months the benefits will expire in 26-30 weeks. It is logical and more financially lucrative to maintain a lower paying job for longer than a slightly higher government paycheck for eight months. This mindset is not easily reversed. Nancy Pelosi (Former Speaker of the House) said at a press conference during the 2010 elections that; “Welfare is in itself a job creator”. It is counter-productive to say the government is paying people to live and then compare it to a regular government employee that gets paid to work. That type of rhetoric is why some people can see collecting unemployment as a better means to an end that having a job that might be out of their comfort zone. The last reason why welfare reform needs to be a social change as much as a cultural change is because people become desensitized to the severity of a particular situation. It is human nature to want more, expect more and even work for more. However, at a certain point citizens collecting welfare compensation without attempting to better their situation becomes nothing more than the government paying people to not work. It has the potential to strip people of their hope, identity, and value. Many people are lured into the false since of security when an institution as vast as the United States Government is providing compensation for doing absolutely nothing. Keep in mind that the writer of those unemployment checks is over 15 trillion-dollars ($15,000,000,000,000) in debt(US Debt Clock). Earning money might be a better financial move than just being given a check by a government that cannot afford it.
There are as many problems with social welfare as there are people to defend it; however, some would argue that welfare was started to help those in need and it still does just that to this day. The defense of welfare and most other government assistance programs can be based on really two reasons. The first reason is taking a government handout for lack of a better option. Whether it is protective human instinct or a parent thinking that it must be done so that their children will be provided for, it is easy to take a defensive posture to try and articulate the justification for the choices made. The second reason someone might give for choosing welfare is that they have tried to look for work but no work was to be found which inevitably leads back to reason one. Lack of work can be blamed on the economy. The outstanding numbers of people receiving food stamps, unemployment, WIC, etc. is a necessity because that is the just the state of the economy manifesting itself in American families. With unemployment at 8.5% (BLS), a 15 trillion dollar debt (US Debt Clock) and economic confidence low the American family will have a challenge growing.
There is nothing inherently wrong with being defensive over family/children, however, it is absolutely imperative that all measures within the law are exhausted before defaulting to the social welfare option. Using a particular family situation (within reason) as an excuse to get out of work or responsibility is a flawed and destructive way of thinking. If cutting grass and scrubbing bathrooms sounds like it is below the standard for what is acceptable, than the standard must be adjusted. Taking help when absolutely necessary should be done without shame, fear, or resentment and the only way to do that is with a clean conscience knowing that every option was exhausted before relying on one problem to fix another.
Changing the mindset of the culture is the only real way to change or correct a broken system. Welfare is costing this country so much money and reform is a must. The cycle of dishonesty and cheating needs to be eradicated immediately so that a reformation of people’s minds and attitudes can begin. Earning money, whether young or old, is always a good feeling. Ronald Reagan said: “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.” That statement encompasses what it means to operate a welfare system. If this problem is not corrected soon, America runs a risk of bankrupting the system all together. The success of all Americans will happen when the government stops interfering and stops calling that interference government assistance.
Works Cited
“Bureau of Labor Statistics.” www.bls.gov. Employment. United States Dept. of Labor. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.
“Ronald Reagan Quotes.” www.brainyquotes.com. 2001. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.
“US debt clock” www.usdebtclock.org. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012
“US Welfare System-Help for U.S. Citizens.” www.welfarinfo.gov. Welfare Information. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.