In America we thrive on the idea of "The American Dream". To win this dream one must find a job and pay his or her dues to society, such as taxes and social security. The point of state tax is to support the state that one lives in by paying for new roads and other constructions. The point of social security is to work hard for a large portion of life and put away sums of money for retirement. America no longer knows how to gain this dream. In our society, we have 91 million Americans out of a job and its only getting worse (National Review). What do these jobless Americans turn to? They turn to government assistance programs. Government Assistance Programs are detrimental to our society. Ninety-six percent of Americans rely on some form …show more content…
We are raising welfare dependent generations that have no skill or drive to achieve a better life than their parents. Many millennials, persons who reached adult hood in the early 2000’s, are fine with passing on the debt to someone else and soaking up what assistance they can. Thesis The fact that our government offers assistance is a privilege, especially to those who need help staying afloat, but these programs may also be our nation’s downfall. Government Assistance programs are negative to this society because a number of families do not contribute to the programs they are using, families are able to live off of welfare alone, and most welfare programs discourage Americans from leaving the assistance. A In many cases Americans are bombarded with the idea of “freeloaders”. On the first of the month, many refuse to go shopping because of the influx of individuals with assistance cards. We as a society are molded to believe that welfare is for the struggling single mother and the hardworking immigrant. In some cases this may be true, but not in all of them. A statistic put out by the Cato institute states that thirty-seven percent of working age Americans are …show more content…
While yes, the idea of every poverty ridden family soaking up thousands of dollars a month is obnoxious, there is still some truth to the claim. A study conducted by the Cato institute showed that families who collected welfare in New Hampshire receive what is equivalent to $19.11 an hour and a non-collector would need to earn $40,000 a year to make just as much. Remember though that the $19.11 does not have taxes taken out so a non-collector would have to make more than $40,000 a year to keep up. Though Terry Smith, Director of the state’s Division of Family Assistance, said that the study is not “structurally sound” meaning it is impossible to conclude who receives what from each program. Though that’s not entirely true, yes, it is difficult, but it can be done. Each program is designated to a certain life element, meaning food stamps only pay for food and Medicaid only goes to medical, leaving mortgage, gas and other miscellaneous items off the table. This means that those who are unemployed are getting the money from somewhere else. Smith, in attempt to help his case, mentioned that persons on TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, are “required to be involved in work-related activities for at least 30 Hours a week” and any person that is not taking part in this requirement is cut off in 10 weeks (“A Nation of Takers”). What
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 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.
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.
In chapter two of Money, Greed, and God, Jay W. Richards says that the federal government doesn 't appropriately distribute welfare to those who need it. In addition, Richards says that the government should simply stay out of matters this small because they could be better handled by smaller more locally run organizations. In essence, the federal government is “too big” to know how to help the needy. I completely disagree with this assertion. Although the federal government is big and oblivious to who exactly needs what, it is still a necessary part of the welfare distribution system because of the money it has and all the power needed to deliver said funds.
The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 was a landmark legislation that drastically altered how the U.S. government approached poverty. Passed during Bill Clinton's presidency, the reform aimed to decrease the dependency on state support by promoting self-reliance and employment among the populace. This initiative gave birth to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. However, despite the seemingly positive intentions, the Act arguably created a plethora of issues. In fact, many have criticized the reform for its unrealistic assumptions about the reality of poverty in America.
The writer, Micheal Tanner, states that "the welfare state is us", which is an opposing view from what American's of the past envisioned. Americans on welfare are being enabled to grow dependent on their monthly government checks. This is not culture that Americans originated from, just as the Native American culture is much different than it's roots. Through out all the articles, negative effects of the decline in different cultures is presented. Just as there was a decline in Native American culture starting in the 19th and 20th century, there is a decline in American culture now.
Anybody in the country can get free welfare, even if they are not in need of money or
For example, I have family members who refuse to work since the government is giving them all they need. They have been on food stamps for years. They kept on having children because they would say that the government would just give them, even more, money and aid. Donald trump believes that “The food stamp program was originally created as temporary assistance for families with momentary times of need. And it shouldn't be needed often.
Our cultural emphasis on self-reliance helps explain the controversy surrounding public assistance because the conservatives believe that people are just on welfare because it is the easy way to live. People tend to be close minded when it comes to this topic, assuming that people are just taking the easy way out. I believe that people still critic these benefits, but at the same time they're not labeled as lazy. Personally, I don't think that home mortgage interest deductions are benefits, but they are an allowable expense deduction that should always be used to a taxpayer's advantage. In the world we live in, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
If all of the American citizens were to picture a person without access to food, the majority of them would call up the image of the bony barefoot child in a third world country wearing nothing but rags and a sad expression that they saw featured in a Red Cross commercial. Unfortunately, the gruesome reality is that about 49.1 million citizens will have a completely different vision; one of themselves (Scharnberg). Take Roxann, (her last name is withheld for privacy purposes) a married mother of three living in Michigan. Her husband has a full time job with health care and because of that they just outside the income brackets required to qualify for financial assistance. And yet after paying bills and taxes each month they are left with a
Like Louis Woodhill contributing writer to Forbes summaries the consequences of welfare programs, “It was supposed to help America’s poor become self-sufficient, and it has made them dependent and dysfunctional.” The country shouldn 't be giving charity to its people, because then charity does not help them on the long run, but jobs skills and education will give them jobs that will benefit them and save them the embarrassment of asking
There are several social programs put in effect by the government to assist kids while in poverty. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 was created to help remove families from dependence of the government and work to construct the families self-sufficient. This act would then benefit the children by helping to break the cycle of poverty when they reach adulthood. The programs under
Immigration and The American Dream As an immigrant I may sound a bit biased, I will try my best to steer away from being biased. When I was a kid living in the Philippines I was motivated to learn and achieve high standards in school. A couple years later I was lucky enough to get into the United States to get in better a school system than the public school that was provided near my house in the Philippines as soon as I attended grade school in the states I noticed that my classmates did not have as big of motivation as I had to learn brand new knowledge being taught to me. This also bled out throughout the middle and then high school.
There are many welfare programs in our society that are provided by the government, whether it is funded by taxpayers or the government itself. These programs are generalized as Safety Net Programs, and they provide necessities for families in need and in unfortunate situations. There are plenty of safety net programs but the two types that they all categorize under is social insurance programs and means-tested programs. To be frank, social insurance is a set of insurance programs that are administered by a government. Similar to private sector insurance, they provide benefits upon the occurrence of certain events.
Individuals that participate in the program often face many difficulties such as the work load for students studying, for example students participating who are studying, looking for 40 jobs a week, trying to keep up a social life and working 25 hours a week have a hard time balancing the load. Many of these activities have to be done but also need to be balanced to be happy in your life. Individuals also work for the program for under $10 an hour and is below the minimum wage, this money means it is hard to pay expenses and for everyday items that people need to survive. The program also has negative impacts on parents who wish to be full time carers will have to give up time to care due to the hours they have to work. The Working for the dole program also has some negative effects on the community such as only a quarter of the participants obtain jobs after three months of leaving the program meaning more people will join the program and the government will have to spend more money on the program thus taking money away from other expenses such as hospital, police and education departments.