...Brendan Miller 4-28-12 Prof. Odock Microeconomics The Welfare System Enabling Poverty Thirty seven million people residing on our “land of opportunity” have fallen below the poverty line, and our efforts have produced little improvement to poverty. The U.S. citizens can’t ignore the poverty issue, but should determine the best plan of action that would produce most positive outcomes on poverty. Proof that our efforts are producing a positive outcome would be displayed with statistics, which displays significant reductions in poverty population, when comparing the current years to past ones. While attempting to reduce the amount of the poverty population, the government must be sure to maintain the poverty line, so that the people of poverty don’t suffer any harsher effects, than they have already experienced today. Unfortunately, the U.S. has been fighting a war on poverty for over 50 years, and hasn’t produced the improvements they had hoped. Above all we have to consider that the welfare’s assistance maybe creating a behavioral-dependence on the governments financial assistance, that decreases the likelihood of a recipient from moving-up in financial class, and increases likelihood of being on welfare long-term. We need to investigate whether our welfare system is truly helping poor population, or whether changes are necessary to rectify system. By the government focusing their attention to reducing the behavioral-dependence on the financial assistance programs...
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...strings attached? Right? Wrong. With welfare, one can become unemployed and get a free check from the government every month, one can also have the government pay for food using food stamps. Crazy, right? What if it was also noted that America spends 72 billion dollars on it every year. With a current debt of 19 Trillion (1:54, February 3rd, 2016), the US just cannot afford any of these programs. Welfare hurts the US and it’s citizens, because the programs hurt the economy, welfare recipients stay on welfare , and there hasn’t been a measurable change in the poverty level. Welfare hurts the economy, the numbers don’t lie.. Debt in the US is at an all time high and there’s no room for more spending. For example, Ed Feulner’s “The Spiraling State of Welfare Spending says, “Under the president’s spending plans, by 2022 we’ll be spending $2.33 on welfare for every $1 we spend on defense. Overall, President Obama plans to spend 12.7 trillion on means-tested welfare over the next decade” (Feulner). If one does the math it comes out to $1,361,673,412,700, or around 1/18 of the US national debt for this year alone. Another example described by Feulner is “According to...
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...INTRODUCTION According to the U.S Census Bureau 46.2 million Americans are under the poverty line, that's 15.7 percent of the population. This country has done a lot to help the poor, so, why is poverty rising? Are the anti-poverty programs that are now in place not working? The Center on Budget reports that our anti-poverty efforts were effective in keeping millions of Americans out of poverty in the current economic crisis. Existing policies and new initiatives kept people from falling into poverty; these programs reduced the severity of poverty. TANF was created by the 1996 welfare reform law to replace AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). Under the TANF structure, the federal government provides a block grant to the states, which use these funds to operate their own programs. States can use TANF dollars in ways designed to meet any of the four purposes set out in federal law, which are to: “(1) provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; (2) end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.” This paper will examine the TANF program from inception to determine how effective the program has performed...
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...term welfare brings a lot of controversy, for some, it implies that its recipients meaning “poor people” are getting a free ride getting public assistance. For others it is believed to be anti-work, anti-family. Nonetheless, regardless of how one’s felt about welfare, no one can argue that poverty is a social issue that has serious impact on society. Although poverty means different thing to different people, to some, poverty means the some members of society are lazy, not able to take personal responsibility. For others, it means that some members of society are not getting a fair share of the wealth distribution. The point that it remain is viewed as not having enough or lacking enough resource to provide for one’s needs. But many disagree on this definition, because some scholars in the field of sociology agree that poverty transcend money and wealth. Hutchinson (2003) eloquently posits that” poverty influences the ability of parents to adequately meet their children’s basic needs. Understanding human development requires an ecological approach that views the child in a home environment duly placed in a community context, where the family strives to meet their needs and obtain long-term resources” (p.56). The social problem created by poverty is a much larger than any debate ever address. Its remains an issue of serious social concern, addressing the truthfulness about poverty is crucial to assist in the policy making process. Because ignoring the cause of poverty only...
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...wrong, people in poverty try their hardest to escape but it is often too hard. But what if I told you it was actually our fault, Society as a whole could be doing more to help the poor. It is society’s responsibility to help those in poverty escape its clutches. In their paper Framing the Poor, Max and Frank discuss the prominence of the pessimistic view towards the poor in recent years. They discuss Ronald Reagan and a strategy of his campaign, where he would talk about Linda Taylor, “The Welfare Queen”. She was a highly skilled con artist, who had 80 fake names and made $150,000 in illicit welfare (Max and Frank). Linda Taylor doesn't make a good name for the poor, many people despised her for cheating the system for her income while others had to actually work. However Taylor is an extreme case, and it is only probable that she had this big of a con. Taylor still became a media sensation, with many people believing that she represented the poor. This lead to a harsh attitude to the poor and the belief that they were lazy and living off welfare...
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...1. Why was welfare established in the 1930s? Welfare was established in the 1930’s as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. During the Great Depression, local and state governments as well as private charities were overwhelmed by needy families seeking shelter, food, and clothing. In 1935, welfare for poor children and other dependent persons became the responsibility of the federal government. To deal with the depression, the Social Security Act of 1935 provided a minimal level of sustenance to elderly Americans, established a safety net for less fortunate Americans, and also created a program to assist some of the nation’s poor. One of which used to be called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). This program went on to become the main support for needy, one parent families. The goal of AFDC was to protect societies most vulnerable: children living in poverty. 2. What are the two main criticisms of welfare?...
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...Eaton 1970 Poverty in Rural Vermont America is changing and maybe not for the good. In many states, it isn’t out of the ordinary to see a homeless person on the sidewalk asking for money. Here in Vermont however it was never such an issue. However, in recent years there isn’t a day that a person can drive through a local town like Main Street in Brattleboro without seeing someone asking for food or money. There aren’t enough jobs for these people or they don’t get paid enough to survive. Stories of homeless families are a lot more common than one would like to think. How many people in this weak economy can actually help someone out? Most people would, but they themselves are struggling to survive. So with everyone having such a hard time surviving in Vermont, what is the solution? Most people would answer we need more jobs; others would say that there needs to be an increase in pay rates to keep up with the daily cost of living. With Vermont poverty increasing over the years, jobs and services aren’t enough to keep people from living in poverty or even becoming homeless. Many Americans don’t understand what homeless families struggle with and trying to explain to a child why they live the way they do. The first step in understanding this issue is confronting cultural attitudes towards poverty. Professor of politics, Lawrence Mead III has researched American politics and policy making since 1966. Mead has written many books on welfare, poverty and programs...
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...The Welfare State - A Cost Benefit Analysis The role of welfare within our society has always been controversial. This problem emphasizes the need to understand the roles of variable factors when pertaining to the subject of welfare within our society. The proposed analysis will address the phenomenon of welfare assistance and several factors which may contribute to the increase or decrease of welfare assistance to the poor in 4 ways: (1) by defining major concepts and any other concepts about which there is likely to be misunderstanding (2) by further examining the past history pertaining to the subject of welfare assistance within the United States; (3) by developing the formulation of a hypothesis which will provide for an explanation of welfare; and finally (4) determining whether or not the benefits of welfare assistance outweigh the cost. Ultimately, the purpose of this research analysis is to investigate variable factors that may contribute to the increase or decrease of welfare assistance. This cost benefit analysis is an attempt to explain the tentative assumptions of others pertaining to the subject of welfare, in order to determine and explain the relationship of welfare to the economic cost and benefits. Cost-Benefit Analysis Before welfare assistance can be analyzed there is a need to define the terms that will be used. Policies like welfare assistance are worthwhile only if the benefits to society are greater than the costs. When choosing among a set of policies...
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...Fred Johnson MLS 673: Dr. Beggs M2A1 Essay “The Legacy of the War on Poverty: Abandonment or Failure?” In 1964 vast stretches of America were living in abject poverty- Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, Texas-Mexico border, Indian reservations, central urban areas, etc. Many lacked indoor plumbing, and some individuals were literally starving. On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty” in his State of the Union Address. Johnson’s original intent was the eradication of poverty in America (Sparks 1). 50 years later the policies and programs that were established in 1964 have remained largely unchanged in spite of the fact that the dynamics of child poverty have significantly shifted. Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start and college-grant and school nutrition programs were developed under the Johnson administration. They have been the keystone for the war on poverty. In the past two decades opponents of social welfare programs have vilified them citing that they perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Critics of social welfare also point to long-term abuse of government funds and a bloated bureaucracy that is necessary to support it. The legacy of the war on poverty is one of failure or of abandonment depending upon your perspective. It is difficult to gage how effective the War on Poverty has been over the past five decades. Principally, the metrics for measuring poverty utilized in the 1960’s versus what political think tanks, academia and...
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...American minds. Welfare reform has been a major controversy in the realm of social policy. Most Americans support the idea of equality, one of the values that our nation was founded on, although there seems to be no general agreement on how the government should alleviate poverty. The American welfare system as it is in its present state degrades the beneficiaries and serves to enrich the administrators. If the objective is to reduce poverty and promote self-sufficiency then the right signals are given off but the system is failing in practice. The key to reforming would be to combine work with education and training to help attain skills to increase beyond an entry-level position. To fully reform, the government must integrate developmental efforts in the welfare, work force, education and economic development area in an effort to create a stronger state and move people out of poverty and into self-sufficiency. Welfare was introduced in 1936 under a program entitled Aid to Dependent Children and it provided cash for low-income families with children. The number of people in the household and the total monthly income was the determining factor of an individual’s eligibility. For a household consisting of 4 people, if the income were less than $643, then you would be eligible. Recipients were required to enroll in an Employment First course that taught educational, social and work ethics to move individuals to a state of self-support. With good intentions, the welfare system did not...
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...Professor Schnell PSC 101 November, 20th 2014 Paper 1 Poverty is a big problem in the world, and also in the United States. Even though the United States is one of the most wealthy and well off first world nations, there are still about 10% of the population that is in poverty. This was found by the 2009 U.S. Bureau of Census Statistics report. In the 2009 U.S. Bureau of Census Statistics report, Hispanics and African Americans have the highest rate of poverty at 21.3 and 22 percent respectably. Compared to Whites which is only 8.4%, there is a large difference. However, being a business major and taking many statistic courses, there are more Whites in poverty. The total percent in poverty is 10% of the population. A total of 303,820 people live in poverty, 197,164 are White-not Hispanic, 38,556 are Black and 48,811 are Hispanic. Looking at this, there are a substantial amount more of White people who live in poverty than Hispanic and Black people combined. I received all of these statistics from http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-238.pdf. As you can see, there are many more white people in poverty. By showing only a percentage it makes it seem like only minorities are in poverty. Even though a higher percentage of them are in poverty there are many more whites who live in poverty. Female lead households also have a higher rate of poverty than male lead households. This is due to the fact that in today’s society, women are still making their way up in the job totem...
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...various events and meetings throughout the nation everyday. We usually do not associate the image of welfare with the American flag or think about it as we recite the allegiance. We, however, associate it with images of prosperity and freedom. As I look closely at the last words of this allegiance: “…with liberty and justice for all.” I remember the number of homeless who beg in the streets, those who for one reason or another await assistance in the social services office, and those who because of the color of their skin or gender association have yet to receive their share of benefits. According to Webster’s dictionary, welfare means “Well-doing or well-being in any respect; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; exemption from any evil or calamity; prosperity; happiness.” Before taking classes such as this, my connotation of welfare was totally opposite. Welfare always meant something bad. When I heard the word ‘welfare’ I pictured a homeless person or an immigrant who’s only dream was a better life, but found it was not as easy as it seemed. When I heard about someone on welfare I was quick to jump to conclusions. I’d assume he or she was lazy and just didn’t want to work or that he or she was in some sort of trouble. Looking at Webster’s meaning I notice the words “respect” and “the common blessing of life.” I have come to realize those on welfare are people too and deserve the respect everybody else does. They may have come upon hard times or made...
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...War on Poverty: Are There Any steps to Success? In 1964, the president of the state of unions, Lyndon B. Johnson spoke out and said “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war of poverty. Taxpayers spent twenty-two trillion dollars on anti-poverty programs, and this doesn’t include the help from social security or Medicare. This is three times more than the cost of all United States Military wars since the American Revolution. President Johnson’s goal was to reduce the cause of poverty rather than the consequences thereafter. The United States Census Bureau is scheduled to do an annual poverty report in 2014, which marked the 50th anniversary of when President Johnson launched the “War on Poverty”. Some say the lack of self-sufficiency is majority the welfare systems fault. From 1967-2015 the percentage of Americans citizens who were poor by the official poverty standards, are averaging close to the same. Although when the economy was doing well (2000-2010) the poverty rate would increase by two to three percent, but the economy is near rock bottom due to the poverty level rises to a similar amount (since the 1960’s). Before then the poverty level was at its high of 32.2 percent, during the first year the “War on Poverty” began to operate the percentage of Americans in poverty cut to 17.3 percent and never went that high since then. For the past 45 years the consistency of the poverty level stumped, because of the amount of money the anti-poverty and welfare...
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...result: _____________ Date: ________________ The analysis of the Welfare system in your country and link to poverty reduction measures Esping-Anderson's welfare regimes Mr. Esping-Andersen is one of the most influential theorists and researchers the development of the welfare state. His most important work is The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism which was first empirically tested theories about the different types of welfare regimes in the developed countries. This work has made a very strong impact on research in the area of social policy. By Esping Andersen there are three types of welfare regime: * social democratic regime; * conservative-corporatist regime; * liberal-democratic regime. The welfare state is a specific historical construct that has developed between the thirties and sixties, based on a new social contract between the state and citizens, which provides basic social redistribution of risk. Social-democratic regime is called the Scandinavian or Nordic. Social rights are based on the status of a citizen, that is, on citizenship. Therefore, this system guarantees the social rights of all citizens. In the social-democratic welfare state services are cover a wide range of social risks. This regime seeks to minimize the role of the market or break the connection between the market and social welfare of citizens. It was developed...
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...Examine the ways in which government policies attempt to deal with the problem of poverty (24marks) There are four approaches used to help deal with poverty these are the social democratic, new right, third way and Marxist. This essay will include the different ways in which the government policies attempt to deal with the problem of poverty. A Social democrats way of dealing with poverty is by offering universal benefits, which essentially means benefits that everyone is entitled to. This is useful when dealing with the problem of poverty because it creates no social stigma in receiving benefits. For example if there was no universal benefit than because people might feel humiliated of taking it as they don’t want to be labelled, which may discourage people of claiming benefits that they are entitled to. This is also proven by the low amount of people of taken up means benefits. In the 1980s no means benefits had more than 80% take up. The downfalls of universal benefits are that it creates a ‘benefit culture’ where everyone is depending on benefits as a way of living and don’t try and get out of it. This creates a poverty trap in society. Alternatively , the new right approach supports the means tested benefits which is suggests that benefits should only be restricted to those who are very poor and need it the most. This is useful when dealing with the problem of poverty because it’s cheaper than the universal and the government doesn’t waste its money as it’s only paid...
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