...GOVERNMENT WELFARE March 13, 2012 GOVERNMENT WELFARE PROGRAMS Government welfare programs tend to encourage dependence on government support by allowing recipients to remain on the system indefinitely and receive. Some feel that welfare is necessary to help those who cannot help themselves, to allow them a better quality of life with the main goal of assisting the children of needy parents. In 2008, FamilyFacts.org reported that $714 billion was spent on welfare. This included $42 billion for housing, $63 billion on food, $154 billion in cash aid, $372 billion in medical care, and $83 billion on other expenses. Many others feel that welfare distributes wealth to those who don’t earn it. To them, welfare encourages illegitimate births, the breakup of families, and discourages recipients from bettering themselves (Mankiw, p.429). Welfare provides the means for a lazy society that is dependent on hard working citizens for their support. Welfare provides the basic needs and allows for a better quality of live that protects the children from hunger and homelessness. The parents of these children often qualify because their income is at or below poverty level and they have met their state’s requirements to receive any benefits. But instead of the system being a temporary crutch, the system allows recipients to grow dependent on welfare and increases their incentive to continue participating in the program. Many recipients remain on benefits much longer than needed and continually...
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...To live in the United States most Americans have to work long hours with both parents working to raise a family of five. Children these days spend less time with their parents because both parents are working to provide a better life for them. So why should we, the American population working hard hours give away our hard working money to drug users collecting welfare. Numerous people can argue and say that our tax money should be use elsewhere instead of giving it away. First of all, California has the highest amount of welfare recipients in the United States. One of the reasons is high is because California has a population of over 39 million people. Secondly, California does not require a criminal background or drug test for people needing...
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...Rebuilding the Welfare System Tyeisha Atkinson SOC320: Public Policy & Social Services Instructor: Ingrid Sanders November 13, 2013 Rebuilding the Welfare System Welfare is a very controversial topic that has divided this nation since the start of it. Welfare is an institution supported by the government to help those who lack in many different areas of their lives. “The largest increase in the share of the US population on welfare in the past 35 years occurred between 1960 and 1970.” (Deavers, & Hattiangadi, 1998). Welfare aims to help people and prevent poverty from increasing by enduring access to resources and reduce social suffering. Welfare programs include but are not limited to health care, education, SSI, housing, unemployment, food stamps and child care assistance. While this program is a great help to those who receive assistance the misuse and abuse of some obtaining benefits as well as a weakened government system has caused the welfare system to collapse. In earlier years, more Americans were working to provide for their families. Up to 1870, more than half of the Nation’s adult workers were farmers but as the economy grew so did jobs. Development reshaped the workforce. As life happened, people began to need assistance in different areas. The States and the Federal Government realized that the only way to make sure that people would not lose all that they had worked hard for over the years was to engage in insurance programs. In the US, social...
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...Ethical Issues Concerning Welfare reform Alexandra Padua Dr. Jonathan Christensen MG260: Business Law I Opening statement * “I think we should acknowledge that some welfare programs in the past were not well designed and in some cases did encourage dependency.…” President Barrack Obama The beginning of welfare in the 1930’s to President Clinton’s welfare reform in the 1990’s A. Why did President Franklin find a need to begin welfare in the U.S.A? B. What welfare did for America and who it helped? C. How President Clinton reformed welfare, and why. D. How effective President Clintons changed towards welfare has been. I. President Franklin felt the obligation II. Welfare was given to the people of America as a hand up to get back on their feet. It helped anyone who needed the assistance. III. President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. IV. President Clinton’s changes pushed able bodied person(s) to work and support themselves and their families. Legal Issues concerning welfare reform A. Immigrants B. Requirements C. Length of time I. Immigrants that need Medicaid are not eligible. II. To receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) people now need to be looking for a job, working or, evolved in job education. III. People who are receiving benefits are limited to the time they can receive benefits. Ethical Issues concerning welfare reform. A. Helping Americans...
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...Running head: A BETTER WELFARE SYSTEM 1 A Better Welfare System Seminar 2: Developing Learning Tools Ottawa University Nancy Hindle Teresa Martinez February 24, 2012 Abstract Welfare programs have been established to help the poor survive. Even in the 1930’s, when welfare programs were in their infancy, prominent members in government expressed concern that welfare programs may inadvertently promote abuse of the system. The work ethic of that generation was completely different than it is now. It was embarrassing to be on Welfare. It was humiliating to stand in line at the market and present food stamps to pay for food. In today’s society, there are many people that do abuse the welfare system. Today, there is no shame in expecting taxpayers to pay the way for those who refuse to work. They refuse to take a job because it isn’t something that they want to be doing, yet, they walk around in name brand clothing, fingernails done, hair done, driving new cars while on state assistance. Lawmakers have put the Welfare Reform in place, but concepts are not working. Lawmakers are constantly making changes to the systems in order to keep people from abusing the systems, but much more work is needed. If the abuse continues, the welfare system will be jeopardized because there won’t be any funds available to continue to run the programs that need to be in place for those that actually...
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...Drug Testing: The Aid to Improving Our Welfare System By: Jennifer, Jacob, Kelsey, Mattie, and Devin Introduction Attention-getting remarks: Every single one of us in this class will one day have a job, and with that job we will be required to pay taxes. Have you ever thought about where the taxes we pay goes to and whether or not it’s going towards a helpful and productive cause? Thesis: Today we will break down the pros and cons of enforcing welfare recipients to be drug tested. Preview: Our group will inform you all about what welfare actually is, as well as reasons as to why some people believe it is a violation of their rights to be drug tested in order to receive welfare. More importantly, you will hear the opposing side of this issue, which is in favor of drug testing, along with reasons we believe it will benefit the welfare system. (First let’s get a better understanding of what welfare actually is.) Body I. Usually when one hears the word welfare, he thinks of public assistance. A. According to the welfare info website, welfare can also be characterized as a financial assistance to needy individuals, which is supplied through the taxes paid by the working society. (welfareinfo) 1. It also improves the quality of life and standards of living for the poor. II. Now that we all understand what welfare is, let’s look at the pros and cons of enforcing drug testing to receive this assistance. A. As said by Florida’s Governor Rick...
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...much-reduced demand for unskilled or low-skilled workers, US policy must adapt so that it can better maximize the net economic benefits of immigration. While this probably does not include a universal drop in the number of legal immigrants, it would include the screening of applicants in such a way that preference is given to more economically beneficial candidates. It would also include making families totally responsible for their elderly relatives who migrate to the US, eliminating the refugee portion of immigrants, denying more, but not all, government services to illegal immigrants, controlling the southern border with more manpower and better technology, and establishing a national verification database. The optimal policy from an economic perspective should seek to provide U.S. businesses with the labor they require without placing added burden on the taxpayers. Before specific policies can be addressed, it is crucial that immigrants be separated into four categories: legal, working-age immigrants; legal, elderly immigrants; refugees; and illegal immigrants. These groups are radically different, and they must be addressed differently. Universally cutting legal immigration levels would deprive businesses of labor resources that have allowed them to grow. Businesses benefit greatly in terms of increased labor availability. Immigrants usually have a higher percentage of college degrees than people now living in this country, and thus they contribute greatly to the filling of higher-skilled...
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...TANF and the Importance of Welfare Reform The idea of welfare reform is not a new concept. The federal government is responsible for funding subsidy programs for low income Americans. One of these programs is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). According to the Office of Family Assistance (1999) the TANF program is intended to assist low income families to achieve self sufficiency. It goes on to explain that states receive block grants for which they are to plan and initiate programs that accomplish one of the purposes of the TANF program. The four purposes of the TANF program are to: * Provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes. * Reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage. * Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. * Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families (Office of Family Assistance, 1999). On the surface, these four purposes seem very competent in promoting the idea that being on welfare permanently is not the idea of the assistance program. However, federal involvement in welfare has only made things worse, complicating matters by the waste of taxpayers' money while doing very little to solve the problem of long-term poverty. The policy pathway being proposed in this memorandum is that the federal government should remove their role in TANF and all related welfare programs and leave these programs to state...
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...SOCIAL POLICY ANALYSIS: WELFARE TO WORK Research is key to the continued development of the theory and knowledge base of social work practice. The AASW supports the undertaking of research as a key activity to build and maintain the mission of the social work profession. Research is an essential area of social work practice and is included in the AASW Practice Standards for Social Workers, (section 4.3), highlighting its importance to social work practice. Social workers are expected to “understand the role of research and evaluation in obtaining and generating new knowledge for practice.” (AASW 2013) Social work research informs professional practice. Through social work research, the profession can: * Assess the needs and resources of people in their environments * Evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people needs * Demonstrate relative costs and benefits of social work services * Advance professional education in light of changing contexts for practice * Understand the impact of legislation and social policy on the clients and communities we serve Australia’s population is ageing. At the same time, spending on income support payments as a whole (and not just age pensions) is anticipated to increase. Without on-going high rates of economic growth, the nation will struggle to support its ageing population and those who rely on government income support (ABS, 2006). Australian governments have long recognized the...
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...Illegal Immigrants Hurt our Economy Our nation has often been referred to as a “melting pot”, which is one of the many great things about America. Many people come here for a better life for them and their families and everyone deserves the freedoms and opportunities that America has to offer. As a great nation, laws are in place for the greater cause of our people, meaning that lawbreakers are typically punished and dealt with accordingly; However, it doesn’t seem to hold much truth in today’s immigration laws. Today’s economy is hurting more than ever. With our growing unemployment rate, and our depleting funds, it doesn’t make much sense to keep letting the economy and it’s legal citizens suffer because of lawbreakers. Illegal immigrants are hurting our economy by taking unrightful employment, placing a financial burden on the economy, and lowering the social system of the United States. Illegal Immigrants take the jobs that should be given to our legal citizens. As a result, many American citizens are losing their jobs, while many others are competing for the jobs that illegal immigrants hold illegally.“ Some research estimates that nearly two million Americans a year are displaced by immigration” (Federation for American 2). With Americans losing their jobs at that rate and being replaced by the growing number of illegal immigrants, the...
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...Families surviving on Welfare and Low-Wage work? Are they living well? Growing up in a city environment I was surrounded with families living on food stamps, medicare and any other government assistance they could get. My negative feelings was that making ends meet and trying to better their lives was not all they were trying to accomplish. Lives free of work, free of responsibilities, a life living on the goodness and the generosity of our government. After many years of seeing this my mind was made up, these people did not want to better themselves or their children's life. After much research, and a personal encounter with the system I came to realize that this was not so for many families on welfare. Poor single mothers were supplementing their regular income with some combination of "off the book" employment and money from relatives, lovers, and the fathers of their children. A handful of single mothers consumed goods and services whose value exceeded the official poverty line. What is the official poverty line? In 1999 poverty level for a family with one child was $8,240.04 annually, at this income level they were considered at 100% poverty scale. Is it too low? How did I know what constituted a poor families need, or any other families needs? I have commented on food stamps recipients who purchase a luxury item. The fact that they purchase such items must mean that they must not be in too much hardship, why would they purchase something that they can forgo. Prior to...
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...people before they are able to receive welfare benefits. Some people think it is a violation of their rights, the testing is not fail proof, and the cost is usually greater than the benefit. Those who are in favor of drug testing believe it will benefit the welfare system, help the tax payers save money and also help the children of the parents if they are using drugs. Government leaders and most of the general public look at it from a financial point of view while people who receive benefits look at it from a constitutional point of view. The government court system and judges are not backing the drug testing idea because of the fourth amendment. In my personal opinion I am for people being drug tested who receive benefits or any assistance from government funded programs. The middle class worker has to be drug tested to work, earn money and pay taxes. People who receive assistance should not be exempt from this type of requirement. What is Welfare? Welfare is a public assistance program designed to help people who are not able to support themselves fully. Welfare encompasses those government programs that provide benefits and economic assistance to no or low income individuals. It can also be defined as financial assistance to impoverished individuals which is supplied through the taxes paid by the working class. Improving the quality of life and living standards for the poor and underprivileged is one of the main goals of welfare. When a person is not receiving an income, or...
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...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. REVIEW OF LITERATURE TANF’s early years witnessed dramatic declines in the number of families receiving cash assistance, and a great increases in the share of single mothers working, especially those with less than a high school education...
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...its own purpose in order to make the society run. An example of functionalism would be that you have a government that imposes taxes on its citizens. Those citizens work in order to pay the taxes. The taxes are used to pay for a police force in order to protect the citizens. Each piece works for the other in order to make the society work. The next paradigm is conflict theory. Unlike the functional theory where everything has its purpose, this theory suggests people are essentially fighting over resources. An example of conflict theory would be how women have for years been fighting for equal pay for equal work. The third paradigm is symbolic interaction. This theory differs from the other two because it deals with individual people rather than a group of people. It teaches that people interact with one another through gestures and symbols and this sets the tone for relationships. These gestures and symbols also define the way people think and react in certain situations. An example would be two people from the United States meeting for the first time would be more likely to shake hands whereas two people from Japan may be seen bowing toward one another. Every aspect of society has an impact on poverty and social classes in the U.S. For example, if you look at social stratification, this is how people are seen based on their wealth, power, or prestige. If you were to have someone who is an executive in a firm, they would be seen as someone who is powerful and wealthy. This “social...
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