It’s Hard to Live on Minimum Wage I did not believe when I heard that there are people who live in

The welfare system has been controversial throughout U.S. history. It is constantly under attack and is often the chosen topic of political debates. In 2015, 35.4% of Americans were on welfare (Boyd). Welfare is a government ran program, where the government gives benefits to people who cannot afford to take care of themselves or their family (“Brief”). The benefits that the government gives to the people are money and the necessities they need to live a normal life (“Welfare” 825). The welfare system is an interesting topic and has many layers. Although it is necessary, at the same time it is frustrating for many politicians and U.S. citizens. Numerous people abuse the welfare system everyday. People have found many ways to take

The current (US) welfare reform consists of more than cash payment that the poor US citizen could bank on. There is a monthly payment that each poor person received in spite of their ability to work. The main people who received this payment were both mothers and children. Moreover, the payment does not have time limit and those people could not remain on the welfare for the rest of their live.

A full time worker earning $7.25 an hour will make approximately $15,080 a year (“Minimum Wage”). That’s barely more than what students pay for housing and food at some colleges, and we expect a family to live off of this? The poverty line is at $20,000 for a family of four, so how are these people supposed to raise their children in a healthy environment while working full-time to not even be on the poverty line? If this raise is done correctly, employment and prices won’t be hurt, and we will only be helping our nation’s hardest workers. “Katrina Gill is a certified nursing aide. She monitors 28 patients from 10:30pm to 7am, checking vitals, preventing bedsores, and changing diapers. She makes $14,400 a year with no benefits. She currently has $160,000 worth of medical debt from her son’s cancer care” (Conlin). “Joseph Schiraldi guards the Empire State Building, one of the biggest terrorist targets in the world, for eight hours every-single day. He makes $7.50 an hour in the nation’s most expensive city with no pension, no health care, and no sick days” (Conlin). How is it fair that hard-workers are forced to live below poverty, when raising the federal minimum wage would not have any major negative effects on our economy? Although some people believe that it is unnecessary to raise the federal minimum wage, while looking at the facts it is necessary to realize the benefits it would bring.

The welfare systems are based on the principle of public responsibility on equitable wealth distribution and equality of opportunities to citizens who are unable to afford minimal levels of quality and good life, through provision of universal education programs, health care and subsidised housing. In most of the states, welfare systems are not used in the right manner they are intended to. Although the systems are meant to reduce the poverty level and at least assists individuals to get decent jobs, many recipients develops news ways every year to prolong their dependency in the system. Statistics show that women easily abuse the welfare system by simply having more children each year since this means that more money will come in their mails. Most of the recipients on welfare are able to work

When most people think of the average welfare recipient they most likely imagine someone who is a slacker; unambitious and one who is not a hard worker, someone who lazes around waiting until their welfare check comes in so that they can spend it all on whatever frivolous thing they want, and wait until the next check arrives. Sometimes people think of a mother and her children in a poor neighborhood, who wants more money to spend on expensive clothes and electronics, so she gets her welfare checks and buys the expensive yet unnecessary items without using the money to get out of a bad financial situation, contented to live this way without working towards anything better. Nobody would be in support of a system that gives undeserving people their own tax money. However, that is not what welfare looks like. Welfare looks like overworked parents who are doing the best they can, but still don’t have enough to put a meal on the table. Welfare looks like people afraid to lose their homes and willing to do almost anything to just keep living. Welfare looks like the mentally disabled, who despite trying their hardest, need more help. This is what welfare looks like; people in need who strive to live a better life. Welfare helps families in need not only by giving them money but by aiding them with every aspect of their lives such as food, shelter, and more to improve the quality of their life.

The current minimum wage is $7.25, which equals two gallons of milk, one fast food meal or two gallons of gas. Can you imagine yourself working 12-hours a day and only having enough money to pay for rent and put food on the table for your family? With working all those long hours, you can barely afford to pay your utility bills and after that you don’t have enough money or time for luxuries like clothing or vacation. You have no savings as matter of fact, you are in a huge debt and you are living paycheck to paycheck. This is the story of millions of American worker, who are employed on minimum wage. The shocking part about this story is that million of Americans would be saved from this poverty life, if the American government raises the minimum wage. This would not only help the workers, but also the economy because raising the minimum wage would put extra money in the pocket of minimum wage worker and extra spending would help restore consumer spending.

Welfare is a system that was put into place to give financial help to people or groups who can't support themselves. A problem with welfare is that it usually leaves out the people who are in extreme poverty. The definition of extreme poverty is anyone or any family that are under less than half the poverty brink. For these Americans it is often to hard for them to maneuver themselves through the the welfare system. Other people can also have addictions or poor education and are unable to navigate through the system either. This is one reason why there are so many home less and unsafe people.

All throughout history welfare services have been available to the general public. While these benefits have changed over time, the basic intentions of the welfare system has stayed the same. The welfare system provides benefits and monetary assistance to those who qualify. Different acts over the past two hundred years have been amended in order to try to help the poor, and while not all have been practical and successful, many programs have indeed done an outstanding job in aiding those in need. But, just like with all good things, there is a negative side. Even with all the reforms to try perfect the welfare system there are still some holes in it. Not only is the welfare system easy to manipulate, according to usgovernmentspending.com, eleven percent of the federal budget is spent on welfare, leaving tax payers livid. (usgovspending.com) It 's obvious there is a need for a welfare system in the United States, but with the abuse the welfare system has endured a major change needs to be seen in order to ensure the welfare system be used as efficiently as possible.

The welfare system in the United States is inadequate to what the American people need. Welfare is defined as a government program that supports low income families. These programs are designed to provide a safety net to protect people from poverty. There are thirteen different welfare programs that will help assist people by providing necessities like food, and housing.

The current federal minimum wage is too low to allow people to earn a living wage and has failed to keep up with increases in inflation, productivity and economic growth in recent years. Wages have been fixed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, resulting in a 40 hour work week that allows one to earn only $15,000 a year, an amount that lies just barely above the poverty line (13). If the worker is responsible for children and works full-time to earn this amount, they drop below the poverty line. These low

Welfare is a program in the United States that provides economic support to citizens who are unemployed or underemployed. This program was started during the 1930’s to help out the millions of people who were affected by the great depression. By the 1960’s the welfare program was not being used the same and many believed it was being misused. The welfare program in the United States should be abolished because it costs more than it helps, it is a waste of money, it is abused, and because it teaches bad work ethics.

In Barbara Ehrenreich’s documentary novel, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America (2001), she claimed that it is almost impossible to live off of minimum wage in the united states. She supports her claim by writing a documentary novel explaining the details of the life of the American struggles caused by the minimum wage. Through her book, she supports that minimum wage salary is insufficient means of survival and leads to a difficult life. After encountering many people who falsely accuse welfare receivers of being lazy and not work hard enough, she wrote a book to challenge and change the public’s negative opinion towards them and also about the day when the minimum wage workforce will stand up for themselves and demand to have a higher wage. Ehrenreich’s purpose for writing this novel was to bring attention to wage workforce by showing the general American public the life of their fellow citizens who are struggling to survive.

Welfare gives individuals the opportunity to get back on track and receive financial aid for their families and themselves. Welfare comes in many forms such as: monetary payments, subsidies and vouchers, or housing assistance. By receiving welfare each individual is responsible for meeting certain criteria. The criteria required to meet is made so that it is made “fair” to everyone. For welfare to be fair though the rules must be forced upon to all of the individuals that are requesting the extra help. Many people abuse the welfare system, but someone has to put their foot down and say that enough is enough.

During a campaign speech in 1776, then candidate Ronald Reagan gave an image to the world, the “Welfare Queen.” A fictitious woman who ardently abused the welfare system and wasted taxpayer money. He used this image to begin his battle for dismantling the welfare system, and even after his death in 2004, this idea he put into the U.S. mindset still exists. That those on welfare abuse the system, are addicted to drugs, and don’t deserve the help given to them. As of 2015, 43.1 million people lived below the poverty line in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and in the U.S., terms like “poverty”, “welfare”, and “poor”, still seem to be pretty negatively charged.

The welfare system creates a negative effect on society. Welfare has shown children, the future of the United States, dependency. With children already seeing how easy it is to fall dependent on the state for money, these kids will lead the same cycle as their parents (Fagan). The children most likely will pick up their dependent habit from their parents. Some recipients become so dependent on the income that they begin to lie about their status and abuse the system (Green Garage). Abusers of the system become comfortable without working and earning money to the point they do not even look for jobs (Rector).Abuse of the system is showing negative impacts on the future generation of our country. The impact is not just falling on the future generations, but ours as well, with unnecessary taxes and state debts. Welfare is very costly to the state and sometimes puts states into debt (Green Garage). As the population grows, so does the amount of citizens drawing welfare. Therefore, states start to pay more money they do not have, causing them to go into debt. At the same time, the state legislature is paying money towards investigating abuse cases (Fifield). In 2012 fraud officials did not have the resources to crack down on abusers. Consequently, many recipients abused the system for years (Fifield). The abuse and dependency problems have poorly affected society. Therefore, the welfare systems should be cut off.