There are many forms of cheating and it does not only have to be when a person fabricates someone else’s idea, paper, or answers. The types of methods for cheating have increased throughout the years and it has become very common to take credit for something that you have worked for. Another method that has become increasingly popular through the years is people cheating the government. The people who have been cheating the government believe that they deserve more benefits than what they receive, but the truth is that most of those people do not want to work for what they need which promotes languid behavior (Gabriel). This in turn causes those who actually need those benefits to be rejected. Though some people may disagree and say that they do work for their money, there are a select few who will do whatever is necessary to get what they think they deserve. For instance, a friend of the family confessed to be living with her husband but has claimed to be separated so that she and her family can receive benefits. She is able to get food stamps and Medicaid for her children because of her claims. If she did not claim that she was separated, she would not be able to qualify for these benefits. Even though she can afford it, she gets away with cheating the government system. This is obviously unfair to those who actually have to pay for their own insurance and medical care or to those who simply can’t afford it. The people who can’t afford the assistances provided by the
In a way, one could view this as a way that the system is being cheated. According to Malcolm Wiener, professor of Social Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, the nation's 3.7 million welfare families confront an urgent problem: they do not get enough money from welfare to pay their bills. Nor can most single mothers earn enough to cover their expenses. The only way most welfare recipients can keep their families together is to combine work and welfare. Yet if they report that they are working, the welfare department will soon reduce their checks by almost the full amount of their earnings, leaving them as desperate as before. The only way most recipients can make ends meet, therefore, is to supplement their welfare checks without telling the welfare department that they are working.
The idea of cheating to attain rewards is no new concept. Throughout history, people have performed actions that contradict their morals in order to advance in society. Leaders, parents, and even children have taken shortcuts that strike at their integrity. In recent times, cheating has become more prominent than ever before. The concepts of honesty, fairness, and morality are not enforced, therefore, deception, fraud, and dishonesty prevail in the shadows. In Cheating Culture, written by David Callahan, the author addresses the issue of lying, deceit, and trickery in today's world, while also recognizing a change in the near future is within the people's grasp.
Our country is quickly turning into a welfare state; this process by which the government takes more and more of our income and thus the benefit of our work for the common good doing this deters people from working for themselves to achieve a better life at all. This self perpetuates simply by the fact that if you’re not working then you becoming one of the multitude of individuals needing help. Requiring people to work twice as hard to reap a certain level of benefit is a stifling concept those without the fortitude to do this will simply accept a meager existence and be sustained upon the handouts given.
Chace askes how does cheating become accepted? Part of the answer is the type of wrong it is. “When one compares it to a violation of copyright which is punishable in a court of law, cheating in college is only morally and ethically wrong.” (Chace, W.M., 25) Even Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. doctoral thesis at Boston University was full of words from other authors and copied down section upon section in great abundance. (Chace, W.M., 25)
Pretend you are in kindergarten again and you have just won your favorite bag of candy for behaving yourself in class all week, and right when the teacher presents you with your glorious prize a fellow classmate, which had already been to the principals twice that week, comes up and asks for a piece. You do not want to give him a piece because you worked hard for it and he broke the rules so they do not deserve it, but then they go complain to the teacher and she says you have to share with him. Would you be upset if you worked hard to obey the rules to win a bag of candy, and then you find out that you could have gotten a piece anyways? This is exactly how many taxpayers feel about welfare recipients that refuse to take
“Lana M. and her husband collected welfare benefits in 2003, claiming they earned less than $24,000. But authorities say Lana M., the former office manager of a job-training center for immigrant welfare recipients, also owned a liquor store and recycling business. Authorities say, she drove a $76,000 luxury car, shopped at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue and had $147,980 stashed in her bedroom dresser” (“Welfare” 7). This case for instance, how did this couple’s income go undetected by the system? How did their greed get away with thousands of dollars they obviously did not need? Not only did they cheat and scam the welfare system and tax payers, but they took away the assistance from a family or individual that where truly seeking aid. While reading through some articles when researching information on this matter I learned that it is not easy to apply for Welfare Programs. Applicants are required to provide important documentations such as “Source of income, proof of identity, social security cards, proof of residence cost, copy of mortgage payments, pay stubs and applicants are even required to provide saving and checking accounts information and cash on hand” (“Tips” 7). With all these information in our government’s hand, fraud should be the last thing on peoples’ mind. Tax payers should rest assured that the money they have worked so extremely hard
Welfare is not intended to be a way for citizens to have a way out of having to look for employment, but for many that is what it has become. An estimated 21.3% of all Americans were on some sort of Welfare program each month in 2012 (Bureau). Fraud is a commonly found problem within the welfare system, and it can come in many forms. The eligibility of welfare applicants are reviewed annually, but this allows for errors to occur in the manner of which the applicant could be eligible for a half a year, but they still receive assistance for the rest of the year when they no longer need it (Ribali). The annual check for eligibility accounts for the fair amount
Emily Badger said in The Washington Post “The reality, though, is that a tremendous share of people who rely on government programs designed for the poor in fact work — they just don't make enough at it to cover their basic living expenses (Badger).” To even go a little further, according to the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education seventy-three percent of individuals who benefit from assistant programs in the U.S, live in a household where at least one individual is earning/bringing in an income. Even with that income they just cant afford the tedious things such as medial bills, paying for childcare/daycare services, or buying groceries after they receive their paycheck or get done paying all of the other bills that factor into everyday life (Badger). If there was a crack down on the requirements for welfare, yes it may be a little harder to receive but for people who TRULY need it would get it. As long as one can prove that they cannot make all of their bills and provide their family with all of the necessities with the income they have, they should absolutely receive welfare. If you do not have a job you should be given the option to either find a job by a certain deadline, or participate in community service. If half of the individuals who abuse welfare we caught, and forced to
Unfortunately, this fraudulent behavior is still happening today. People of difference race, gender, religion and etc., seeks public assistance and find ways to capitalized on the system to receive more than they are truly allowed. A 1987 national study found that 74 percent of those surveyed believed that most welfare recipients were dishonest and collected more benefits than they deserved (Martin, 2014, p 36).
In order to get a job nowadays, many companies require drug testing of their employees. If people out there cannot get a job because they’re on drugs, they shouldn’t be able to receive welfare. As Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, said, "The people that are working are paying the taxes for people on welfare. Shouldn't the welfare people be held to the same standard?" (politifact.com) Also, if applicants are required to pay for drug tests themselves, only to be reimbursed later when they pass, the government won’t lose as much money. Just because someone is paying taxes like the rest of their fellow citizens does not mean they are entitled to receive welfare if they are not qualified. Especially if they are using illegal drugs and cannot guarantee the money wouldn’t be going to a place it shouldn’t
The chances of cheating are increasing, which shows that young people are being less honest during our last few years. Many people blame this problem on the changes of technology by giving an open opportunity for stealing others ideas and words. Many others blame it on the pressure that the school and teachers are causing which pushes the students to cheat. Teachers and professors expectations are getting higher. They expect that humans can do thousands of things at once, which is giving less time for students to finish work at a high level. Many studies have been showing an increasing in cheating, which change some people’s mind about what originality is. Copying without giving credit to the person you are stealing the ideas from, cheating
The misuse of welfare is slowly increasing and it’s very harmful to our economy and society. It effects not only the working people who fund government assistance, but the user (or mis-user) as well. There is a general feeling that welfare misuse has skyrocketing rates, but according to advocates for welfare programs, the fraud rate is only about 2-3%. According to the 2010 US Census Bureau findings, there are 114.8 Million families in the US. With just over 34% of those US families “on welfare”, this means that approximately 39 Million homes receive monthly welfare benefits. 39 Million. Wow. The Federal government expects to spend about $430 Billion in 2013 on welfare expenditures. This averages out to roughly $11,025 annually per family or $945 per family per month. So if the fraud rate is only a tiny 2-3%, how much money could it really be costing us? Well…these seemingly low rates would mean that roughly 785,000 to 1.2 Million families are illegally receiving welfare benefits. At the average rate of $11,025 per year, this is costing the tax payers between $9.0 - $13.5 Billion dollars every year. Yikes. Welfare fraudulence can have a very negative effect on its recipients as well. Although the assistance may be very much needed and may help a lot, many people on welfare are beginning to see welfare as its own social class, a lifestyle. It can potentially eliminate work ethic and motivation. Fraudulent
In the non-fiction book, The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead by David Callahan the author criticizes the economic world. In the beginning parts of Callahan’s work, he specifically pin-point when cheating started to become an uncommon factor is succeeding. He reflects on as far back as Greek and Romans who were fined for cheating. In every decade there was a new factor to cheat in as the author highlights many cheating ordeals exposed through-out Americas history.
Don't get me wrong a lot of these people do need the money to help them with supporting their families. However, some of these people manipulate the system by slithering their way around loopholes like a snake in a garden, so to speak. So they can save a lot of money each month on
What I regard as cheating is considered OK by many American university students — one survey revealed that as many as 75% of the interviewed students had purchased essays, term papers or even their masters theses from other