Welfare Recipients Abusing the System

The greatest impetus, however, for the political movement away from the entitlement credo was the perceived wide-spread abuse of the welfare system. The “Welfare Cadillac and Mink Coat” motifs were used so often that they became part of the pantheon of “Urban Legends”. Faced with public outcries and indignation, the Federal Government completely overhauled the welfare system in 1996. However, even with the 1996 overhaul, the welfare system is often perceived as being abused. The questions become:

with a daily strain of benefits that, in almost every state, do not even take

The topic of this paper is to shed light on the issue of welfare. The original purpose and intent for social welfare was to temporarily ease the plight of the poor at no cost to the middle and upper class. Overtime, it has become a burden America’s taxpayers have had to unrightfully carry. Welfare has been reformed in the past, but many still believe it is a failing program. Citizens and non citizens are both taking advantage of the program that was intended to help. Even after multiple reformations, this program continues to fall back into the same issues repeatedly. Taking care of the poor was not intended to be the role of the government. Biblically, that job has been delegated to the church. Social welfare is giving the government more

Ronald Reagan once said, “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people should leave welfare, not by how many people are added” (qtd. in Magoon 44). How do people today view welfare’s success? Is welfare beneficial or does it allow people to depend heavily on the government? Welfare began under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency during the Great Depression as a way to get people back on their feet and stimulate the economy when unemployment rates grew as high as 25% (Magoon 33). The welfare system has grown dramatically in the past eighty years with presidents such as Lyndon B. Johnson and also reformed in the 1990’s by Bill Clinton. Today, 55% of Americans have received some type of government assistance

The welfare system was created before the government welfare programs started. The system was created to help single mothers, children with disabilities, unemployment and, underemployment. The system offers many different ways to help such as: cash assistance, food stamps, employment assistance, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The system has helped a lot of needy families and still continues to help a lot of families. Many Americans have now started to qualify for help from the system. So people will get help from the system and stay on it just because it’s free.

The welfare system has helped families from around the 1930’s. Social welfare in the United States consists of groups of variety programs. The programs are designed to assist people who are in need of assistance. The goal of the welfare program is to reduce poverty. Poverty undermines the economy by disturbing the normal growth of human capital. Including education, health and professional experience. All the welfare programs require different means of eligibility. There are programs that help with food, housing, Pell Grants, child care, and health care. In this paper I will give a brief review of the most popular programs. I will also tell the requirements to receive benefits. Then I will include a government review of fraud within the

Americans all across the nation have become blind to the fact that the welfare system has created a sense of comfortable distress amongst them; Americans feel safe with knowing that they have benefits to turn to when in need but are also distraught about the actions and well-beings of the welfare system in future times because they are so comfortable with the system. With so many bad effects outweighing the good effects that welfare programs bring to the table, there is a need to say that these programs are temporarily helpful but not valuable towards society. The current welfare programs that are established are not beneficial towards the progression of society because the programs deprive the independence of individuals, allow continuous poverty to still be an economic issue, and intensify the fraudulent cases of criminal activity.

Instead of addressing welfare fraud, the welfare system as a whole must be evaluated. The reformed welfare system would make it advantageous for welfare recipients to work low-income jobs in order to make more money. Similar to the current system, welfare recipients would be given a fixed amount of money that is determined by a number of environmental variables and a case manager. The money that is provided to the welfare recipient would be used to cover the costs of living such as, housing, groceries, and doctors appointments. In order to qualify for welfare, a recipient must prove to their case manager that they are employed or actively seeking employment and that the needs of their dependencies and themselves are met. The low-income job would then work in conjunction with the welfare programs. The low-income job would add to the welfare recipient’s income thereby making it beneficial to work a low-income job. While working the low-income job, they must continue to prove that they are working well, working to earn raises, or working to find a better paying job. In cases where these requirements are not met the individual would be disqualified to receive any welfare services. If a welfare recipient is promoted or gets a new job and makes a better wage their

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 are able to work and earn their own money but they choose to be lazy and greedy since the welfare benefits seem better than working benefits. Some people are just too lazy to go out and get a job. They are content with sitting around watching TV while collecting tax-payers money. While not all welfare receivers are lazy there are some that defiantly abuse the system such as this example, “I know a woman on welfare that has three children and is currently enrolled in college who really couldn’t make it without some assistance. But on the other end of the spectrum I know woman who have never held down a job and have

America on welfare is an article published by The American Spectator. Bandow’s goal of this article is to explain the issues with our current welfare system. He explains that there are 185 government programs to help those in need, but there seems to be hardly any progress on getting people off of government assistance. Bandow also explains that people abuse these programs. Nearly $1 trillion was spent on welfare, which amounts to roughly $20,000 for every poor person, $60,000 for a poor family of three and nobody should be poor with that kind of money. He believes that our current welfare system needs reform

This paper explores five different sources that report information about the U.S.’s welfare programs. The sources discuss when welfare first came about as well as the changes that have occurred over the years. This paper will inform, analyze, and state my opinion on the affect of welfare in the United States. I will discuss the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the Welfare-to-Work initiative, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). This paper will state my opinion of the welfare changes made in Congress in 1996, after giving you details of what was changed in the welfare programs.

There appears to be a need for government and state officials to further reform welfare programs. This need for welfare reform directly affects all American tax payers. It is the abuse of the programs that needs direct attention. There should be stricter guidelines and qualifications to potential applicants. Each family’s situation should be readdressed quarterly to ensure that they still qualify for aid. These programs are a huge financial burden to the government agencies and are therefore taxed down upon the American tax payers who do work hard for a

Does welfare help people in need or does it give benefits to people that don't need it? Thirty five percent of Americans receive welfare and don't have jobs. American citizens are begging for money everyday and they can receive up to $31,000 a year getting money benefits from the government. Citizens should have jobs and only receive one type of welfare until they are hired for work or until their time limit runs out. Citizens should only be allowed to receive welfare for eight months, otherwise they are just getting money handed to them. Also, they should be drug tested before getting benefits so the government doesn’t give welfare to people who take advantage of it and use it for non needed purposes.

The welfare policy is one mirrored by ideology and negativity, with few satisfied with its current status. The conservatives think of it as some kind of “culture of poverty,” personal choice (Furlong, 2013, p. 328) that is riddled with fraud and waste. While the liberals, site welfare as a state of unequal opportunities caused by unfair economics or less than ideal social conditions beyond their control (Furlong, 2013, p. 328). The conservative see the failures and the liberals see the need to expand on possibly successes. Both sides share the necessity of reform equivalently. However, coming from these extreme perspectives the solutions remained far apart.

Welfare is a frequently debated topic, largely because there remains a widespread disagreement over its value. Its critics consider it wasteful and concurrent with the values of socialism while its supporters view it as the social responsibility of an industrial advanced and compassionate nation. The research outlined here below dissects this cardinal disagreement while investigating the sociological implications of America's social welfare programs.