Short Assignment #1: Poverty Despite how scorned government welfare programs are for the physically, mentally, and financially needy, they are imperative to supporting a misrepresented societal class. Although it may appear that there are many people benefitting unfairly off of government funding, the reality is that these benefits are used much more judiciously in numerous lower-income households than in non-welfare households (“US Welfare”). The welfare system that America has adopted is an ingenious idea and a necessary, precautionary safety net for those who are unable to care for themselves and their families, or for those who are incapable of working for whatever reason. Although the system is imperfect, it is a crucial fallback plan …show more content…
While this sounds like a disproportionate part of the population, only 35.4% out of whole utilizes some type of welfare assistance (“Welfare Statistics”). Within my family, my aunt’s family is the beneficiary of both food stamps and HoosierCare, Indiana’s medical assistance program, for her children. Though I used to judge her harshly for her reliance on these programs, I now understand her choices from a slightly different perspective and admire that she is taking care of my cousins. In addition, if student government financial aid is considered a welfare program, then I and many of my peers are also taking advantage of the resources offered for those who are unable to support themselves. This surreal realization that sometimes people do not have a choice when they have exhausted their other options has definitely made me appreciate welfare programs in newfound …show more content…
Mark Rank makes a persuasive, logical argument in One Nation, Underprivileged about poverty and its adverse effects on both the general welfare and the economy. As long as people continue to dwell in destitution, there will be higher rates of premature births, emergency hospital visits, and other common diseases due to lack of education and substantial wealth to afford the best healthcare. Rank’s reasoning about the cycle of poverty and a nation’s aggregate wealth is also convincing; without any type of reform to help the impoverished, the premature births and large transmission/onset of deadly diseases will continue to be a persistent problem in American hospitals. As a result of these expensive conditions, it does put a greater strain on the rest of society to afford these services for those who cannot afford them. Thus, the only way to reduce these hindrances in society as a whole is to assist the underprivileged through an extensive, equal education, a means to accommodate affordable healthcare, and a general awareness of the consequences of poverty on a larger
In the article “Rethinking the American poverty”, Mark Rank suggests the three major shifts that are required for a practical understanding of American poverty. First, it’s important to recognize that poverty affects us all because of two reasons. The first reason is that each year, the government has to spend a lot of money to solve the social problems associated with poverty. Poor people suffer from lack of health access, not having enough money to support their basic needs,…which create a huge burden on the government’s budget. The second explanation for us to care about poverty is that there is a strong chance at some point during life time, Americans would face poverty. The second shift is to realize that American poverty is largely the
After testing the amount of catalase denaturation of raw chicken liver a few things were found. To find how fast and how much the catalase denatures in hydrogen peroxide observations were made about both the amount the bubbles rose and how many bubbles there were. In the first trial the amount of denaturation was tested in four different solutions by putting raw liver in the different solutions. These solutions were hydrogen peroxide, a solution with hydrogen peroxide and hydrochloric Acid, a solution with sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide, and a solution with: hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, and hydrochloric acid. After testing these four solutions, the solution with hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide was the most effective at denaturing catalase (2.32pH), while the hydrogen peroxide alone (5.3pH) was the least effective.
One reform argument is centered on the ?burden? for taxpayers to support people who are not trying to help themselves. Gilens reported, ?The economic self-interest explanation of welfare reform is widely assumed to be true, and debates over public policy often remain on the assumption that the middle class resent paying for programs that benefit only the poor? (Gilens, p. 2, 1996). Reform efforts often focus on general stereotypes of welfare recipients not wanting to work and preferring to take advantage of taxpayer money. Conservatives and liberals refer to ?welfare spending? as excessive and unnecessary. However, prior to the popularity of welfare reform, the U.S. Bureau of Census reported actual money spent on AFDC was only 7% of the $613 billion spend on social welfare which included health care, veterans? programs, education, housing, and pubic aid (tables 579, 583, 1993). With government statistics contradicting claims of excessive spending, there is
Former president Obama and the Obama administration attempted to pass a work waiver, unfortunately it was not passed by the congress. Republicans said that the waiver was an effort to “gut welfare reform” but they said it would make the requirements for work flexible.
In the United States one third of the population receives benefits from the government and although some do need it and use it honestly there is a large majority of welfare users who misuse and abuse it. For example there are people who spend their welfare check on items that are not needed when they go to the grocery store the main use for their check should be to buy healthy and necessary items for their family but instead they like to buy overpriced brand named foods. There are even people who try to use the money given to them to buy alcohol, cigarettes, guns, strip clubs and some even go gamble with it. These kinds of people are the ones who give this program a bad reputation and less chance for those who do actually need it to receive
The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill helped declined caseloads on the social and economic well-being of fragile families, single mothers, and children. Although, the welfare reform was documented for making several positive changes such as reducing poverty rates, lowering the out of-wedlock childbearing, and formulated a better family structure, it is undeniable that poverty remained high among single mothers and their children. The reality of the matter was that most welfare recipients experienced serious barriers to maintain a stable employment due to their lack of skills, not having anyone available to take care of their young children when they leave for work as well as not gaining long-time employment with decent pay to help foster the family. As a result, most poor women and children were faced with the instability of economic and social future as welfare eligibility exhausted their efforts of supporting their families.
As of January 1, 2014, roughly 4.1% of Americans are welfare, which is not what the system was designed to do (Department of Commerce). Welfare was originally created in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in order to aid to citizens with little to no income (welfareinfo.org). It was a response to the great number of people without jobs and who desperately needed assistance with money and basic needs such as food and shelter (welfareinfo.org). For the next 61 years the United States government would hold control of the welfare system (welfareinfo.org). According to the Department of Commerce, 46,700,000 Americans are on food stamps (Department of Commerce). The Department of Commerce divided welfare recipients into categories of race finding that, 39.8% of welfare holders are African-American (Department of Commerce).
Overall, this paper is about how poverty is very prominent in our society, and we need to learn more about it. We need to increase aid to low- income families because they cannot support
The welfare system has a been a debatable topic for many years now. People have various viewpoints that relate to the welfare system. Most people believe that the welfare system is abused. On the other hand, people do not mind paying more money for the less fortunate to be provided with food, shelter, etc. This is a hard topic to consider because there are countless variables that play a major role in how much money one could receive from welfare or other forms of government assistance. Mountain Heights Academy presents an argumentative speech. In this argument, the unknown author addresses that the welfare system must be reformed because the current system has only increased poverty levels. It additionally addresses that there is a wide range
It is safe to say the government has crippled the citizens of the United States, through economic based spending. Approximately 52.2 million (or 21.3 percent) people in the U.S. participated in major means-tested government assistance programs each month, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report. Participation rates were highest for Medicaid (15.3 percent) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamp program (13.4 percent).In today's economic climate, millions of Americans find themselves struggling to make ends meet. Despite improvements in the job market and a housing bounce back, there are still many people who need help to stay afloat financially. In many ways, the America of today mirrors that of
The welfare system first came into action during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployed citizens needed federal assistance to escape the reality of severe poverty. The welfare system supplies families with services such as: food stamps, medicaid, and housing among others. The welfare system has played a vital role in the US, in controlling the amount of poverty to a certain level. Sadly, the system has been abused and taken for granted by citizens across the country. The welfare system was previously controlled by the federal government until 1996; the federal government handed over the responsibility to the states in hope of reducing welfare abuse. However, this change has not prevented folks from scamming the system. The
Throughout history, there have always been people willing to work for what they want, and those who expect things to be handed to them as if it was a natural-born right. While the welfare system does positively impact some families in need, many people take advantage of it. With this being a well known fact, the government still continues to use ten percent of the federal budget on welfare (“Budget” 1).
This review is formulated with scholarly sources and references based off of poverty in America. This disclosure is approached with a value free sociological approach, and it will give insight on the social causes of poverty and the effects it has on America. Poverty is a very controversial topic. Many will assume that people living in poverty are lazy, made bad life decisions, or that they are solely the reason for their predicament however, people living in poverty would argue that their are deeper issues for it. Poverty will be deeply explained and researched from both perspectives
Have you ever gone shopping with your friends or family because you guys are going to a really special event? And they asked you if you like the dress and shoes that they picked but in you mind you think it's really ugly that they look like they just walked into a party in the late 70s’. Guess what! You lied and say, “oh! That looks really pretty, its really good on you.” You lied because you don’t wanna hurt their feeling, like you don’t wanna be mean to them and make them sad. Sometimes we tend to lie rather than tell the truth so as not to hurt others. It’s our human instinct not to be rude to someone who is really close to us, instead we try to be polite by saying words that would make them happy. Lying isn’t really bad at all when the reason why you lied is to protect yourself and others from conflicts that might affect your
From the Article of “Nuclear energy Opposing viewpoints online collection”, many experts point out that, despite the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, nuclear power is still very safe. Indeed, one scientist has noted that the estimated number of deaths that might have resulted from Chernobyl is no greater than the annual number of deaths in the United States caused by air pollution from coal-burning power plants.