Welfare System of the US Essay Example

Welfare is support from the government to the citizens of America and other countries to ensure they acquire all their basic needs. The government provides welfare to the citizens irrespective of their levels of income and may take different forms, including monetary payments, housing, government subsidies, and vouchers, depending on the country. The physically disabled, the ill, the elderly, parents who have children to take care of, and the unemployed are most commonly the target when it comes to welfare. They can receive basic education, healthcare, and vocational training to help them survive (Bullock & Trombley, 1999). Currently, the welfare system has not been serving its purpose considering the budget cuts and the many requirements, including a person's servings and assets, making it very hard to let the needy get the temporary assistance they may need from the government. As to make matters worse, some specific people get these help and are not even in need since they can find other ways of acquiring their money.

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According to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, President Trump has already proposed a cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from next year, which is a move that will run for at least a decade, leaving the people who genuinely require this help suffering and being dragged to absolute poverty (Rosenbaum et al., 2018). The reconstruction of the deliverance of the government's benefits will only lead to the citizens' suffering and may go to the extent of them being involved in crimes to make ends meet. Of course, these cuts will not affect the employed who are well paid and can support their families, the young who lack jobs that can enable them to provide adequately for their dependents are the ones to bear the brunt of the reconstruction.

This is a matter that may involve other disciplines such as economics as they can reason economically, showing the different alternatives that the government may take to help sustain the economy rather than leave the vulnerable lives in danger. Making investment decisions is an important aspect of governance that should be handled appropriately and not with the use of several theoretical principles that most economics do entail (Currie, 2011). The government has to raise revenue to run the country. Running the country includes making sure that the citizens of the country are well taken care of regarding provision of infrastructure, adequate education, better healthcare service and are trained to be able to support themselves. It is therefore important that the government is advised properly to come up with ways of making sure the people are placed in a position that enables them to support themselves and even earn the country more revenue.

Political science, as a discipline that ensures scientific analysis of political activities, can also play a significant role in ensuring the government moves in the direction to make the United States a better country that creates conducive political and economic environment for the citizens, as well as other investors, plays their roles of supporting proving revenues to the government through investments and provision of human resource. Also, Aronoff and Kubik (2015) explain this further relating the science of politics with anthropology as the two are interdependent. The behavior of individuals is mostly guided by the conditions they are put in and establishing reforms that will help the citizens will be part of building a politically stable country.

What do we expect if proper action is not taken? The rich are going to gain even more wealth as the poor get poorer to an extent they will not be able to access their basic needs. This will drive these people into crimes as they try to respond to their situation. The disbursement of welfare payments are done monthly, and it becomes hard for the poor to get access to credits or savings that can help them sort out temporary financial problems and have, most of the time, low earning prospects in economic activities with legitimacy. People tend to use crime as a supplement in situations where they are unable to earn enough in legitimate activities (Baker, 1968). This analysis helps one to understand the roots of criminal behaviors where criminals take a calculated risk of the prohibited activities that can enable them to survive.

According to Dobkin and Puller (2007), recipients of the welfare system have been in the constant use of illegal drugs, especially as the month begins, since they earn so little and do not have any hopes of getting in a better situation. It is well known also that drug abuse and crime go hand in hand. These people feel that they have no much to lose and are capable of doing anything to make them earn more income so that they can be like any other member of the society who is in a comfortable financial situation.

Many reforms had been made to help the welfare system become of help to the needy. However, the reforms are not done in the right way for the betterment of the beneficiary. For instance, the family support act that was effected decades ago targeting single mothers to keep them off welfare and train them and provide them with subsidies of childcare. It could only help if single mothers turned to welfare because they were reluctant to work, which was not the case (Jencks & Edin, 1990). They had no option but to turn to welfare as they were unable to get any job paying better than welfare and if there was, the department of welfare reduced their checks making look like reducing one to their initial suffering.

Conclusion

The welfare system is a big and significant department that can help make the country a better place if the right reforms are made. Through this department, the problem of drug abuse can be partially solved, over dependency can also be solved and the needy supported adequately to enable them to be in a position of self-sustenance. Everyone has to be given an opportunity to realize their full potential (Jahana, 2016) to become better people in the society and achieve their dreams.

Even though the welfare bill has not been recent, we still need to find ways of improving it because it may grow worse with time to an extent it will be doing more harm than good to the people of America. The best way to reduce the welfare bill is to provide jobs to the people (Steketee, 2015) so that they have nothing to complain about except for their efforts to earn more.

References

Aronoff, M. J., & Kubik, J. (2013). Anthropology and political science: A convergent approach (Vol. 3). Berghahn Books.

Becker, G. S. (1968). Crime and punishment: An economic approach. In The economic dimensions of crime (pp. 13-68). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Bullock, A., & Trombley, S. (Eds.). (1999). The Norton dictionary of modern thought. WW Norton & Company.

Currie, D. M. (2016). Country Analysis: Understanding Economic and Political Performance. Routledge.

Dobkin, C., & Puller, S. L. (2007). The effects of government transfers on monthly cycles in drug abuse, hospitalization and mortality. Journal of Public Economics, 91(11-12), 2137-2157.

Jahana, S. (2016). Human development report 2016: human development for everyone. United Nations Publications.

Jencks, C., & Edin, K. (1990). The real welfare problem. Center for Urban Affairs Policy and Research, Northwestern University.

Rosenbaum, D., Dean, S., Bolen, E. W., Keith-Jennings, B., Cai, L., & Nchako, C. (2018). President's Budget Would Cut Food Assistance for Millions and Radically Restructure SNAP. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 15, 1-15.

Steketee, M. (2015, April 20). From welfare to unfair: How budget savings rate. Retrieved September 14, 2018, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-21/steketee-from-welfare-to-unfair:-how-budget-savings-rate/6405672