Although the United States government has made some efforts in
regulating welfare abuse, such as the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, and
current attempts to reform the welfare system [Rep. Doug Reichley
(R-Lehigh/Berks)], the government has a long way to go when it comes to
truly reforming the system that many individuals have come to rely on as
a way of life. Many people look at the welfare system as a lifestyle,
and this outlook is usually generational within families. The use and
abuse of the welfare system is usually promoted within communities,
although increasing numbers of individuals are maximizing the true
benefit of welfare, which is to provide a sort of ‘stepping stone”
towards self-sufficiency. This leads one to wonder, why is this
unhealthy reliance on welfare allowed to persist? Well, after personally
witnessing many instances of abuse and misuse of the welfare system, my
question is this: does our government promote the abuse and misuse of
the welfare system? I think so.
Now, when I speak of an “unhealthy reliance on welfare”, I am not speaking of
every
individual that receives welfare assistance, whether it be for housing,
food stamps, medicaid, etc. At some point in most of our lives, we have
needed help from someone. Many of us have sought assistance from an
outside agency for bills, food, clothing, and shelter, to name a
few. For those of us who haven’t, its usually because we feel, maybe
even know, that we would be ineligible to receive benefits, even though
those benefits could desperately be used. There are those that are
elderly, or disabled, whose basic existence derives from some type of
benefit from a government agency (housing or food stamps, for example).
There are the families that have suffered a loss of employment or a
death in the family, which caused otherwise working families to suddenly
need help. These types of situations, and many more, are
understandable. It is also one reason that the welfare system exists, in
the first place. According to Welfare Information,
“welfare
in the United States commonly refers to the federal government welfare
programs that have been put in place to assist the unemployed or
underemployed. Help is extended to the poor through a variety of
government welfare programs that include Medicaid, the Women, Infants,
and Children (WIC) Program, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children
(AFDC) “The History of Welfare”. So why is a system, set into place
to help and assist families in need, become so abused and defrauded?
Well, rules put into place by various government agencies allow,
passively encouraging, some of the abuses that it is victim to.
One reason for such defrauding of the welfare system is miseducation.
Many people do not understand the rules, even benefits, of the
particular welfare agency from which they are seeking assistance, and
feel compelled to “cheat the system” in order to receive benefits. For
example, many people believe that you can only get housing assistance or
food stamps if you are a single mother. This is not true. The welfare
system was not put into place to separate famlilies, rather, it wants to
maintain the integrity of the family, by allowing the family to remain a
single unit, while promoting self-sufficiency. The husband, fiancee,
even boyfriend
can be a part of the household. The male head-of-household’s income (or
lack of) is included in the eligibility calculations of the household,
and if the family is eligible, the family can receive assistance. Yet,
throughout communities, the myth is perpetuated that you
cannot have a man living with you.
When you think about it, that would be ridiculous of the government to
promote the disintegration of the family, by excluding a husband,
boyfriend, etc. Often, it is the male, even if the female
head-of-household does not work, that has earned income. By being a part
of the household, his income is counted towards that of the family, and
the family receives less benefits, essentially reducing costs for state
and federal governments. This is particulary beneficial when families
participate in programs such as the
Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program.
Education of “the system” is one way to reduce fraud. Without
education, and especially the provision for funding for education of
welfare and its benefits, and also of the penalties for its abuse, the
government is perpetuating miseducation, and therefore, misuse, of the
welfare system.
There are also many programs that aim to educate recipients,
promoting job training, secondary education, and ultimately, employment.
These programs have shown to be effective in reducing the number of
individuals that rely on welfare as their sole source of income.
However, these programs would be more effective if they were supported
by legislation that made, for those non-elderly, non-disable
individuals, participation mandatory. It is not enough to simply reduce
benefits for people who choose not to participate in job training or job
search. People must be forced to be responsible for their own families,
and this can only be done by eliminating benefits to individuals who
choose not to benefit in the self-sufficiency programs of agencies. Only
then will our government see truly effective reductions in dependence
on welfare systems.
Welfare abuse is also cultural and generational. Its abuse is often
applauded. It is not uncommon to know of the grandmother, mother,
daughter, and granddaughters of any one family to all be recipients of
welfare. It’s almost a “monkey see, monkey do” syndrome. The use of
welfare, in and of itself, is not the problem. It is a person’s
persistence to remain on welfare, not trying to better themselves
through education or employment, that is the problem. These individuals
do not seek employment, often bragging about their lack of job
experience. All the while this lifestyle is being promoted, there are
children growing up in these households, unintentionally and
unknowlingly, learning how to exploit “the system”. They see one or both
parents not working, and they are not teaching their children any other
way of life. They are not encouraging education, or teaching their
children how important it is to try to be self-sufficient. “Back in the
day”, even the most undeducated parents instilled in their children: “I
just want you to be better than me/have more than I had/get a better
education.” Now days, many parents just don’t care. They rely on the
system, and they see nothing wrong with it, and they are teaching that
to their children, whether they know it or not. This causes a
generational, and also cultural, dependence on welfare. Again, education
is key, but this can only be effective with stiffer penalties for
failure to participate, and also stiffer penalties for abuse.
The government encourages dependence on welfare by passing
legislation that allows individuals to receive assistance that should
otherwise be ineligible, and by also increasing benefits instead of
providing a threshold, even reducing benefits, when it is obvious that
the assistance is being abused. For instance, the Department of HUD has a
regulation that says that if a person is under 21, is in a secondary
school of education, has no children, is not elderly, or disabled, they
are not eligible to receive housing assistance, unless their parents are
income eligible. Now, I’m sure the Department of HUD had some
reasonable explanation for passing such legislation, but when you look
at this rule, what is HUD really saying? A young woman that has decided
to defer having children in order to pursue a college education, is not
eligible to receive assistance, while a young woman who decides not to
work, who may or may not have children, that is not pursuing an
education, is eligible? Let’s not forget the baby daddies! There are
young men, able-bodied, and intelligent enough to maintain steady
employment, that choose not to work or pursue an education, but they are
receiving housing and food stamps. Their only job: reproducing. As they
say in the social networking world: SMH.
Increasing benefits as a reward for uncontrolled reproduction also
encourages abuse and misuse of the welfare system. Many of us know
people that are receiving upwards of $800 or $900 or more, each month,
for food stamps, which are supposed to be to feed their families. Many
families, although already dependent on the system, continue to have
more children because benefits from some agencies will increase, like
food stamps. Why should the taxpayers reward such behavior? Me and my
husband’s finances are already strained, and we only have two children. I
knew that having any more children would be more of a strain, and
decided that it would not be feasible to have any more children. I made
the responsible decision to have a tubal ligation. Yes, that was my
decision, but it is one that I feel was financially responsible. We have
to encourage financial responsibility in families in order to reduce
dependence on welfare, and stop promoting and encouraging long-term,
continued dependence on welfare.
Some agencies allow the use of “collateral statements” or
“statements of contributions.” These statements are provided for
individuals that are claiming to have income, recieved from being
personally assisted by private individuals. Well, this is perfectly fine
in instances where the support is actually being provided. Look at this
situation: a mother receiving Social Security Disability in the amount
of $674 per month provides a “contributions statement” to her daughter,
stating that she provides her child $350 in financial support. She
provides the statement so that her daughter can meet the income
guidelines to receive welfare assistance from a particular welfare
agency. Both mother and daughter receive food stamps. Now, even the
dumbest individual can see that this must be a lie. However, there is no
system to tie the various welfare agencies together, so that they can
cross check one another, and these statements are allowed to be used.
Therefore, someone who would not be eligible to receive assistance, is
able to be assisted because of the use of a bold-faced lie. This is
further evidence of the government promoting dependence and abuse of
welfare.
In order to make a change in how welfare is promoted and used, and to
make a drastic reduction in abuse and misuse of welfare, we must push
for education of welfare, and support stronger laws and welfare reform.
Without stronger, more logical rules and regulation governing the
receipt of welfare benefits, the government must shoulder as much of the
responsibility for the pathetic state of the United States welfare
system, as the ones that abuse it.
I'm still trying to figure this out. Kanye's #twitterbeef with Wiz truly made him sound incredibly stupid, to the nth degree. I mean, seriously...Kanye attempted to insult Amber Rose by calling Muva a stripper. But didn't he also date said stripper? So...
