by Ray Langley

Created on: April 19, 2010   Last Updated: April 20, 2012

Why Welfare is not working

After the great depression of the 1930’s, the United States government instituted a number of social programs designed to stimulate the economy with new jobs provided by the then-proposed federal Highway. They introduced a federal income tax and a social security retirement fund, as well as monies allocated to each state for individual social programs. The devastation of American lives in the 1930’s depression reflects the rushed authorship of these sweeping social changes. Brought forth to relieve the financial burdens, these funds were left unchecked, without any unified guidelines as to whom the funds should be allocated to and under which circumstances.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” is how the old adage goes, and the same holds true for social programs that do not enforce participation by the recipients. Many truly beneficial programs emerged both on the state level and through the federal government in the form of “Women, Infants and Children” or “WIC,” whose goal was to promote and provide specific dietary nutrition. This introduced as a supplement, the “Food Stamp” program, which had split from the social welfare check program due to mass fraud.

“It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.”

          -Thomas Sowell                                                            

Every social program created fills a need in the community, at a specific time and for a limited time. No broad sweeping, everlasting social program can exist as it would be impossible to guarantee its continuation in future generations, and would create a social dependency or sense of entitlement. Current welfare programs prove this point poignantly with the second and third generations of welfare recipients that are unable or unwilling to enter the workforce. To blame these recipients is easy, but misguided, as they are the product of incomplete and unmonitored systems that have been overused and abused.

Why Welfare is not Working is because of its failure of unbiased and blind application. It has created a stigma in the attitudes of people on the cusp of needing assistance, as being a “hand out.” Fixing the program will involve a reduction of the members of society who receive assistance, and for how long they will be receiving said assistance without participating in an employment program. These were steps taken until recent reforms added money, which would discourage states from enforcing employment participation. New York City has taken a leadership role, by rejecting the increase in government food stamps to be able to keep their stricter employment participation rules for people receiving food stamps. (http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/02/25/2009- 02-25_before_unraveling_welfare_reform_appreci.html) It will take many more states to follow New York City’s example before these social programs can accomplish the goal of assistance and not support the idea of entitlement.

To learn more about Why Welfare Does not Work, search for “successful socialist economies” and see what you find.

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