First, I apologize ahead of time for this long question! I am mainly trying to get your thoughts on the United States welfare system.
Welfare: a state-assisted program supported by the government to help needy families live a fair and healthy lifestyle. Welfare is for people who are poor or who are at or below the poverty level. Welfare might include giving these people cash, food stamps, low-income housing, school, vouchers for children, financial aid, and medical benefits. People who receive welfare are grouped into such categories as the unemployed, people with illness, people with a disability, the elderly, and veterans of the armed services.
As for people in the "elderly" category, there is often an age requirement on who can get help; in each state this limit is different. In some states, you must be at least 70 to get help; in other states the age is lower. In some cases, elderly people who are only two years younger than the state's age requirement are in desperate need of immediate health care . . . if they don’t get help, they’ll die.
Also, what about people who cannot work at all and the state finds them employable and they won’t give them any funds--how are they supposed to survive? Keep in mind they can't work--they want to, but they can't.
As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The food stamps program has risen 80%, up to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, up to $22 billion.
Because of the current overwhelmed state of most of the welfare programs, they won't even help the unemployed in some cases--they won’t give you anything unless you have children. Of course, this makes people want to go have children, just to get funds.
Even in the state of Illinois, if you don’t have any children and are still employable but don’t have a job, they will only give you food stamps--no cash, and no medical. Do you think this is fair?
What about cases like this: Say a boyfriend & girlfriend or husband & wife split up or divorce. If the woman wasn’t working and decides to go to the government and ask for help, do you think they should help her?
The government usually won’t help anyone who is employable because all the funds are used up. These funds are used up, in part, by people lying on their taxes, by people who work under the table, and so on. A lot of the people who receive help from the government don’t really need the assistance; they just want to put extra money in their pockets. Is this fair to the people who are starving and have no place to live? How do we deal with this situation?
How does it make you feel when people just sit on their ass the whole day and don’t lift a finger to do any work for themselves, that they just live off the government? How does it feel as a taxpayer to pay for other people who take the system for granted, in return taking money or funds from people/children who really need it?
What do you think about people who use their welfare cash for alcohol or drugs? It means that money/ food wasn’t a necessity. How does that make you feel? They are taking food from a child’s mouth who was hungry just so they can get drunk or high?
Any other thoughts on the welfare program? Yes, the system is terribly abused, and some people take terrible advantage of it, but we can't just do away with it, right? So what can be done?
Thank you for your help!
Lori
13 comments:
This is a tough question for me to answer so I am going to give it my best shot. The welfare system is f***** up. My parents both worked at a facility that recently downsized and both lost their jobs. My dad is fifty years old with a lot of medical issues but has worked every day for the past 33 years Mom for the past 28 years. In losing their jobs they also lost the insurance that went with it. My Dad's prescriptions cost over a thousand dollars a month and my parents cannot get help because they have a monthly unemployment income of $2300.00 and no kids. They have raised their kids without help so why shouldn't they be eligible to get it now? Every time I turn around I see people who literally live off welfare, have more kids so they can get more link to sell and a bigger house to live in all provided by our good old state of Illinois. I see woman out there who can't wait til the first come around so they can sell their link and get some money, hell I even saw a woman one time sell all her W.I.C coupons for a little cash. These people living on welfare live in nicer houses and drive nicer vehicles than I do because they don't have to pay for it, the state does. Random and I mean real surprise drug test would save the state millions even after they pay someone to go around and do them, if the person isn't home because of some reason leave a note saying that they have 24 hours to come in to the local office and supply a hair sample or mouth swab cause everyone know how to get around a piss test. This should be for every single helping agency out there. Put a limit so that the ones who are abusing the system at some point have to get off their lazy ass and get a real job and struggle like the rest of the working class. Hell at this point even an occasional audit on where the money is being spent and receipts on what was bought. Make it harder to get assistance. Those lazy asses who are breeding to get even more help are only showing their kids that way of life so the sixteen year old girl goes out and gets pregnant so she can get her own link card and housing apartment. Make it where you have had to work for a certain amount of time before you can get assistance. Bet we see a whole lot of people vying for a flipping burgers job. Maybe we need to put a cap on how many people in a family is allowed. Instead of giving more for more cap it at say five people. There are so many ways the government can go about bringing change to help boot out the deadbeats and help the really needy, but they will continue to use the not enough money to do that excuse so we will just continue to get further into debt until we are no longer America but the second continent of a foreign country. This is very depressing thinking about so I think I am done commenting now and if i have offended anyone SORRY!!
Amber Johnson-Garcia
Until I lost my job I never had anything good to say about the system, but now that I lost my job last April and have 2 daughters I am very happy the system is in place but I also know I can't wait to get off the program all together--call it a since of pride.
My job was shipped to Mexico, because of that the program in place actually pays for my schooling,gives me gas money, money for supplies and I also get unemployment,with that being said I in turn must keep track of my classes,maintain a certain grade in each class and I have to report to the unemployment office every 2 weeks, it's not like they hand me the money and walk away,they expect something in return. The system is flawed in that I feel you should have to pass a drug test to get any assistance and if you can't you better have medical reasons for why you can't pass a drug test.
I have seen what its like for a loved one who needs assistance and can't get it and watched a friend of mine who made more money under the table than he did on unemployment and still was able to get benefits, so yes in that since the system has it's loop holes and I'm not sure if you can fix them, but having random drug test I think would go along way in fixing many problems and I totally agree with Amber on many of her points. I know many people who make money off selling their link, food stamps and even their medical cards... not sure how they did that one and got away with it, but I know they did it. The original idea of the system was a great idea,but now we are growing in debt as a country and a lot of that debt is coming from people taking advantage of the welfare system.
Buddy Carpenter
it is like any system in government, there are going to be loopholes. I worked with buddy ; and lost my job to mexico as well. we have a time limit to get through this schooling or we have to pay to finish, and our unemployement runs out. it should be that you have to work for an x amount of years before you qualify for welfare. Than you have a percentage of time allowed on welfare based on the years you worked. Having to take drug test is a good idea. For us to have unemployement you have to show you are looking for work. if you are sick for a day, you loose a day of unemployement. if someone has the money to waste on drugs, then diffinetly cut the welfare. i think something that would help to get people off welfare would be to have to take physicals every two years. if you were able to pass the physicals, than the welfare should be stopped.something that relates to this is the criminal system. you should have to pay for the time you were there in jail, food and medical. For the people in prison, they should have to work as well.the government spends enough money on petty things, put someone to work finding the people who do not need to be on welfare.
kevin h
I would like to start off my post by saying that personally don't like the idea of welfare at all. I think that it is ridiculous for someone to just sit around all day and have the government pay for them, just because they can't get a job. That may be a little harsh and I do not mean to offend anyone but if you can't make money then don't expect the government to take care of you because they have enough problems of their own. You should be able to take care of yourself.
Looking through the eyes of a taxpayer, I don't want the money that I am making to go to some guy who is just sitting in his house all day, eating for free. That is not what I am working for. I don't mind if the government takes some of the money and uses it for something like food for the military or national defense, because that is worth it in my opinion, those guys have done something to deserve it. Giving our free food because you 'claim' to not be able to get a job is just ridiculous.
I think welfare should be either eliminated or watched more by the government. They should give them minimum amounts of food, not allow them to buy alcohol or drugs, and closely watch them with drug tests. If I am paying for someone to live then I don't want to pay for them to die also with drugs. I just believe that the whole welfare system is just ridiculous and either needs to be completely revamped or taken away.
Jake Bock
I first have to warn you, this is my most heated discussion with people. Normally I say don’t get me started, but since you asked here is my opinion.
People are lazy, and use welfare to take care of themselves. Not all people are this way, but majority are. I think Welfare is a blessing to many people, and I’m glad America has a welfare system. But I think America would be better off financially if the policies were strict. I personally know a woman that has not worked in the past 5 years, and has only had one stable job in the past decade. Do you want to know how she survived—welfare! Why would she get a job when she gets free food, free medical, free phone with the Safe-link program, free housing because she’s a mom, free diapers because a child can’t go without, free formula because a baby needs to eat, and the list goes on. She has continued to have children, and not had to financially support any of them. Welfare has no limits on how many children they will help in one family, and so this woman I know has had 4 children and not had to pay a dime to take care of them.
I think welfare is a great option for people that hit hard times, and need help. But there needs to be a time limit on it. They need to find a new job, or move into a house that is cheaper. Drugs tests should be mandatory, everyone that has a job has to take a drug test to start earning money, so should people on welfare because this is their way of living. I think there should be more stipulations on the amount of children they will continue to cover, if not women will just continue to have more babies and get more money. Sadly there are women out there that will have a child just for the money!
It’s frustrating that my husband and I bust our butts to make an honest living, we have our struggles and we cut corners whenever possible. We cannot afford to have more children, we can’t afford medical care, but we both work and I go to school to better my life and my children’s lives. I am disqualified from getting the Link card because I’m a student; I’m not pregnant so I can’t get the medical card. I bust my butt to work, go to school and take care of my kids and welfare is not an option because I have an income and I’m educating myself. Oh my goodness this is absurd. A women can sit on her butt for 10 years and never lift her finger and get everything she needs, and I can bust my ass for 10 years and be denied the basic essentials I need to help me make ends me.
Heather Denam
As a taxpayer, I think it's ridiculous to be paying for the people who take advantage of the system. But on the other hand, the people that don't really do need help. I think we should be taking care of our own people. I know that a lot of people if they were in that situation would want the help, too, even though giving it isn't always the desirable thing.
I think the government should be checking people a little more before allowing them to be on welfare. They should be investigating the whole situation of the home and the reasons why one or both parents can't work.
I also think there should be a limit of time that a person or family can be on welfare. I think assistance should be provided to find jobs and counseling as how to keep one as well. If we allow people to get assistance for too long, they're just going to get used to it and give up on trying to provide for themselves and their families again.
I definitely think it is fair that if you are employable but don't have a job that you only get food stamps. Why should you get more than that? You could work anywhere, even at McDonalds or Taco Bell, it would still be a job, and if you're in that position, you should value having any type of job.
I overall think that this welfare system is messed up and needs to be redone before it gets even worse.
-Hannah Miller
Alex
I have mixed feelings about this. I think it’s good that there is help, but a lot of people are abusing the system because they just don’t want to work. Also, when I was in high school, during lunch someone on the program would get a free lunch yet they would load up their treys with extras. That’s not really fair because with all the kids who were on the program, the lunches would be so jacked up on price that by the time u got the actual lunch, u couldn’t even afford the extras. Also being a cashier at a place that takes Link, you run into a lot of people who abuse it, or think they’re higher class then you because the government is giving them the card. I don’t know how many times I got someone complaining because at our store you can’t get the fountain drinks on Link, but you can at other stores. All I hear is “No these are on Link, they said so right down the street”. I don’t mind the people who need it having it, but the people who abuse it, I think that they should get it taken away. I know that sounds bad, but it’s hurting other people in my opinion.
I believe the welfare system that we presently have is a good one, though often abused. I believe there should be more checks and balances built into the present welfare system. For instance, I believe that people who receive state or government assistance should be required to submit to periodic random drug testing. This would create a system where drug users and abusers don't get state or government assistance until they have participated in rehabilitation programming and shown an ability not to use drugs.
I also believe that the label of unemployable is presently used to lightly. Many people are listed as unemployable but they do have the ability to do some type of work, or even train for employment that would make them more gainfully employable. I think that all these people who receive state and federal assistance should be required to participate in vocational rehabilitation if they are not 100% disabled.
Elderly people should automatically qualify for state and federal assistance. Many of them have worked their whole lives and paid into the system. They deserve to get something back in return.
Khattab
The welfare system is set up best it can to help those who meet the standards. I think what a lot of us fail to overlook is peoples habits though. I do not think its fair to help someone whos not trying to help themselves. But there are situations to where we say people arent doing anything but are. I know a lady who is raising 3 kids alone cause her husband divorced her. Cooks, cleans, and does everything to be in her childs life. Does that mean cause she's not working she is lazy? There are many factors that we all overlook about people in certain situations. Hopefully we can find some sort of qualification in the future that can show proof of ones effort. But we looking from the outside cant know someones full situation. The abuse of the welfare system will probably go on forever. But the one way you can help is not do it yourself.
Adrian Enriquez
I have told you face to face my deep thoughts on this so I'm not going to make this lengthy. I think that they should drug test because I am so tired of people on drugs abusing the system. I think there should be a time frame on how long you can receive assistance and when your time is up you should be re evaluated for assistance. I think that the government does not put in enough effort to monitor the system that's why there is so many people getting over. I think that we have a good system and I have seen it help some and not help some. But nothing is perfect. To get rid of assistance will only make the country worst.
Makeisha Riley
I think the welfare system is a great thing for people who genuinely need the help. The problem is that there are people out there who abuse the system, using it to indulge their laziness rather than try and get on their own two feet. I think there should be a limit to how long people can be on welfare, which would urge people to go out and get a job or find some source of income. I believe that it is unfair for taxes that people pay is being used to be repeatedly paying for someone else’s well being just because they claim that they are unable to find work for so long.
Ayah
All of the points you hit right on the head. However, no matter what other people feel about the situation it's still going to happen. Welfare should only be used when someone or their family is under financial problems. There are lots of people in the U.S that need it and can't get it because it's being used up by the stupidly selfish people. The people that like to buy super nice cars and nice rims that cost more than their house. The reason I say it will still happen is because the stupid people that abuse welfare do it for years and when it starts to look like the government is coming on to what they are doing they just cancel it. Also, it takes forever to find the abusers because the government is too busy trying to get the money to provide welfare. Things like raising taxes, raising the bus fare and train fare, parking tickets, and increasing monetary penalties for minor offenses. All of these things cost money and the city you are in does this. When should people get help? Whenever they need it but it will get abused by those that don't. The only way that it might work is if they changed the whole department. They would need to start doing a more extensive and up close and personal background check and screening of the person or family in their home.
Robert McClinton
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