Topic > Welfare Reform System: Supporting the American Economy

“Welfare embodies America's fundamental bargain, offering opportunity and, in return, demanding responsibility” (Clinton). When President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted Welfare in 1966, it was a system designed to be a help to the common man; a support structure that prevents financial disaster for the individual. Since that time, Welfare has been reformed, distorted and abused by the very people it was created for. Welfare has been manipulated and turned into a way of life for over 40 million Americans through outrageous benefits and unearned paychecks provided at an endless pace. This problem harms not only the economy as a whole, but also the individuals who receive these benefits. Welfare checks have become free handouts to those in need and, with no incentive to seek work in the lower sector when welfare benefits are much greater, many have been reduced to shirking the system in place. This problem must be eradicated to stabilize the growing problem and get Americans back to work. Comprehensive reform is needed to combat the problem of welfare exploitation. Requiring welfare recipients to perform work-related tasks on a weekly basis would allow those who need them to acquire job skills, while promoting a productive, self-sufficient population, as well as a healthy, sustainable economy. A prevalent aspect of welfare that results in rampant exploitation is the fact that welfare checks are distributed without any type of requirement other than necessity. According to the US Census, these benefits exceed “$30 an hour, well above the average income of $25 an hour for the typical American worker” (“US Census: Welfare”). These benefits are too great to have almost zero requirements to obtain them. The total value of… half the card… is experienced by many Americans. These two policy changes will help restore the spirit of the working individual, people who seek to provide for themselves rather than rely on the free handouts of others. Only through the restoration of this spirit will people be motivated enough to pursue career opportunities and the possibility of a better life. Welfare reform is necessary to promote a sense of responsibility for those who are unemployed and to show them the need for a career to become a productive member of society. Along with individual behavioral reform, welfare programs must also be modified if this proposed welfare reform is necessary. go to work. “Welfare programs are… devastating the economy, their expenditures are not concomitant with the benefits they provide… rationalization is necessary to preserve the economic sustainability of such programs” (“Social Policy”).