Free Essays Social Policy

Are US Social Welfare Policies Fair?

Social Welfare Policy

The Social Welfare policy in the overall U.S and Mississippi that particular interest me. Are the social welfare policies fair? Also, where we stand as a nation and many of our recipients that received these benefits do not work. Although, our state has changed they are requirements for receiving federal funds. Our households are still in some form not performing at outstanding levels. Some of the programs that concern social welfare are Tanf, Snap, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Insurance and WIC. Also, a major player is Medicare. The recent government shutdown has put a scare in the general public who receive these benefits. The citizens receiving these benefits did not have a plan b for paying for food, rent etc. That incident in the nation effected everyone receiving those benefits. Is call for action there needs to be a revision made to the current policies?

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Social welfare has been a recurring issue in America and various countries abroad. For example the socialist country of Venezuela. There recent changes of the last few decades is causing the citizens of the country significant hardships. They are mostly related for food and just normal living conditions. Looking at the struggles of other countries impact the decisions that we make in our country. Especially, invoking our policies to those of a socialist view. The United States Social Welfare policies are ultimately based on the principles of our Constitution. In our country, the major principles in which our laws and bills are created from.

U.S Constitution- “All Men are Created Equal”

“Each Citizen is born with freedom from Unjustified Restraints”

But, to say the least our country’s foundation is established with those moralities. Also, it is considered a stable in the eyes of many countries. Often, the politicians’ and Congress cannot get on common ground about how the funds of the social welfare of the people should be funded. My reasons for the differences are there are several Congressmen and Senators who have separate views and they come from different backgrounds. Mostly, they come from immigrants’ ancestry and they learned the ideals of their parental guiders. In addition, they observed the mistreatment of many ethnic groups in the past of the United States. Obliviously, their vote on whether not to start drug testing recipients that receive government benefits would be a bias vote. Mostly based on their previous background experiences.

Defining the citizens’ who used the benefits of Social Welfare; Are those of the lower class and some middle-class workers. Majority of the people are single parents and a few of the elderly. But, of those the younger generation is the most likely to abuse the help. If the policies required, the recipients to educate themselves. I believe the abuse would decrease drastically. The women and children on the programs mostly those individuals living in rural areas where there are not enough jobs for everyone. If the states push for all kids to receive a high school diploma the mode would change. If you did not finish high school a person begins to believe that college is not a hope for the future. The education system needs to make a initiative to keep those unaged pregnant women in school. Because it not only helps them it gets them access to better jobs and potentially one day not needing help from the government to live. I suggest they should call it operation break the cycle.

A little background in Social Welfare is the Social Welfare Policy did not come until 1935. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced it to help get the citizens of America back economically stable. The policy started as a two-part policy one of which is cash support and the other was social insurances and public assistance. Reason being that it would keep the parents of children at home and people would not be starving their children. The Social insurances are solely based on gross earnings and payroll compensations of an individual family. Welfare was originally based on the financial need of a person or family. The social insurance policies today are SSI, Unemployment insurance, and workers compensation.

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Formerly known as Old Age benefits are a right given to every citizen in America. But, the issue is that America is running out of money. And by the time I am an elderly person the funds are going to scarce. But, how is that possible if I paid into Social Security than, it should be available to me when I old enough. The Funding of this program comes from the workers of the people but, past investors have used the money in bad business deals. Therefore, Social Security has a short half life if the legislators do not revise the program effectively.

According to our state Mississippi our Social Welfare is at a critically high numbers compared to other states.  Our state is ranked twenty-ninth in the relief for anti-poverty Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Among our numbers have deceased since 1996 but our overall poverty rate has rapidly increased. Also, our unemployment rates have skyrocketed to terrible numbers. Methods that the government could use to lower theses numbers. Would be raising minimum wages to help those full-time workers who are still considered poverished. The data considered is that 2.6 percent of all full-workers are considered poverished.

In conclusion, the major issues of social welfare are the issue with social security and Medicare benefits. The other parts pose issues, but the impact is not as great. The Social Security issue has been fixed by many Congress leaders by raising the age of the benefits requirements. I believe that is not a logical way to solution the money. The reasons are that is not enough younger people working to pay into the program. If we had more jobs and better paying ones the social security would get better with time. Although the numbers of elderly are increasing with the baby boomers getting older. Medicare is going through the same problems. The solution of these problems would be educating the youth in the importance of saving money and planning. I personally look at a future with no social security or very little. Doing this research has widen my eyes to the world around me. I need to get ready for my future and save money for my elderly times of my life.

SOURCES

Works Cited

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