The Truth About Welfare

In case your to slow to pick it up, this cartoon is making fun of the public view on welfare. If one was to walk down the street and ask random people what they thought about the current welfare system and what they thought about the people on it, one would almost certainly get the same stereotypical answers. 85% of people would say "I think welfare doesn't do anything but encourage lazy people to not find jobs and sit on there lazy asses" and/or "Welfare is a waste of tax dollars and giving money to the poor only increases their likeliness to stay poor" and don't forget "I think that people on welfare only arrived at their situation because of their own decisions, its their own fault for being poor".

To all those people who think any above statements are true, its okay I understand that you are to lazy to think for yourself and that it is easier to just follow what everyone else thinks. But all those statements are false and it is stereotyping. The truth is that people on welfare are poor because of several reasons. The first reason is societal factors. Some of these factors include; inadequate education, transportation, child care, and mental health problems. Another reason for the poor being poor is the repeating of the class system.For example, if one comes from a poor family, more than likely one is going to be poor. There are numerous studies that will agree with this statement. A third reason for poverty is the organization of the economy. Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute identifies wage decline as the crucial economic factor that has had the largest impact on poverty rates. Also economist talk about the level of natural unemployment, which means that a certain percent of the labor force must be unemployed so that businesses will have workers available when they need to expand. This rate runs between 4 and 10%. Some people contribute poverty to social isolation, or the idea the since the poor live in poor areas, they are denied contact with the wide variety of influences and opportunities the rest of society enjoys. Others contribute poverty to the fact that poor people are trapped in a vicious cycle. Some points of this theory are that poor people spend more time defending themselves from crimes due to the fact that they are more likely to be a victim of a crime. Another important and notable point is that poor individuals pay more for things. For example, poor people pay more in interest when they get loans, and they pay more for things at stores in the ghetto. There are several other controversial theories to why the poor are poor. One theory is called the situational adaptation interpretation. This theory basically says that the poor are limited on the amount of choices they have, therefore they have to choose bad ones because they have no choice. A second theory is call the culture of poverty theory, this deals with the idea that the poor have a different set of values. A third theory worth mentioning is called the human capital theory. This theory states that the poor lack the knowledge, skills, and attributes that make them valuable to employers.

All those theories point to the idea that there are bigger reasons other than personal responsibility for being poor. But now we must stomp the myth that the poor stay poor once on welfare. The truth is that most poor people are classified as transitional poor. That is, they are poor for one to three years. The census bureau breaks it down like this:17%transitional, 11.6% intermittently, 4.9%persistently poor, and 66.4% never poor. Special Note: the marginal poor are those that generally have jobs but because of low educational levels and few skills, the jobs they have are low paying and insecure.Most welfare programs require those applying to have a job, or have monthly meetings to show that they are trying.

Welfare is not a waste of tax dollars, nor is it a huge chunks of one's paycheck. The actual cost of welfare programs-about 1 percent of the federal budget and 2 percent of state budgets is proportionally less than generally believed. During the 104th Congress, more than 93 percent of the budget reductions in welfare entitlements came from programs for low-income people. Ironically, middle-class and wealthy Americans also receive "welfare" in the form of tax deductions for home mortgages, corporate and farm subsidies, capital gains tax limits, Social Security, Medicare, and a multitude of other tax benefits. Yet these types of assistance carry no stigma and are rarely considered "welfare". Anti-welfare sentiment appears to be related to attitudes about class and widely shared and socially sanctioned stereotypes about the poor. Racism also fuels negative attitudes toward welfare programs.

I haven't talked about all the stereotypes with welfare. There are many more that can be debunked using actual facts about welfare.

Next time you think of welfare make sure you think about facts and not stereotypes.