Many Americans today would agree that the United States is one of the richest countries in the world. People from all over the globe come here in search of a better life. Some even come and open their own businesses and become successful entrepreneurs. Therefore one of the nicknames for the U.S. is "the land of milk and honey." This refers to the belief that just living in America will improve our quality of life. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the thirty five million Americans living in poverty. That's approximately 12 percent of the population. The gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" is widening each year with the wealthy people getting even wealthier and the poor getting poorer. At this rate there will be no such thing as a middle class. With so many people living in poverty and so many children born into poor homes, these families have to rely on government assistance to make ends meet. Many do this in the form of welfare. Welfare affects everyone in this country, but the effect it has on hard working middle class citizens is far more significant than any other group.
In order for the government to assist the families in need all over the country, they have to tax other citizens who may not qualify for assistance because they may make too much money. This could range anywhere from a comfortable six figure salary to barely making enough to clear the poverty line. If a family that makes $30,000 annually and has insurance coverage from employment has a baby at a hospital, they may have to pay hospital costs that their insurance did not cover and they have no help coming in the form of money or programs that will help them out with childcare costs. On the other hand, a single mother who has a child out of wedlock and has no employment or insurance, can get her hospital stay paid in full and get a check each month to help with bills and child care. Most times, the government will even pay for childcare services so these women can go to work without having to worry about paying for a babysitter. While this may sound great for the single mother, the family who could not qualify for these services still has to pay taxes out their hard earned money that will partially go to help out the single mother. So, while this family is racked with medical bills, this other woman has no worries except when the next check will come in the mail.
While some people really need welfare and the assistance it gives them, there are still those that abuse the system. There are single mothers that have working boyfriends living with them while they still collect the check from the government. Also, there are mothers that don't report losing their job but still continue to use the free child care that the system provides. As a taxpayer, it bothers me that I am financing some of these people to basically be lazy and collect handouts. These actions may seem like minor infractions, but they can add up to significant amounts of money being stolen from the government and from average working class people. In one instance, a California woman sent her children to a free child care center and claimed that the services were provided by a family member. The two split $15,900 in illegal child care payments. In another case, a woman in Colorado forged her pay stubs reducing the claimed amount of income to her household. As a result, she received over 12,000 in child care assistance over fourteen months to which she was not entitled. Cases like these make it very hard on the people that actually need the assistance that the government provides. It also frustrates the workers whose taxes are supporting these programs.
Child support is also an overwhelming reason why so many single mothers receive welfare. Sixty-two percent of custodial mothers currently do not receive child support from the father of their children. This directly affects the welfare system because these children need to be taken care of. What the "deadbeat dads" don't do, the government shoulders the responsibility. This again affects the working middle class family that have two parents in the household receiving no assistance and getting heavily taxed to support other fatherless children. In my opinion, this encourages more teen pregnancies and more unwed mothers. If something does not change, this epidemic will cause more resentment toward the government and innocent children will be caught in the middle.
Welfare is an issue that continues to divide this country. While we want every citizen in the country to have a chance at a good life, it comes at a cost to the rest of us who get up every morning and go to work. We always wonder why these people need so much assistance, because if we can make a decent living, why can't they? The reason is because we are a capitalist society that needs some people to be poor while others get rich. Welfare barely affects the very wealthy. The taxes they have to pay are merely a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of their income. The citizens that are really affected by welfare are the middle to lower middle class. Not being eligible for the programs that we help provide is like being forced to build a house that we can't live. It makes no sense.
Works cited:
Nightingale, Demetra S and Robert H. Haveman. The Work Alternative: Welfare Reform and the Realities of the Job Market. Urban Institute Press 1995
King, Christopher T. and Peter Mueser. Welfare and Work: Experiences in Six Cities. WE Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 2005
Dixon, John and Robert P Schuell. The State of Social Welfare: The Twentieth Century in Cross-National Review. Praeger. 2002
