Welfare Reform :: Social Welfare Retirement Economics Essays

Welfare ReformWelfare is a public assistance program that provides at least(prenominal) a minimum amount of economic security to people whose in surveys are insufficient to maintain an adequate standard of living. These programs generally include such benefits as financial aid to individuals, subsidized medical care, and stamps that are used to purchase food. The modern U.S. welfare system dates back to the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the worst part of the Depression, about one-fourth of the labor force was without work. More than two-thirds of all households would have been considered poor by todays standards. With a majority of the capable adult population experiencing impish financial misfortune, many Americans move to the government for answers. In response, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt led a social and economic advance movement attacking the Depression. Part of his saucily enacted New Deal program was the Social Security Act, enacted by Congress in 1935. T his act and established a number of social welfare programs, each designed to provide support for different segments of the population.Recently Roosevelts Social Welfare Program has become a topic of heated debate. Welfare has come a long way since Roosevelt, it was once a system that help those in need until they could get back on their feet, now welfare has turned into a system that feeds money to a group of people that have become to lazy to find work. Talk of replacing the old system with a welfare program that will emphasize putting welfare recipients to work has become very frequent. More and more stated are now begin to adopt a welfare-to-work program, leaving other states to simply ponder about the conceit of taking people off the system. Those in favor of welfare reform argue that a welfare-to-work program will cut the amount of people on welfare causing a surplus of funds. These people base their idea on the overwhelming success of those states who have already adopted s uch a program. Nationwide, welfare caseloads have declined significantly since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and sour Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. In the few months since the bill went into effect the amount of welfare caseloads are down by approximately 2 million. Figures as well as show that Alabama reduced its welfare enrollment by 48%, and Indiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee reduced theirs by 49%. In Wisconsin welfare was reduced by 58% and Wyomings cases dropped an amazing 73% (Source Dept.