Over 100 Million People in U.S. Now Receiving Some Form Of Federal Welfare

Where we are at and How we got here

According to The Senate Budget in 2012, 107 million people in the United Sates were receiving some form of social welfare from the United States government. The United States populations is reportedly about 314 million. That is roughly more than one third or more than 33% of the entire country living off of or receiveing financial aid from the government.
 
"Among the major means tested welfare programs, since 2000 Medicaid has increased from 34 million people to 54 million in 2011 and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) from 17 million to 45 million in 2011," says the Senate Budget Committee. "Spending on food stamps alone is projected to reach $800 billion over the next decade."
 
So how did we get here?
 
This alarming fact that 1/3 of the country is on welfare did not happen over night.  This was caused by a huge shift in perspective in society since the early 1900s. The American people have lost their incentive to work. The government handouts allow pepole to become entirely reliant upon a government that has a national debt larger that 16 trillion dollars!

 With the creation of more and more social welfare programs in this country and more generous handouts, less people feel the need to work  becuase "why work when the government will just give you the money?"

Unfortunately, the society of the United States is a far cry from Americns struggling to climb out of the Great Depression, who serched for jobs all over the country to help provide for themselves and families. It is only by a change of heart and mindset as well as a change in the country's social policy that will turn this country of people living on the dole, back into a  proud and self-supporting America.

Social Welfare: Temporary Aasssitance for Needy Families

What is the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program?
TANF is a block grant program to help move recipients into work and turn welfare into a program of temporary assistance.  Under the welfare reform legislation of 1996, TANF replaced the old welfare programs known as the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program, and the Emergency Assistance (EA) program.  The law ended Federal entitlement to assistance and instead created TANF as a block grant that provides States, Territories, and Tribes Federal funds each year.  These funds cover benefits and services targeted to needy families.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 reauthorized the TANF program through fiscal year (FY) 2010 with a renewed focus on work, program integrity, and strengthening families through healthy marriage promotion and responsible fatherhood.
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act).  In addition to other changes to the TANF program, the Recovery Act established the Emergency Contingency Fund for State TANF Programs (Emergency Fund).  It provides up to $5 billion to help States, Territories, and Tribes in FY 2009 and FY 2010 that have an increase in assistance caseloads and basic assistance expenditures, or in expenditures related to short-term benefits or subsidized employment.

MAJOR GOAL
The four purposes of TANF are:

• assisting needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes;
• reducing the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage;
• preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
• encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Highlights of TANF
Work Requirements:

• With few exceptions, recipients must work as soon as they are job-ready or no later than two years after coming on assistance.
• To count toward a State’s work participation rate, single parents must participate in work activities for an average of 30 hours per week, or an average of 20 hours per week if they have a child under age six.  Two-parent families must participate in work activities for an average of 35 hours a week or, if they receive Federal child care assistance, 55 hours a week.
• Failure to participate in work requirements can result in a reduction or termination of a family’s benefits.
• States cannot penalize single parents with a child under six for failing to meet work requirements if they cannot find adequate child care.
• States must engage a certain percentage of all families and of two-parent families in work activities or face financial penalty.  These required State work participation rates are 50 percent overall and 90 percent for two-parent families; however, States can reduce the targets they must meet with a caseload reduction credit.  For every percentage point a State reduces its caseload below its FY 2005 level (without restricting eligibility), the credit reduces the States target  participation rate by one percentage point.

Information Provided by The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/tanf/tanf-overview.html

What Happens when the Social Welfare System Collapses?

Below is a link to Doug Ross' blog which contains the transcript to an interview with Mark Levin, American lawyer, author and conservative commentator. In this interview, Levin discusses the possible outcomes if and when the Social Welfare system was to eventually collapse.
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/03/mark-levin-transcipt-what-happens-when.html

Social Welfare and Poverty

The goal of social welfare programs both in the United States and globally is to reduce the rate of poverty. However, this has been widely argued and debated, particularly in the United States, whether or not welfare programs actually achieve this goal.

According to the Luxembourg Income Study, in 2000, 2.3% of the United States'  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was used for social welfare expenditures. 26.4% of the poverty was reduced.http://www.lisdatacenter.org/wps/liswps/188.pdf

Opponents of Welfare

Those who oppose welfare take up the argument that the social welfare programs in fact do not lower the poverty rate at all and creates a disincentive for people to work. According to Charles Murray in his book, Losing Ground, welfare actually increases poverty.

Cause and Effects of Welfare Dependency Essay

The below link posted, leads to a research paper written by Chris Bisaillon in 1993, it is entitled "Causes and Effects of Welfare Dependency" and discusses what causes America to become welfare dependent and how that effects all of society.

jhttp://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=econ_honproj

The first Social Welfare System Organized in the United States

In order to understand social welfare and its various systems in the United States, one must look to the past and see the history of social welfare in the U.S.

The first organized system of social welfare in the U.S. was introduced during President Franklin Roosevelt's term in office. His plan was called the New Deal, it was put into place 1933 after the Great Depression. The New Deal enacted  more than a dozen acts, some including  the Unemployment Relief Act. The Unemployment Relief act created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs for the unemployed young men in public works and conservation projects. The young men earned $35 a month, which was a godsend to their very poor families.

The Social Security System was started by The Social Security Act of 1935, this act launched a federal-state program of worker's pensions, unemployment insurance, survivors'  benefit for the victims of industrial accidents, and aid for disabled persons and dependent mothers with children. All of these were funded by taxes paid partly by workers and partly by employers. However, this cut in take-home pay was a factor that helped bring on an economic recession in 1937.

The initial Social Security Act paid low benefits and bypassed farmers, domestic workers, and the self-employed, but it established the principle of federal responsibility for social welfare and laid the foundation for the much expanded welfare system that we have today.