Welfare in America

By 1935 a national welfare system was established in America. Although Americans had always prided themselves on hard work and self-reliance, the Great Depression made it clear there would be times when even able bodied people, who wanted to work, would need help (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 1998). 

There have been many changes made to that initial system of support, to the system we have now, which is bloated, abused, and enables people who don’t want to work to remain unemployed and receive benefits. When government assistance pays better than employment, there is no incentive to get off that assistance. A study done in 2013 by the Cato Institute, “found that in many states, it does indeed pay better to be on welfare than it does to work” (Tanner). 

For a system to function long term and to be truly beneficial to society, it needs to assist and incentivize the receiver to improve themselves, improve their situation, and get off of assistance.