Should Entitlement Programs Such as Welfare and Food Stamps Be Eliminated?

The United States has been one of the leading nations with a striving economy for years. We have had one of the largest GDP's out of all nations for just about the entire time since trade has existed . The United States is the one of the very few nations with a democracy put in place, and in that, the United States is constantly under criticism of foreign nations. The United States may make more money overall than other countries, and our people may earn more money than others, but what about the people who don't make much money? These people must live off of the employed, through entitlement programs such as welfare and food stamps (Rector). These people are unable to work for whatever reason, and are only living because of the other people that work in our economy. Regardless of how these people earn money, they have a need for it (Rector). Entitlement programs should not be eliminated, but should be more strictly moderated to ensure that everyone who is able to work puts in their own share to the economy.

The majority of the people on welfare are unable to work, or need additional support for whatever reason (Rector, Johnson). These people may include unemployed mothers, mothers without husbands or who have lost them, unemployed fathers who aren't able to support children, etc. These people are obviously need help supporting their selves as well as their children, primarily. It's obvious that the government is more generous to those who are unemployed or divorced and with children, because they're raising children and are going to need a lot of help raising them, financially. The government sees no problem in offering these people welfare, which comes from the working class of Americans, through the form of taxes and other means of deducting wages.

The main problem with this method of determining people able to get welfare, is the fact that not all of these people are actually in need of welfare and/or food stamps. Food stamps and welfare are both drags on our economy. People who use welfare or food stamps are not only taking money from other people who actually work to earn their money, but they're also not putting money into the economy through working to earn the money. In other words, everyone is left out but the person receiving the welfare. Our economy can't strive if no one works and everyone receives welfare, because there will be no money left!

More of a balance needs to be found between the two (Rector, Johnson). There are hundreds of thousands of people on welfare, living off of other people, who aren't actually in need of support because they could go and get a job and make their own living just as easy. Of course the money received by the government isn't enough to make a prosperous living, but it's much easier than having to go out, get a job, and contribute to the economy of the nation, either.

Stricter moderation in the system of welfare and food stamps definitely is a need (Hughes). People who are able to work, need to. They shouldn't be able to just live off of the other people who can work, they should have to contribute to the society in which they live, not steal from the people who do. If stricter moderation of the entitlement systems comes into play, our economy will see a drastic incline in money. Possibly taxes can go down because now more people will be working, as well as the fact that less people will be getting paid welfare, because more of them will have actual jobs.

Some of the possible solutions may include a short time period where someone who is able to work is allowed to get a job with paid help, and then a loss of welfare? Mothers with children should still be entitled to these programs, especially if they're unable to work. These solutions apply only to people who are able to work and currently are not. More solutions may include a stricter amount of money sent to these people, which will encourage them to get a job regardless of whether or not they actually need it (Hughes). Finally, another possible solution can include forcing these people to get jobs or the government will take them off of welfare and take food stamps away over a period of time.

There are many solutions to this problem, but the bottom line is that people with money shouldn't pay for the people without if the unemployed are able to work. It's not fair, and not politically correct. Entitlement programs should not be eliminated, but should be more strictly moderated to ensure that everyone who is able to work puts in their own share to the economy.

Sources: Parenthetical Citation Given

Rector, Robert E. Johnson, Kirk A, Ph.D. "Understanding Poverty in America". The Heritage Foundation,
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

Hughes, B.C. "Solving the problems of America's poor", Paco's Global Village,
http://www.pacosvillage.com/articles/archives/May2003/solving.htm

Rector, Robert E. "How poor are America's Poor? Examining the "plague" of Poverty in America", The Heritage Foundation,
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg2064.cfm