Social Welfare and Poverty

[Swamper]

I'm currently taking a Social Work class, and for one of my assignments I have to give a survey concerning welfare and poverty. So if any of you feel like helping me out and answering these questions in a couple of sentences, I'd really appreciate it!

1) What is your definition of welfare?

2) What is your definition of poverty?

3) Who is affected by poverty?

4) What are you thoughts on what is currently being done to address poverty?

5) What else needs to be done to address poverty?

"I don't know" or "I don't care" are perfectly acceptable answers. Thank you!

[Unhinged Manchild]

4) We need to stop paying unemployment to lazy Americans sitting on their bums. If you don't/aren't willing to have a job, you shouldn't get paid, plain and simple.

[davidlhsl]

Originally Posted by Swamper

I'm currently taking a Social Work class, and for one of my assignments I have to give a survey concerning welfare and poverty. So if any of you feel like helping me out and answering these questions in a couple of sentences, I'd really appreciate it!

1) What is your definition of welfare?
Financial assistance provided by a society to individuals who need it without requiring reimbursement or other forms of payback.

2) What is your definition of poverty?
Not having enough money to provide basic necessities of food and shelter.

3) Who is affected by poverty?
This question could be interpreted various ways. In a real sense, the effects of poverty impact everyone. Those in poverty are impacted in struggling to obtain basic necessities, taxpayers are affected in their contributions to the welfare system, crime that results from poverty impacts both victims (the reason is obvious) and other members of society (fear created).

4) What are you thoughts on what is currently being done to address poverty?
Solutions tend to fall into the extremes of either simply dumping money into the problem or expecting the poor to basically fend for themselves.

5) What else needs to be done to address poverty?
Education, education, and did I mention education? This has to be combined with assistance in job placement. Financial assistance (yes, welfare) needs to be provided to counteract things such as malnutrition that make escaping poverty so difficult, but there should be strong incentives to encourage recipients to be more active and engaged into pulling themselves out of poverty, provided the education and job placement are in place.

Good luck with the assignment!

[Aldin]

1) What is your definition of welfare?

Welfare is another way to say well-being. A person's welfare is, generally-speaking, how their life is and how they view their life for good or ill. A group or society's welfare is a combination of the individual welfare of each constituent and the group or community social and economic outlook.

2) What is your definition of poverty?

Poverty is the condition where resources are insufficient to meet needs. Those resources can be economic, familial, social, etc.

3) Who is affected by poverty?

Those experiencing poverty are the ones most affected by it. Those who exist in interconnected economic, familial and social networks with those experiencing poverty are also affected, though to varying lesser degrees.

4) What are you thoughts on what is currently being done to address poverty?

In the USA it seems that we are beginning to better understand both the causes of poverty and the ways the solution to poverty needs to address ALL areas of poverty. Solving an educational poverty is insufficient if there is poverty of opportunity or poverty of food, etc. There are some programs that are trying to meet the variety of needs that exist within poverty and there are many who exist in poverty that are eager to take advantage of those opportunities.

Having said that, the existing welfare structure in this country is inefficient and worse, the type of structure that exists in a typical welfare program only meets a single need. The system is rife with abuse and many have simply learned to take advantage of the economic benefits of the system without addressing their other areas of poverty. A reason for this is the inability of government to see individuals. When government deals with poverty, it is typically dealing with statistics and using statistical measures to offer solutions. Genuine solutions tend to involve people connecting one-on-one in relationships.

At one time, most welfare in the USA happened in relation to local church organizations. I would argue that charitable organizations will always do a better job at welfare than the government because charitable organizations have the ability to invest individually in the people who are experiencing poverty. Regardless of how good the government gets at addressing poverty though clever means such as grants to organizations like Head Start, it will simply never be as good at providing welfare as charitable organizations because government lacks the capacity to invest in individuals.

5) What else needs to be done to address poverty?

We need to learn to invest in other people. _We_ need to learn to invest in other people. The government is trying to take up the slack, but churches and communities need to step up and offer investment in the lives of the people around them and part of them who do not have sufficient resources.

~Aldin, not as good as he should be

[Swamper]

Thank you for your responses! I could use a couple of more, so please feel free to answer. Just a couple of sentences is all I need.

[Ranior]

1) What is your definition of welfare?

Welfare has several different definitions. At the heart of it though welfare is the well being of whatever you're talking about. The welfare of an individual is related to how well they are faring.

2) What is your definition of poverty?

Poverty is not having enough money/resources/assets/wealth to be able to provide adequate necessities to survive and pursue happiness. Poverty is not knowing if you can afford food/housing/heat/insurance for you or your dependents.

3) Who is affected by poverty?

Poverty affects those who are poor the most. Those who first hand experience poverty are hurt the most. It also hurts societies and communities though.

4) What are you thoughts on what is currently being done to address poverty?

A mixed bag. I'm also not sure if we're just talking about America or not...

With that being said I see some good ideas for how to help combat poverty. Many of those ideas and programs are strewn with corruption and not implemented in the best possible way. Also the scope of most anti-poverty programs is not enough, and certain aspects of poverty are altogether ignored. Overall I appreciate what is being done but think it is woefully inefficient and generally on too small a scale to make a difference.

5) What else needs to be done to address poverty?

A lot. In America particularly I think we need to accept and realize that we live in a society with strong differences in class and income. Individuals need to realize the privilege of their birth and upbringing. We need to see and understand that race and institutional racism still holds down many of the poor. We ought to pay a living wage to workers. The 40 million Americans who suffer though poverty ought to be of more concern than tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations. The interests of business should take second seat to the issues of individuals. Food Security should be assured for all.

If we could get even half of that done or started, it'd be a great addition to what's being done to address poverty.

[G1shark]

Well when I was on 2 years of unemployment from 2008 - 2010, My Heroscape Collection was completed , thanks to your tax paying dollars I grew a massive collection, so I think that was a good investment of your tax paying dollars.

[Dysole]

1) What is your definition of welfare?

Well-being. I'm currently in the middle of helping one of my professors look into economic well being measures and based upon that I'd probably define it as something along the lines of the potential functionings a person can achieve given the matrix of possible decisions they can make and constraints placed upon them or in non-jargon, what someone can accomplish based upon their choices and factors beyond their control.

2) What is your definition of poverty?

Insufficient resources to meet one's needs usually over a significant period of time.

3) Who is affected by poverty?

Parroting an earlier response, the least economically well off are most affected but ripple effects hit everyone.

4) What are you thoughts on what is currently being done to address poverty?

I wouldn't necessarily call any of it bad, insufficient or ineffective maybe, but not bad. I think that a lot of it is shuttered up by apathy and/or ignorance but mostly apathy. It could be better but it could also be much worse as we have made several significant strides in the past few decades especially in foreign countries.

5) What else needs to be done to address poverty?

That apathy thing I think is important mainly because a lot of people feel or know something should be done but for whatever reason don't make a significant effort (I know I'm guilty of this) but I do think I agree with Aldin that the most effective ways are going to be people oriented. I don't think the problem can be fixed from any one avenue or simply allocating funds towards a program. I think to completely eliminate poverty would take a collective effort on the part of people to attempt to combat it. I'm not sure of the exact economics needed to eliminate or minimize poverty myself but I think it is not impossible, but almost certainly not going to get fixed overnight and not without a concentrated collective effort to find the path to maximize people's welfare.

~Dysole, economically

[hosj]

Originally Posted by brandonwiker

4) We need to stop paying unemployment to lazy Americans sitting on their bums while I work and pay taxes for their bull crap. If you don't/aren't willing to have a job, you shouldn't get paid, plain and simple.

I work with developmentally disabled, they hold jobs better than some Americans.

We also need to stop giving welfare to these women who are on welfare for having intercourse with guys out of wedlock, having kids, and doing nothing but begging the government for money. People need to learn to be responsible for their actions, plan ahead.

Rant over. I don't really have arguments for or against anything I said. Oh, I hope it applies to your survey... It does say "what are your thoughts"

I don't care about the rest, lol.

EDITED: To make the wording nicer. I just get so darn furious over things like this, along with politics and cops. Just ask my wife, lol.

I think you fail to understand that someone cannot live on welfare/food stamps. It is not some income that allows you to live like a bum, it's supplemental income. The vast majority of people who are on welfare or food stamps actually work. The jobs these days do not pay enough to feed your family and pay the rent. The rest of the people on welfare are unable to hold jobs due to injury, etc.

Ever heard of corporate welfare? Many more of your tax dollars go to big buisnesses and defense contractors who do not need the help. So you are okay about giving money to the wealthy who do not work for it but aren't okay with giving money to the poor who work and need it?

I would agree though, in a theoretical world if someone was perfectly capable of working and there were jobs available but simply chose not to he/she should not expect society's support. However, in this world, this is not a serious problem and very rarely happens.

[Unhinged Manchild]

Originally Posted by hosj

I think you fail to understand that someone cannot live on welfare/food stamps. It is not some income that allows you to live like a bum, it's supplemental income. The vast majority of people who are on welfare or food stamps actually work. The jobs these days do not pay enough to feed your family and pay the rent. The rest of the people on welfare are unable to hold jobs due to injury, etc.

Ever heard of corporate welfare? Many more of your tax dollars go to big buisnesses and defense contractors who do not need the help. So you are okay about giving money to the wealthy who do not work for it but aren't okay with giving money to the poor who work and need it?

I would agree though, in a theoretical world if someone was perfectly capable of working and there were jobs available but simply chose not to he/she should not expect society's support. However, in this world, this is not a serious problem and very rarely happens.

I know that my taxes go to the government and big businesses and all that, and I severely hate that. I'm a really laid back guy, but you'll only see the fire in me when I have to speak on things such as government, rich people, cops, taxes, and obama. And he gets a lowercased letter lol.

I understand that some people can't work, my father in law messed up his back working, and I totally respect him, he had a good work ethic But I feel like I've seen more people who are just too lazy to look for work and would rather collect unemployment.

Going through high school, I saw my fair share of rich kids being pampered by peers and teachers, it totally infuriated me. But there's no use in raising my lone voice against authority, it only makes me look crazy.

I'm fine with people who don't want to work, they just shouldn't get paid for not working, that's all. I think if people making minimum wage put their minds to it, they could live within their means. Internet and tv aren't necessary for survival. I've seen people who are on welfare who have better internet service and TV than I have (I have no cable tv, btw)

And while I may be wrong here, does that whole "debt forgiveness" thing actually take all of your debt and give you a clean slate? Cmon! I was able to pay my way through college working 32 hrs/week at walmart pushing carts, AND I went to college full time. I'm not superhuman, if I can do it, the rest of America should at least come close.

[hosj]

Originally Posted by brandonwiker

I know that my taxes go to the government and big businesses and all that, and I severely hate that. I'm a really laid back guy, but you'll only see the fire in me when I have to speak on things such as government, rich people, cops, taxes, and obama. And he gets a lowercased letter lol.

I understand that some people can't work, my father in law messed up his back working, and I totally respect him, he had a good work ethic But I feel like I've seen more people who are just too lazy to look for work and would rather collect unemployment.

Going through high school, I saw my fair share of rich kids being pampered by peers and teachers, it totally infuriated me. But there's no use in raising my lone voice against authority, it only makes me look crazy.

I'm fine with people who don't want to work, they just shouldn't get paid for not working, that's all. I think if people making minimum wage put their minds to it, they could live within their means. Internet and tv aren't necessary for survival. I've seen people who are on welfare who have better internet service and TV than I have (I have no cable tv, btw)

And while I may be wrong here, does that whole "debt forgiveness" thing actually take all of your debt and give you a clean slate? Cmon! I was able to pay my way through college working 32 hrs/week at walmart pushing carts, AND I went to college full time. I'm not superhuman, if I can do it, the rest of America should at least come close.

The problem is minimum wage is not enough to live on anymore. 7.25 an hour does not pay enough. In the past 50 years, workers have produced more and more, and corporate profits have risen but the minimum wage, and wages in general, have not risen accordingly. This is the main cause of the increasing inequality. We need tougher regulation on big banks, we need to eliminate corporate welfare and instead cut taxes on small businesses, we need to eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, raise taxes on the wealthy, cut taxes for the middle class.

The reason we can't do this is because the people with power in our democracy are the wealthy who can basically buy elections due to citizens united. They are able to convince people that the problem in this county is the poor who are "moochers" and "bums" and "living off welfare" when the real problem is that all the wealth in this county is just flowing upward to the very wealthiest. The most important thing we need to do is take back the government by overturning Citizens United, and create public funding of elections so politicians do not need to cater to big businesses.

[flameslayer93]

Unfortunately while minimum wage lets you live sort of, it won't feed other people. It just isn't going to work when you have children (who cannot be income sources).

Its all crap