State assistance, informally known as welfare, has been a controversy or what some consider a “problem” for many years because of the debt its accrued, the misuse of the funds, and the way the government obtains the money from working individuals tax dollars. It started in 1964 when President Johnson launched the “War on Poverty” in an attempt to help the poor rise above with the aid of federal and state tax dollars. Johnson stated, “Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” There was good intention with the plan and it was to help ease some of the stresses of every spending while the poorer families worked their way out of financial strain. It was intended …show more content…
People that pay in yearly federal income tax pay an estimated $9,000 a year toward some type of welfare. These working class Americans, blue collar to white collar, feel they work hard to make ends meet and often struggle themselves just to see their money going toward a meaningless pit and being wasted and abused. The mentality some have is “I go to work every day whether I like it or not for my money and what I have, why can’t they?” Annoyed and disgruntled taxpayers have stereotyped welfare receivers as lazy, nonproductive and self-entitled citizens that live off the system. Welfare has not shown to improve poverty much at all with all efforts made and many are fed up and want to see changes sooner than …show more content…
There is a breakdown somewhere in the process when a 20-year-old able bodied person can draw a social security check for ADHD but a 78-year-old man or woman with multiple disease processes and disabilities cannot get any type of assistance with food, medical, or daily living because their social security check is $5 dollars over the limit. Oklahoma’s Republican Senator Tom Coburn was approached by a hired tree trimmer and asked that the senator make out the check to the guy’s mother because he was on disability. Coburn who is also a medical doctor reviewed disability cases and found that about 75% are not truly disabled. This is fraud and it is offensive to the working class and the citizens that sincerely need the help. Therefore, it is a problem that needs attention. What’s in store for the future? Hopefully change in the right direction and not increased debt and dependency on the welfare system and accountability and self-sufficiency of the