Essay on The Problem of Poverty Welfare in America

The Problem of Poverty: Welfare in America For centuries, nations, cities, and individual families have dealt with the problem of poverty; how to remedy current situations and how to prevent future ones. For most of history, there have been no government controlled poverty assistance programs. The poor simply relied on the goodness of their families or, if they did not have a family, on the generosity of the public at large. In the United States, this situation changed in 1935 with the passage of the Social Security Act. The Social Security Act has seen many successes, but it also faces many critiques of its structure and function. In the past, most governments did little to actively aid their poor population. This duty was†¦show more content†¦In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act which, among other things, provided for the financial, medical, and material needs of the poor (Komisar 125,128). Since then, there have many additions and reforms to the bill, none of which has served to que ll the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the welfare system in the United States. The main concerns of the distribution of welfare dollars and resources can be answered by the questions ?Who gets assistance and ?How much do they receive. The U.S. welfare system is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, which attempts to answer these questions through a system of minimum incomes, government-calculated poverty levels, number of children, health problems, and many other criteria. This complicated system leads to one of the critiques of the welfare system?that it is too large and inefficient. President Lyndon Johnson declared a ?War on Poverty? in 1964 designed to alleviate the burden of the poor and established the Food Stamp program the next year (Patterson 139). In 1996, a major welfare reform bill was passed that placed time limits on welfare assistance, required able participants to actively seek employment, and implemented additional services for t he needy (Patterson 217). The effects of this latest reform are still being studied, but one thing isShow MoreRelatedPoverty in America: Government Welfare Programs are the Problem2373 Words   |  10 PagesAbstract Poverty effected many individual families around the world for many years, and it wasn’t until 1935, The Social Security Act was passed, therefore assisting many families in need. The effects of poverty is an extraordinarily obscure social experience, and the finding those causes is very similar. As a result, sociologists considered other theories of poverty, such as the journey of the middle class, employers, from the cities into the suburbs. The government has taken many steps over theRead More Politics and Poverty Essay1237 Words   |  5 PagesPolitics and Poverty Today there is a split in American politics on how to combat poverty. Throughout history, how America combats poverty has changed depending on what party is running the government. There has been a number of different parties however, Republican, Democrat, The Bull Moose Party, and other various ones. However, these views can be put into two main categories: The Liberal ideology and the Conservative ideology. There are three areas, which have broad and differing views on howRead MoreWhy Does Poverty Still Exist Among Black Americans? Essay1359 Words   |  6 Pages Why does poverty still exist among Black Americans? 2016 FA.Soc.220.02 Social Problems Kesha Hicks â€Æ' â€Å"The United States has the highest poverty rate of any advance industrial nation† (Elizabetha, 2013). For many years, black people have considered to be the poorest race in the United states. 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The effects of doing this have a drastic result of the children living in the situations that they have no control over. Gould and glad discuss the unreeling effects living this way has on children stating. â€Å"- Two of the five leadingRead More The Working Poor Essay769 Words   |  4 PagesAmericans are working full time jobs that are below the Federal poverty line. These types of people are often called the â€Å"working poor†. Due to this the working poor have to run to welfare. This affects all Americans because taxpayers are the ones paying for welfare. The more jobs that are taken overseas, the more poverty we will have. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;It is now said that the middle-class Americans are now becoming the poor in America. According to William H. Jasper of the New American magazine:Read MoreRacial Discrimination858 Words   |  4 Pagestopic: Does racial discrimination cause poverty among black people in America? 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