Welfare Then and Now

Welfare: Then and Now

The welfare system explosion brought upon a new era for poor Americans. A system that was developed to helping the struggling actually made it harder to succeed. In the late 1940's a large migration of poor, black Americans began from the South to the North. They believed that greater opportunities awaited them in the Northern hemisphere. The welfare benefits were of greater amounts and the discrimination against them was less prevalent. In the 1960's the welfare rolls hit an all time high. All across the county numbers were rising. Piven and Cloward attribute the increase to migration, the rise in benefit amounts and the breakdown of black American families. (pg. 189) I will discuss how the welfare system of the 1960's compares to the system of today. How the welfare system is failing Americans today just as much as it did then and can we as a country afford it.

When you think about the great depression, relief, mass unemployment and low- wage there is one function that can tie them all together. The welfare system. Welfare was developed to help cure these sores that plagued our country. When in reality the government wanted to keep as many families as they could off the rolls. They did this by under paying benefit and making striker regulations. (Pg. 161)

Many of the firm believers in the welfare system are not the recipient of it, but the politician that have helped with implementing the system in some way. In 1996 President Clinton signed a Welfare Reform Law that was supposed to have stopped the poor from being able to collect welfare benefits without any responsibility to the government. Mothers and fathers could no longer collect AFDC for an undetermined amount time of. If you were now receiving what is called TANF, (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) you would only be allotted a period of five years

And would need to be involved in a job training program or enrolled in an educational program. If you refused to become an active member of society by means of working or through education you risked being disqualified from aid. This was the government's way of slimming down the "rolls".

In reading an article by Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. Understanding Poverty in America, it states that poor families average 16 hours of work a week. It is also said that the absence of a father is still a leading cause for childhood poverty. Just as it was for many families back in the 1960's when many black Americans migrated from the South to the North. Does this mean that in over 60 years we haven't made the leaps and bounds that have been claimed? Is poor America still being held back by a system that is supposed to be helping them? Or has being on the system become more of a generational issue that needs to be dealt with through better education and stricter guidelines.

The system has helped to put the poor to work and has helped to feed the hungry. Parts of this are true. Food stamps have helped many to feed their families. This part of the system has come a long way. Struggling families no longer have to