Poverty seeps into all aspects of life and stands as a prominent issue in today’s society. The government struggles with its place in helping eliminate this pressing issue. Do welfare programs and Federal aid help, or do they simply support a lifestyle of relying on others? To explore the issue of poverty and how poverty affects society, we must dive into the statistics. To do so, we will create and analyze a budget for a family of four living under the poverty line. To start making the budget, I first found that the annual income for a family of four under the poverty line is $24,250. Next, I considered the different expenses a family of four has annually and monthly. The expenses I thought of were housing, transportation, utilities, groceries,
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This issue brings up government involvement. To help bridge the gap between low income and high expenses, the government implements federal aid and welfare programs. It seems that this issue has an easy fix, but that is far from reality. How much aid is required to bridge the gap? When does the aid start to promote a lack of work ethic and become unfair to those working who do not receive aid? Should the government put regulations on people who are receiving aid? These questions haunt government officials. Many times people in society are quick to make assumptions and do not evaluate all facets of the issue. The government has to weigh all aspects when making a decision such as the implementation of federal aid and welfare. One issue that personally bothers me is the short term help that current welfare programs provide. Many programs require precipitants to get a job which sounds like a reasonable requirement, but most of the jobs will not support precipitant’s expenses. The system can sometimes be counter productive. For example, minimum wage jobs prevent long term education. How can one be expected to take care of themselves and their family, work long hours, and be working on a degree? The short term, minimum wage job does not stop the process of
This issue brings up government involvement. To help bridge the gap between low income and high expenses, the government implements federal aid and welfare programs. It seems that this issue has an easy fix, but that is far from reality. How much aid is required to bridge the gap? When does the aid start to promote a lack of work ethic and become unfair to those working who do not receive aid? Should the government put regulations on people who are receiving aid? These questions haunt government officials. Many times people in society are quick to make assumptions and do not evaluate all facets of the issue. The government has to weigh all aspects when making a decision such as the implementation of federal aid and welfare. One issue that personally bothers me is the short term help that current welfare programs provide. Many programs require precipitants to get a job which sounds like a reasonable requirement, but most of the jobs will not support precipitant’s expenses. The system can sometimes be counter productive. For example, minimum wage jobs prevent long term education. How can one be expected to take care of themselves and their family, work long hours, and be working on a degree? The short term, minimum wage job does not stop the process of