Eliminating the Dependency Trap
Government efforts to reduce poverty have made the problem worse by creating a culture of dependency. Welfare programs reward people for being poor, diminish the incentive to work, and undermine the family. The best and most compassionate solution -- and in the long run, the only realistic solution -- is to phase out most welfare benefits. Communities and private charities are better able to help the poor than any government program.
What Should be Done?
Phase out benefits for able- bodied workers.Limit other benefits -- including healthcare and nutrition -- to children.Encourage communities and private charities to take more responsibility for helping the needy.
Arguments For This Approach
The United States has spent billions of dollars on welfare over the past few decades, but it has done little to reduce poverty. Communities and private charities can help the poor more effectively and efficiently than government can. Automatic assistance to the poor undermines the family by subsidizing out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families. By providing a disincentive to work, welfare creates a cycle of dependency. In the long run, the only compassionate course of action is to help people become self- sufficient.
Arguments Against This Approach
Poor people need and deserve government assistance, including cash assistance. Welfare isn't draining the public treasury, and welfare cuts won't save a lot of money. It is morally wrong to remove such assistance at a time when a lot of unskilled people can't find decent jobs. It's also wrong to punish children for their parents' plight or behavior. Private charities and communities can't be expected to step in when benefits to the poor are sharply reduced. Welfare payments don't increase out-of-wedlock births, according to some studies.
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