Thursday, December 5, 2013

Should the Government Help the Poor?

By Abby Monday

With a struggling economy, not all families can make ends meet. When times get tough and you can’t even afford to feed your family, what do you do? Obviously in our country the government helps the poor. However, one can’t be sure that helping them is really beneficial. Even though some people really do need all the help they can get, are some families taking advantage of what they can potentially get for free? I believe that it is right for the government to help the poor to an extent, but not as much as they are right now.
After doing some research, I was really starting to understand why all this help is sometimes necessary. Some people who live in extreme poverty make the decision to have a child. But, this child is not getting enough medical attention or even nourishment. Barack Obama once said, “...You can see what a free lunch program does for a hungry child. You can see what a little extra money from an earned income tax credit does for a family that’s struggling. You can see what prenatal care does for the health of a mother and a newborn…”. Clearly every point that Obama makes in this quote is completely valid. But, from my own experience I have seen how too much help for the poor can be a terrible thing.
This summer, I traveled with my church to Pittsburgh for a mission trip. I was so excited to really make a difference and never thought I would get as frustrated as I did. There was over 100 kids that traveled there. We split into different work “crews” and all had specific jobs. I worked at a place they called The FOR (Focus on Renewal) Center. The first day there we got a tour and really learned what this place was all about. It was an establishment that had a free lunch program. It also was a place where you could come and get food twice a week if you had certain qualifications. When I first arrived here, I was extremely saddened that people would have to go through this. However, within a few minutes I started looking closer and the people that were there. There were families that all had iPhones, women carrying designer handbags, boys wearing the latest basketball shoes. Sure, material items can be really fun to have if you can afford them. I just didn't understand why these people had all their priorities in the wrong places.
My second day there, I realized how easy it was for these people to take advantage of this program. They had no incentive to get back on their feet with everything the employees at FOR were doing for them. Each day at noon anyone can eat a meal for free there. My mouth would water looking at the gourmet meals that they would feed these people. Anything from ribs to lasagna was given to these people for free. Also, the serving sizes that they were getting were enough to fill them up for the entire day. But, on top of this they got to take home amazing amounts of name brand foods, large amounts of meat and even gallons of milk. These poor people were getting everything handed to them and they had to do nothing at all.
This trip made me realize that maybe the poor is getting more than they need. I certainly think that the poor should get some government help. But, not as much as the people at the FOR center. It was so frustrating to me that these people had to literally do nothing all day to get everything they needed. I understand that not everyone’s situations are the same. That is why this is such a difficult topic to touch on. Overall, I think the government should help the poor enough so they can live. The poor people should not be treated so greatly that the incentive to get a job just goes away. As long as these people can get by without becoming severely unhealthy, I think that that is enough help.
I do not think that the government should completely shut out the poor. But, I am not the only one that believes that the government is not the solution to the poor. I would like to end my post with a video of an economist giving his opinion on this situation. Milton Friedman is an economist who is featured in this video.

Here is Milton [Friedman] with his opinion on “Should the government help the poor?”



12 comments:

  1. Abby,

    Government agencies and charities have been wrestling with this question for eons -- determining the appropriate type and amount of relief. Relief becomes too much when the incentive to work is taken away. Others are clearly in dire need of assistance. You are correct when you say that each person's situation is unique. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Thank you so much for sharing your first hand experiences from your recent mission trip to Pittsburgh. I commend you for going out of your comfort zone to help the poor in another city! What an eye-opening experience it must have been for you.

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  2. If too much help is given, then people aren't going to help themselves. If they start to expect the help from other people then they will rely on it too much and in the end will most likely never begin to help themselves. They do need help, I'm not denying that, they just need the right kind of help. Knowledge and skills to get themselves back on track, or at least start to. No one should be getting handouts for the rest of their lives. Yes, it's convenient for them, but for how long will it be a success?

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  3. The system is meant for people who are stuck in a bad situation and need some support until they can find a job. But when everything is given to them, they don't have any motivation to work, like Mr. Batterman said. The locals volunteering at the center are most likely in the same situation as the people that they are serving, so they give them more than they should. Their thinking is that why should I work if I can live the same way without working.

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  4. I believe that helping the poor is needed. We should also do our best to make sure that everyone in our country is in the best situation. However, the benefits that are occurring today are leaving the poor feeling no need to work. What should be happening is, get the poor in a situation to work, and give them the opportunity to get a job. From then on, it is their problem alone. We cannot keep wasting money on people who are not going to help themselves.

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  5. Generally, helping the poor always seems like a good thing to do; however we focus so much on volunteer services that sometimes the fact that these people take advantage of volunteers and their services slips by. Although we like to think of humans as good and honest people, sometimes that isn’t always the case. Helping the poor get back on their feet is probably a better idea than just “giving” them things. Programs to make the poor more marketable for jobs could be a good governmental investment not only to help the poor and their families gain income, but also to contribute to and better the economy.

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  6. When we think of the poor, we tend to think about those who can't afford to get food or pay their rent. There are some families like this and they are the ones that deserve the WIC checks, and EBT cards. However, I have no feeling for those who only want to take advantage of the system to get a free meal when they can afford to buy things with the money they save. I think that the government should help those who really have nothing, and can't afford the necessities of life like you said.

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  7. Unfortunately we can only help those in need as much as they are willing to help themselves. Like you said, every situation is different and I'm sure there are many people who are underneath the poverty line who have been laid off or something and trying to find work, but there are many who are taking advantage of the government. If we keep helping, they will think that there is nothing to worry about and they will never have to work because everything is done for them. While working as a cashier, there would be people coming in with food stamps and they would be buying candy or alcohol with them. These people aren't even buying their base necessities with their government aid, which leads me to think that they're taking it for granted. What I think we have to do is slowly dissipate help to the poor in order for them to gain the encouragement or motivation to start doing things on their own.

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  8. Poverty to us means may not having enough to eat or even living on the streets, but I can’t even imagine putting myself in these peoples shoes of course I want to help them. But what scares me is by helping these people it is making more people think by doing nothing they will be receiving more and more WIC checks and EBT cards, knowing that someone will come around and help them so they don’t have to do anything. I believe that everyone should work hard to succeed but I understand not everyone is able to be successful but those sitting at home doing nothing should not be receiving money to spend it on useless things this is taking advantage of the programs.

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  9. When I think of a poor family, I do not think of them all having the latest clothes, the newest iPhones, and everything handed to them. This is why certain programs that the US government has designed to help families and individuals in their time of need has gone too far. There are different types of programs such as WIC, EBT, Social Security, and people are abusing this everyday. I worked into a grocery store as a cashier, and I remember how angry I would get when people used their EBT cards on things they did not need. This should be one main focus for the country, because the help is going to people who really don't need help and is not being recieved by the ones who truly need it.

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  10. For me there comes a limit as to how much the government should be supporting the "poor". There are many people in America that choose to be unemployed because the government pays them more than they could be making at a possible minimum wage job or more. Which is down right unfair and unjust. The government should be only giving very little somewhere around $2 or $3. Anymore and the "poor" might not be so motivated to get a job. So yes the government should give to the poor, but they should support very very little. This would bring about an increase in employment and the national deficit would decrease.

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  11. Personally, I believe that the government should help the poor – but to a certain extent. If the government provides full care to the poor, they will just become reliant and will do nothing personally to help their situation. Although we all deserve to live a quality life, we must work for it. In most cases, the poor now have not struggled to reach success and are living the consequences.

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  12. I agree with you, Abby. The government has been goaded into over providing for the impoverished by political campaigns which care more about the votes they will receive from these people than their well being. It is essentially the work of politicians buying votes with food stamps from people too lazy to earn their keep. Giving them hand outs will do them no good. However, giving them employment would be extremely beneficial. After all, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever." The more we give them the lazier they become. It's not that we shouldn't give, it's that we're giving the wrong things. Give jobs, not food.

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