Essay - Welfare System Changes: Early Outcomes the Issue of Welfare Reform...

Welfare System Changes: Early Outcomes

***** issue of welfare reform was the catch phrase, hot button topic for ***** majority of the two preceding decades in ***** United States. The questions that regional, state and federal government officials raised about the exist*****g system and its exponential growth quickly developed from a snowball to an avalanche. ***** main concern expressed by the rhetoric was the alarming growth of ***** allocations being allotted to social service programs. The resulting ***** reflected through a prism that molded it in***** the idea that welfare had the wrong general purpose ***** needed to become less a way of life, as some people have seen it and more a trans*****ional step *****ward self- sufficiency. Though the program's names ***** changed and many issues, both real and perceptual have been addressed ***** re*****m real changes have not been realized ***** ***** current economic downturn will prove just that.

The words of reform were even on the lips ***** non-policy makers as families and individuals; both frightened recipients ***** angry non-recipients discussed the implications of the future of welfare. Given the statistical rhetoric of years ***** stories of advantages that welfare recipients have gleaned ***** a seemingly unfairly unbalanced system, the tax paying public grew progressively ***** outraged.

Politicians could e*****ily see ***** welfare was a lightning rod issue. With the mention ***** the words "welfare reform" one could stir up deep-seated anger from a variety of groups, ***** of whom were likely to vote. "Welfare reform" might be a code word for r*****cial stereotyping, or f***** excessive government spending, or for bloated government bureaucracies, or f***** misguided liberal attempts to engineer society... Elected ***** and people running for office added to ***** perception that there was a crisis in ***** by using it *****s a c*****mpaign issue. This is not to say that there ***** not real problems w*****h welfare. Far ***** it. But much of the rhe*****ric about welfare reform in ***** 1990s (and historically) has served to highlight the problems and ***** up resentment without outlining specific goals for re*****m. Thus, by the mid- 1990s, welfare was a problem awaiting a solution.

(***** 71)

The resulting reforms addressed issues by attempting ***** fur*****r strengthen the ability of recipients to access job skills training ***** a limited level ***** education that might fur*****r their chances at better employment. They limited the number of years based on st*****e decision making in a set of m*****imums and maximums, the minimum ***** of years an individual might receive cash assist*****ce ***** two and the maximum being five.

A potential problem of this quantitative rather than qualitative deadline ***** is the limitation ***** the ability of n individual ***** make broad *****s ***** future *****, the new system would limit individuals to job training programs ***** trade school *****s rather than higher ***** *****ich might be a more long term solution. In addition ***** th***** ***** problem the issue of age *****come paramount when *****s are handed out. (Hopkins 25)