Welfare Good or Bad?

Question

I am going to write a persuasive essay for my speech class of one of two topic that I have chosen. (1) Freedom of Speech is a basic human right that should be preserved at all costs (2) Welfare causes more harm that good.

I was hoping that you would take the tell to me what you think on the Welfare speech. What in your mind are the pros and cons of welfare. Your comments are much appreciated!

Thank You.

Answer 1

Have you ever heard the saying "The road to hell is paved with good intention" Welfare is one of those good intention, the Constitution is the other. Over time greedy, immoral, and unscrupulous people find ways to misuse the system.

Answer 2

Hick gave a good answer, I'll add to one part of it -- what is the primary economic drawback to welfare? (Everything has costs and benefits to weigh against each other, so what are the costs?)

The economy is most productive when everyone is working -- actually producing a good or service. That is how consumers are best served (which is the whole point of the economy), and that's also when society is wealthiest. Productivity isn't just an abstract thing and it's not an issue of greed or materialism. The more productive an economy is, the more people and resources can be devoted to solving the world's problems -- curing cancer, solving the energy crises, doing science, curing poverty in the developed world.

WHATEVER your own special interest or concern, a more productive economy is the best path to solving the problem. As an extreme example -- Jonas Salk was able to be a research scientist and cure polio thanks to the fact that he didn't have to devote his time and energy to being a subsistence farmer. That is the result of economic productivity.

So the problem of welfare is that it is a disincentive to working and hence maximizing productivity. Certainly some people who could work, do not, when welfare is available.

Answer 3

as has been stated already, welfare has pros and cons. I used to judge people who were on it until I learned more about the struggles that some face. It is easy to look down on people.

I'll point out one major con. It is very hard for people to transition away from using welfare. The system has serious flaws. People can make more money on welfare than they often can working . Why work when you can provide a better living on welfare? The State can provide free housing, heating and electricity, food, healthcare, etc. But when someone makes a little too much money, they lose most or all of the benefits.

Welfare isn't bad. It just needs a makeover.

If you are going to do your speach about it, talk to people who have real experience with it.

Answer 4

The answer to your welfare question lies somewhere in the middle. There are many factors that must be considered in judging your response and then there is the stereotyping of those on welfare. Factors such as lack of education, age (many employers find it hard to higher older unskilled workers), lack of employment opportunities in ones general area (urban decay), race plays a factor whether one wish to acknowledge this or not. Disabled, migrants, and yes, the plain lazy who think society owes them something, just to name a few.

Without welfare however, there comes into play things people don't like to talk about, homelessness, petty crimes (stealing food, clothes etc...) which often leads to more violent crimes as desperation grows, prostitution, a drug and alcohol increase, health issues that could eventually spread across the population as a whole.

There is no magic answer to the welfare issue as a whole and each case must be evaluated on a case by case basis. Eliminating welfare as a whole would create a split society and a very large unwanted class of human beings. Being poor, elderly, sick, under educated for today's technological society or disabled, does not make you a bad person or less than human.

Answer 5

I am pro-welfare. My fiance used to live with his mother, who was on welfare. If she couldn't get welfare, then we probably would not have met, because he would have just been a little kid living on the streets without a home. He won't say much about what his mom was like during his childhood except that she tried to get a job but couldn't, and he also said that she was in a car accident when he was younger. This causes pains for her and apparently this is keeping her from a job.

The pros:
- Welfare helps kids whose parents can't/won't get a job; it's not their fault they were born to such parents.
- It helps people who really need it.
The cons:
- People who abuse the system and use it as a way to get out of having a job.

Answer 6

Welfare, does harm to the efficiency of the economy, but its not ethically right to let people disabled and mentally ill people washout on the streets. Its one thing to crackdown on people committing welfare fraud, but another to cut of benefits to physically and mentally disabled people.

Welfare does not create a incentive to work, but some groups are mentally or physically not capable of working. Even if person could work the mental and physical limitations makes it hard for them to make informed decision about spending money. Likely, lacked skills to make a wage above the poverty line.

Finally, welfare for people that are capable of working the government should encourage working, and even give tax credits to people to work instead of going on welfare. The welfare benefits for life should only be limited to people mentally, and physically disabled as declared by the courts, or the state.

However, welfare benefits costs more to administer than it does to pay the person cash or check. It creates a economic dead-weight in the economy, but some could argue the costs would be shifted to more nursing homes, mental institutions, more costs to local governments, There always two sides for every economics argument.

Answer 7

Whether welfare is good or bad is a matter of perspective. If you are a wealthy person who doesn't have to worry about where you children's next meal is coming from it's bad. If you are a single mom who struggles to feed her children it's good. Just remember, you are not truly qualified to judge until you have actually known a person who receives assistance.

I think your persuasive essay should be written on the first issue.

Answer 8

i do unlike company welfare. I hear maximum of those individuals complaining with regard to the government assisting people, yet infrequently hear a similar grievance while it includes billion dollar companies getting handouts. some say it somewhat is solid for the economic equipment to take a place in companies. yet what have those companies finished for our u . s . yet sell us out? Why no longer place a extra suitable precedence on making an investment in people?

Answer 9

simple
GOOD:there are those who fall in hard times and need help getting up
BAD:some take advantage of the system thats tries to help them making them useless!