How can we save the Welfare and Social Security systems?

Question

OK, we started these two systems to help those in need. Welfare was to help those who could not work, and Social Security was to help the elderly.

However, now we have people who are just too lazy to work getting welfare, and people who never contributed getting Social Security.

How can we eliminate the leeches from the system, but still giving help to those who really need it, instead of just want it?

Answer 1

Welfare should be a hand up not a hand out, make them preform some sort of community service for their check, from funds already allocated for such things such as garbage removal, from highways, raking leaves, answering phones, delivering meals on whells, working in day care, anything but make them work. SS is another issue, we may need a national lottery to bail it out.

Answer 2

Welfare was never meant to be a permanent means of income. When the plan was instituted it was to be a temporary fix for people down on their luck. It was not so you could be a baby machine and get paid for it.

I think that it should be required that if you receive welfare you should have to do government work in return. Say, you must go to a daycare center 8 hours a day and watch children while other welfare recipients are out hunting for jobs. And then others in turn do the same while you are job hunting.

Oh, and if you receive welfare, food stamps or WIC, it should be illegal for you to purchase, posses or consume cigarettes, lottery tickets or any forms of alcoholic beverages.

As far as social security, the Federal Government has been raiding that treasure chest for years... and now it is failing. It needs to be privatized and or invested into the stock market.

Answer 3

Privatize social security, think about this, in other countries, a retirement plan involves saving enough money to move to the US to collect social security, people like this drain the system so that there is not enough money to support people who have worked hard their entire live IN THE US!

Also, think about this, My Dad for example has worked and payed into SS for over 30 years, if he dies the day before his retirement, my Mom will inherit all the money he has saved privately for retirement, but those 30 years worth of payments into the system are worthless, shouldn't my Mom, or me and My sister get the money just like money he saved on his own?

Welfare needs to have limits, I was on state health care for 3 months because I had a job offer, then it was taken back and It took me 3 months to find another job, People shouldn't be allowed to live off of it for long periods of time, nor should criminals who broke the law coming into the country illegally get money that came from working citizens.

I knew a couple that had just lost their granddaughter in a drunk driving accident, the drunk driver was an illegal alien, survived and got state health care, so this couple was paying taxes to give medical care to the person who had killed their granddaughter while simultaneously breaking at least 5 laws (in the country illegally, driving without a license, drunk driving, speeding, running a red light)

Time to pull back the reigns a bit and stop people from leeching off of the system and hard working citizens

Answer 4

Such 'Freeloading' is an inevitable consequence of any such system based on egalitarian ideals. You can't get rid of it, though you can add 'tests' to reduce it - such tests, though, can't be perfect, so some freeloaders will slip through while some with legitimate claims will be denied. You just have to decide how much of that you're willing to put up with.

Obviously, the best thing to do would be fold up both systems, rather than try to 'save' them. Welfare could be unceremoniously dumped - private charities could take up the slack - but Social Security would have to be 'wound down' gracefully, since so many people have paid into it, and count on it for thier retirements.

Answer 5

Someone needs to take a good look at this Immigration thing before it is too late! The immigrants qualify for all the give away programs even though they are not citizens of the USA, and have for a very long time. In the 80's there was welfare reform which shortened the amount of time someone could be on welfare, the number of children they would pay for as well as other things. Do you realize that those who make minimum wage $ also qualify for most all of the give away programs, section 8, food stamps, Medicaid, Student Loans, and many many more, as well as the immigrants.

Answer 6

We start over on both. If they can do it with immigration, they can do it with welfare and SS. Instead of building a wall, we need to stop all benefits from all sources, (governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals) given to illegal aliens.
The only way to get people to become citizens is to make citizens the only ones with rights and benefits. All social security should be given on a no-pay, no-play basis.

Face it folks, our current system is just like everyone working for one business, and everyone who's social security number ends in 1,2,3, or 4 pays for benefits, everyone else gets it for free.
As I understand the current trend in cheap labor is to hire people and charge them so much for insurance that they won't take it. If they have no insurances, then they go to government operated hospitals and clinics.
If immigration as it currently stands gets passed, then all people should email their reps every day until they adjust welfare and SS so that nobody gets a free ride. If they cannot pay now, keep their bill handy when they do come into money.

Answer 7

Clinton cut welfare and did a good job of it. Education and jobs would be a step in the right direction.

Social Security can be helped by being what it was originally intended to be. It was supposed to be a supplement for retired persons to help them have money to live on in their last years. Since then it has been given to kids because they are disabled or their dad has died and they can't otherwise go to college and stuff like that. If we stop paying to everyone except people over 62 who have put into the system it should survive.

Answer 8

I think you misunderstand the person you talked to. Social Security is no longer sending out the earnings statements automatically because it was expensive to do so and they are using the money instead to pay out monthly benefits. Social Security trust funds are NOT used for welfare.

Answer 9

I can keep Social Security solvent forever by passing one simple bill. It should read something like this:

"It is hereby passed that no Social Security monies will be spent on ANY other projects except for paying back the LEGAL American citizens who have already contributed to it or to their spouses and children in case of death or disability. The fund will be set up to accrue interest which will be deposited back into the fund and be used to pay the beneficiaries of Social Security. Congress shall not have the power to "borrow" from the Social Security fund for ANY reason."

We can all thank LBJ for the current insolvency of Soc. Sec. It would be mathematically impossible for Soc. Sec. to be going broke had he and that Congress not passed a bill allowing Congress to borrow $$$ from S.S.....money that STILL hasn't been paid back.

Answer 10

I hope this answer does not end up on the second page.

My answer, close them down, give the money back from SSI to those who have put in, say with about 3.5% interest per annum, not to anyone else, and call it a day. Hey Ponzi schemes have never worked and FDR should be in a federal slam for this crime he committed, but of course as a communist supporter he will never be held accountable.

Shut down welfare, do a WPA or CCC type of deal, you get minimum wage for LABOR and room and board, and pretty soon you will be begging to leave.

Shut them down, they are a socialist experiment that have failed, as have all things socialist.

SHUT THEM DOWN

Answer 11

In 1950 a deli counter worker could support a wife and two children with his wages.

In 2007 a deli counter worker gets paid enough to gas his car and take his girlfriend to the movies on Friday night while living in his moms basement.

The problem is inflation grew faster than wages, so lower paying jobs can no longer support families.
This creates the gridlock in the welfare system, because the benefits of remaining in welfare far out weigh the benefits of getting a minimum wage job(unfortunately, those are the only jobs available to a large chunk of welfare recipients).