Abusing Government Assistance

Abusing Government Assistance

Damon J. Johnson

ENG123

July 27, 2014

Pamela Smith

Abusing Government Assistance

It is Monday morning and the alarm is sounding, time to start another long week's work. At that point the thought crosses your mind about how nice it would be to not have to work and still be able to provide for your family. How does it make you feel to see people that are capable of work, but don’t, living as well or better than you? Healthy people who receive government assistance should provide proof monthly that they are seeking employment or the skills to be competitive in their area.

Every day hard working people support others who are capable of working but do not. Current federal unemployment benefits last 26 weeks, but during high employment periods Congress can extend them. People argue that government assistance programs create dependency. The current administration does not feel government assistance encourages dependency. A study in Denmark supports the argument of dependency, it showed that people found jobs when there unemployment benefits ran out (Parker, 2010). In May 2014, there were 4.6 million jobs available in the U.S. (Bureau of Labor statics, 2014). In June 2014 there were 4.1 million people that have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer (Bureau of Labor statics, 2014). An estimated 9.1 million people are unemployed with 4.6 million collecting unemployment benefits. With the number of jobs available outnumbering the people who have been on unemployment for more than 27 weeks is interesting. That is because the number of jobs available is almost equal to those unemployed for more than 27 weeks. In 11 states the number of people on welfare exceed the number of people that work (Snyder, 2012). In these 11 states in particular those that are working each day are taking care of the non-working and underprivileged.

Some argue that the Welfare Reform Act fixed the issue of people abusing the system. The reform act did...