The Economic Depression of the 1930s - Case Study Example

? Problems in the American Welfare System Problems in the Welfare System Introduction: “The American welfare is known far and wide as a chronic underachiever. Historically, the United States created social programs later than many nations. Currently, essential pieces of the American welfare state are poorly developed or completely missing...some have attributed the failure to national values, saying that Americans have never really wanted to have much of a welfare state.” (Howard, Christopher 2007). The economic depression of 1930s, forced several industrialized nations across the world to pursue the development of a social welfare system. The United States of America struggled to remedy the effects by the inclusion of social and employment policies in the nation’s constitutional frame work. The legislators and policy makers promised the general public about the provision of increased employment opportunities and social justice to all the citizens of America. The rights of senior citizens were particularly given more importance, in an effort to eliminate their fear of suffering from an impoverished old age. Therefore, several efforts were undertaken by the American government to significantly lower the number of old individuals, who are forced into the floundering sea of fear and isolation. The Problems of the American Welfare System: Despite being the wealthiest and the most influential nation across the world, the United States of America remains one of the welfare lagged nations. Through out the history of the nation, it is eminent that America’s involvement in establishing social welfare system has not been satisfactory because it has failed to keep 37 million of its population, above the poverty line. In addition to the lack of appropriate State involvement, the citizens of the United States of America have also failed to play their role in the development of a social welfare system and this has served to an important problem for the success of the American welfare system. There are several problems that have been plaguing the American Welfare System since its establishment in 1930. However, the major problem is of differential distribution of wealth and resources. In the United States of America, the problem of differential distribution is reflected by the fact that wealth and public facilities such as health care systems have been concentrated in White dominated areas such as LA and New York. Whereas, Black dominated areas such as Kansas and Delaware have been neglected through out the history of America. Delaware and other Black dominated areas have twice the rate of infant mortality of that in LA, because of inadequate provision of pre and post gestation health care facilities. Fragmentation of public authority is another major problem as it hardens the implementation of new welfare policies. However, the biggest of all the problems faced by the American welfare system is the weakness of organized labor. On the other hand, United States of America spends less amount of money on social programs than most other industrialized countries thus; the paradox of poverty continues to plague the welfare system. (Howard, Christopher 2007). Racial discrimination and gender inequality have also threatened the American welfare system. In many ways through out the American history, the social welfare policies introduced by the American policy makers have encouraged racial and gender inequality, forcing the American women and the African American population into deeper trenches of poverty and isolation. American women have suffered intellectually at the hands of harsh policy makers through both juvenile and benevolent sexism. The American social security system has extended its generosity only to the White American population while completely ignoring the Black population. The segregation of Black schools has not only affected Black children but their parents have equally suffered. The paradoxical legacy and the perfect example of disparate racial treatments were mirrored by the unfair provisions extended to the African American population. (Trattner 1974). The Black American population had no right to vote and thus had no say in the drawing up of constitutional framework of the United States of America. The racial stratification of the policy makers and legislators has been ingrained since the earliest colonial days. Since its initial days, United States forefathers and constitutional framers were unsuccessful in transforming their racialized social policies into policies that would pave the way towards racial and gender equality. The benefits that could have been extracted from the implementation of changes in the State’s policies have been limited due to the government setup of the United States of America. Moreover, the implementation of certain social welfare policies has created many problems by slowing the American War against poverty and inequality. The American welfare system has an over reliance on tax expenditures, loans and social regulation. Meanwhile, it relies less on social insurance, this imbalance proves to be an additional problem for the American welfare system. Public support is vital for the success of any system, however, the public support for American welfare system was very low and which has proved to be an additional factor that served as a catalyst for its lag. The scaling back of the federal role regarding financial issues, mediated by the Reagan administration in 1980s, posed dramatic problems and threatened the expansion of the American welfare system. Many of Reagan’s proposals were not implemented but it proved to be successful in forcing Americans into rethinking about supporting the social welfare system. Therefore, public popularity of the welfare system decreased by several folds during the 1980s. (Cook et al 1992). In 1960, the growing unpopularity of the American welfare system forced the American officials to take desperate measures in an effort to eliminate public misconceptions regarding the system. In accordance, a commission was appointed by President John in 1969, to analyze the major problems faced by the welfare system and provide recommendations to remedy the growing problem of poverty. The commission produced a report which stated that one of the major problems of the welfare system is its unequal distribution of resources and job opportunities which leads to disparate living standards in America rather than fighting the paradox of poverty. Furthermore, the commission provided an extensive report regarding the measures needed to be followed to accelerate the progress of Anti poverty programs. The commission proposed that the current welfare system strategy had to be replaced with an entire different approach based on the provision of guaranteed annual income which would be dependent upon the economic needs of the American population. Guaranteed income plans were not a huge success even though they significantly relaxed the originally tight eligibility criteria. The problem that plagued the guaranteed income strategy and rendered its effectiveness was that they ensured the same treatment given to poor and unemployed Americans which had been given by previous Anti poverty strategies. (Steensland 2008). Conclusion: Disparate treatment based on racism and gender inequality, fragmentation of American public authority and lack of government interest in fighting the paradox of poverty, defective Anti poverty strategies and lack of public support are some of the major problems of the American welfare system. Despite the fact that the United States of America has the world’s highest gross domestic products per capita but still 37 million American people are considered as incredibly poor. Due to improper distribution of health facilities, the world’s most medically advanced nation has a higher infant mortality rate than most industrialized nations. The continued paradox of poverty mirrors the failures of the American welfare system. (Steensland 2008). “The American War on Poverty failed because it was presented as a pro Negro enterprise; it was not seen as a Universalist problem of inequality, social justice, exclusion” (Brown 1999). References: Top of Form Howard, C. (2007). The welfare state nobody knows: Debunking myths about U.S. social policy. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form Trattner, W. I. (1974). From poor law to welfare state: A history of social welfare in America. New York: Free Press. Top of Form Cook, F. L., & Barrett, E. J. (1992). Support for the American welfare state: The views of Congress and the public. New York: Columbia University Press. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Brown, M. K. (1999). Race, money, and the American welfare state. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Bottom of Form Top of Form Steensland, B. (2008). The failed welfare revolution: America's struggle over guaranteed income policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Bottom of Form Read More