Title
Welfare Fraud: Betting Against the Odds
Introduction
The issue that I have decided to address is welfare abuse. I propose that due to the government’s lack of foresight, welfare recipients have been cashing EBT benefits at ATM machines in California casino’s.
Research question: Can something be done to ensure that welfare benefits will be used as intended by the recipients?
Readers: Mainly Californian tax payers, but in a broader sense it could be anyone who is concerned about the welfare system, including recipients. This topic addresses the needs of the taxpayers to be informed about what is happening to their tax dollars going into the TANF program. At this time I am focusing on California, but I may include Oregon, or some other states when relevant. This issue explores core values of honesty and integrity.
Review of Literature
My first source of reference is an article that I read in the Los Angeles Times. The article is titled, “Welfare Abuse Review Ordered.” This article went on to describe a current issue in California that affects the taxpayers. For at least eight years now, welfare benefits have been withdrawn from casino ATM machines. It is the unstated warrant in this article that being allowed to cash benefits from casino ATM’s will result in welfare recipients gambling with that money. At this time Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued an executive order requiring welfare recipients to promise to use cash benefits as intended for basic subsistence needs only. This led me to research other sources from the LBCC library. I checked out books about the welfare system, welfare reform, casinos, American Indian reservation casinos, and gambling addiction. I found these sources use...
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...uly 20 Revision, edit
July 21 Bring printed copies to class
July 23-25 Final revisions, finish draft, review
July 26 Turn in final draft
Working Bibliography
I have chosen to use the MLA style because as a writer I believe that it will be most relevant to my work. I am putting it on the last page to use for my final bibliography when revised and due.
Dolan, Jack. “Welfare Abuse Review Ordered.” Los Angeles Times 25 June 2010, Late Extra ed.: AA1. Print.
Gimlin, Hoyt, ed. America’s Needy Care and Cutbacks. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 1984. Print.
Haugen, David M., ed. Legalized Gambling. Farmington Hills: Thomson Gale, 2006. Print.
Streissguth, Tom. Welfare and Welfare Reform. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Print.
Doak, Melissa J., Gambling: What’s at Stake?. Farmington Hills: Gale, 2009. Print.
Issitt, Micah, L. Flynn. "Welfare: An Overview." Points Of View: Welfare (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
Reflecting the “work first” approach, TANF placed a lifetime limit of five years on welfare eligibility. The new approach to welfare...
Swan, Richelle S., et al. "The Untold Story of Welfare Fraud." Journal of Sociology & Social
More than _____ people across the United States received some form of government funded welfare assistance during ___yr (cit). Government programs include, but are not limited to health services, economic assistance, food assistance, and shelter assistance. The focus and design of welfare assistance programs is with the intent of aiding individuals with their essential needs. Its purpose is not to benefit deceitful individuals seeking handouts. Posed with the question, “Should people on welfare be required to work?” the response from a small group of my closest friends was a unanimous “yes.” Although, this outcome was not shocking, the degree of anger and animosity that the inquiry provokes was very intriguing, as well as the reasons given.
Sanger, Mary Bryna. The Welfare Marketplace: Privatization and Welfare Reform. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003.
In today’s America, there are many people who would either be disgusted at the very mention of Welfare or be highly grateful for its existence. I believe that in order for welfare to be more effective in America, there must be reform. From the time of its inceptions in 1935, welfare has lent a helping hand to many in crisis (Constitution Rights Foundation). However, at present many programs within the system are being abused and the people who are in real need are being cheated out of assistance. The year after the creation of welfare unemployment was just about twenty percent (Unemployment Statistics). The need for basic resources to survive was unparallel. Today, many people face the same needs as many did during the 30s. Some issues with
It is a commonly known fact that a large percentage of Americans are living on and relying on welfare, which is a government program that provides financial aid to individuals or groups of people who cannot support themselves. Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of assistance offered by the government, which include healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The type of welfare and amounts given depend on the individual, and how many children they have. There are many people who honestly need the government assistance, but there are also many who abuse the privilege.
Welfare programs are an important part of American society. Without any type of American welfare, people will starve, children will not receive the proper education, and people will not receive any medical help simply because they do not have the resources available to them. Each of the three aspects of the American welfare system are unique in their own ways because they are funded differently and the benefits are given to different people. While support for these welfare systems has declined in the more recent years, the support for it when it was created was strong.
The myth of “Welfare Queens” is quickly debunked watching Odessa trying to support her four grandchildren on $400 a month and Cheri trying to raise a child and organize a welfare rights group while being unpaid. Odessa Williams, once on welfare in the 60’s, was only allotted $25 more a week for having to feed four other children. That little amount of money is clearly not enough to maintain a household and Odessa results to trash picking as a way to cut down on a shopping budget. On page 64, Zucchino depicts what the typical person receiving welfare benefits looks like—it certainly is not the image Ronald Reagan and the media feeds to the American people. In the state of Pennsylvania, only 32% of recipients were black while 57% were white. The passage describes those using the program AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent
Welfare Recipients-False Positives, False Negatives, Unanticipated Opportunities. Women’s Health Issues, Vol. 12(1), pp. 23-31, Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1049-3867(01)00139-6
Cottle, Michelle. “Reforming Welfare Reform.” Washington Monthly 28.11 (1996): 9. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
O’Campo, Patricia “Welfare Reform and Women’s Health: Review of the Literature and Implications for State Policy.” Journal of Public Health Policy. Vol. 19.No. 4 JSTOR (1998), 420-46.
Being raised in a single-parent lower class home, I realize first-hand the need for welfare and government assistance programs. I also realize that the system is very complex and can become a crutch to people who become dependent and complacent. As a liberal American I do believe that the government should provide services to the less fortunate and resources to find work. However, as able-bodied citizens we should not become complacent with collecting benefits and it is the government’s job to identify people who take advantage of the system and strip benefits from people who are not making efforts to support themselves independently. I will identify errors that exist within the welfare system and several policy recommendations to implement a change that will counteract the negative conditions that currently exist.
O?Beirne, Kate. ?The State of Welfare: An old and tricky question resurfaces.? National Review 54.2 (February 11, 2002): 1--2. Online. Information Access Expanded
Welfare is intended for families or individuals that are in need of assistance with no or little income. For those who do not know, Welfare funds come from hard working individuals that are required to pay taxes. Now we wonder, are the tax payers’ hard earned money going to the right deserving recipients? Welfare fraud is on the rise in this country. Many are taking advantage of the system taking away the help that is meant for people that truly needed help to provide for their families or people that need assistance until they can stand on their own feet. Statistics clearly show that “785,000 to 1.2 million families are illegally receiving welfare benefits. At the average rate of $11,500 per year, this means taxpayers are being scammed out of roughly $9 to $13.5 billion dollars every year” (User, par. 4) that is $13.5 Billion dollars of the tax payers hard earned money that is going to the wrong people that do not deserve it. What are the types of Welfare fraud that are being committed in the United States that our government needs to pay close attention to? To start, hopeful recipients will intentionally give false information about their household income to qualify. Some will sell their food stamps also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP). Also, illegal and misuse of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is one of the problems our Welfare System is facing today. All three are considered illegal and these type of activities need to be stopped immediately. People that are in need should be given the assistance they desperately ask for. The System should re-assure tax payers that their hard earned money is going to the right recipients and is not going into the wrong hands.