One Nation On Welfare By Michael Grunwald Summary

When speaking about Welfare we try to avoid it, turning welfare into an unacceptable word. In the Article “One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life On The Dole” by Michael Grunwald, his point is to not just only show but prove to the readers that the word Welfare is not unacceptable or to avoid it but embrace it and take advantage of it. After reading this essay Americans will see the true way of effectively understanding the word welfare, by absorbing his personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald conveys.
Grunwald is speaking to his audience, which is the upper middle class, and middle class. Not a lot of low-income individuals or families really read Times Magazine. His purpose is to inform the reader the true meaning of welfare and what he thinks can help the audiences understand what the true meaning of welfare frankly has always been. Grunwald explains in detail, using facts on the programs the government has abused, and really what they are doing with the money that we pay in taxes.
Grunwald shows how he personally benefits from the subsidized government benefits. Grunwald states, “Most Americans think of the water that comes out of our faucets as an entitlement, not a handout, but it's a government service, and it's often

subsidized” (Grunwald 2). Here Grunwald shows how it is not the few that benefit from subsidies but of how the entire United States including himself benefits from subsidized water which Americans pay only a fraction of. Isn’t that amazing! Before reading this article I didn’t know anything about subsidizing or how we can benefit from it. This article was a real eye opener for me, I bet no one ever thought Nascar an American sport benefits from subsidies.
According to Grunwald “Some federal largesse--tax breaks for NASCAR racetracks ($40 million) and subsidies for rum distilleries ($172 million) and rural airports ($200 million)--is just silly” (Grunwald 3). He shows a real life example with facts and statistics on how Nascar, an American sport, receives tax breaks in spite their large wealth. Now don’t get upset, Grunwald is just giving us a little knowledge so we can make an intelligent decision. He is showing us that even a million dollar company uses these subsidized benefits; taxpayers fund the entire company. Do you think that is fair? Heck I sure don’t, but did you know that we the people of the voters could change that?
Grunwald repeats big government throughout his article and he explains how the government has changed over 100 years. Let me give you a quote he says, “Still, it's a big government. The U.S. did not spend even $1 billion in 1912; it will spend $3.8 trillion in 2012 on everything from Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Assistance ($593,842) to Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting ($9,409,400), from mortgage insurance for manufactured homes ($64,724,187) to ironworker training on Indian reservations” (Grunwald 2). Grunwald is trying to inform the audience about the government and how it is being run. He is informing us by giving facts to his point. Reading this the audience will start to understand how Grunwald is using facts to get his point across.
My Life is not to far from Grunwalds argument; I receive two types of benefits, Medical from the state of California as in health insurance, because I cannot afford it on my own. I also receive bog fee waiver that pays for all of my classes and Pell grant, which gives me money to pay for school supplies and anything I need to help with school. If I did not receive medical or financial aid then I would not have health insurance because I could not afford it. Same goes for financial aid if I did not have the governments help then I would not be going to school and writing this essay. An example of other subsidizes is police protection, if I am in danger I can call the authorities anytime. If the authorities were not here I would be helpless and have to fight for myself. Another example would be federal as in the bank I keep money in and when I cash checks there or purchase items with a debit card. All of these ways of purchasing item are federally approved either through websites or companies. If we did not have the federal government to approve the programs or companies then we would not have freedom to purchase goods online from other countries or states and would be limited to what we could purchase.
All Grunwalds trying to say is don’t avoid the word welfare and make it seem like a bad word when it really is not.

The whole point of this essay is my way of showing the reader using Grunwald’s cites and examples like the personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald shows that the word welfare has another meaning, the real and true meaning. So the next time you rethink about should you apply for that benefit program or should you inform your friend or cousin about welfare. Do them or yourself a favor and just do it because after reading what I have to say welfare it will always pop up in the back of your head when a person talks about have a bad life or money problems I guarantee

it.