10 Paramount Pros and Cons of Welfare

A government places a welfare program to make sure there is a certain standard and quality of living for everyone in a country. It would primarily focus on children, making sure their parents will be able to clothe and feed them properly. Other things it covers are day care assistance, food stamps and unemployment.

In the US, this program comes in various types, including social security, which is one of the largest welfare schemes not only in the country, but also in the world. Other types the country has are unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and the sporadic reliefs or grants from certain financial obligations. In the past, all welfare programs were conceptualized, developed and managed by the federal government, but now, they are already being regulated by the states.

Though welfare has seen praises by many people, it also has some drawbacks, like any other critical issue. To get a good opinion about its implementation, let us take a look at its pros and cons.

List of Pros of Welfare

1. It can help the poor in many ways.
One big benefit of welfare is that it can help poor people who cannot afford to purchase things they need for everyday living. After all, it is contrived and established for the people and not for personal concerns. It can provide food, medical assistance and other basic necessities to poor families.

2. It is an effective way for the government to attend to the needs of the poor.
Regardless of the prosperity and economic state of a country, there will always be people who need assistance. There are some who need the basic essentials, such as food, water, clothing, medical care and even shelter. Of course, there are many charitable organizations that attend to the needs of the helpless and the poor, but the state should also play its role in this effort, and it can do it through welfare. The programs that come with not only help the poor, but also well-to-do or middle-income families that need help during certain times, including instances of bankruptcy, going broke and losing a home due to some bad decisions or choices made. For all these circumstances, welfare can be an effective way to provide the needed assistance.

3. It can guide and help people towards the right path.
Because they know that they will not be in a welfare program forever, assisted individuals will be trying to find the right path or find ways to stand on their own. This is the main reason why these people should do their part for their own welfare as human beings and as being bread winners who should provide for their families.

4. It is an imperative initiative.
A nation and its citizens are judged by how its poor communities are treated. Therefore, welfare will become humanitarian and a necessary aspect for national pride. However, if we deviate from the ideals, we can define welfare as an essential to maintain security, tranquility and peace. Remember that when the helpless are not taken care of or when people do not have their basic needs met, they would become desperate. When this happens, they will have no choice and would resort to crime. From small cases of theft to heinous crimes, there can be many untoward possibilities if people’s needs are not taken care of. Those who have been considered weak in a society have often been the targets of organized crime and brainwashers from terrorist organizations. By making sure every citizen has a basic standard of living would ensure a country’s stability and would contribute to making a healthy society.

5. It has some micro-level implications.
While there are obvious macro-level benefits of welfare, it also has a few micro-level implications. For example, people who would lose their jobs and become unemployed temporarily can take advantage of welfare and sustain their livelihood until they find their next work. Without such a program, those who are recently unemployed would be compelled to sell their homes or other assets, and there might be lesser opportunities to get themselves back up.

List of Cons of Welfare

1. It has some issues with regards to the cost to the exchequer.
Whether it is in the federal or state government, money from taxes is used to fund welfare. While it is good to know that it is the taxpayers’ money or the country’s wealth is well spent on its citizens, there are times that welfare becomes very costly for the state or country to bear. In fact, there were instances, where countries fell into fiscal deficits and were not able to repay their debts from the World Bank and similar bodies because they had to spend on their welfare programs.

2. It might lead to abuse.
Truth be told, there are some people under welfare programs who were found to be abusing then and even came to a point of being dishonest of their status. This is because they have become too dependent on these programs, which should not be the case.

3. It might not be that helpful.
Yes, there are some people included in a welfare program who are unhappy because they did not find it good or they just prioritize their pride, instead of helping themselves.

4. It may encourage indolence.
One big drawback of welfare is that it may cause some people to get too comfortable with benefits they are receiving, which might make them too lazy to work or make their conditions better on their own. They might even continue to live on such a program for all their lives, which is definitely unfair for other people, especially taxpayers.

5. It might not be able to sustain long-term support.
Some welfare programs do not have the capacity to help people in the long run because of insufficient budget. In fact, there are not enough welfare programs, which exist today, that can sustain the population’s continuous growth.

Conclusion

Even though welfare and its programs cannot sustain their capability of supporting other people in the long run, they still uphold and manage the importance of lending help to people who really need assistance. As long as they will sustain their functions, then there will be no issues. But on your end, do you think welfare is good for society or not? You can come up with a wise answer by weighing down the pros and cons listed above.