Final

Fixing the Welfare State

Accessibility of the welfare system can be somewhat of a problem for some people. The welfare system is not available in every country in the world and is available mainly in higher developed countries. The poor people that need the welfare system the most are usually the ones that never get the help that they deserve. However the welfare system cannot just hand out welfare to everyone on the street, it is not economically possible to do so. Take for example the new health care bill for the U.S. it is a nice idea for everyone to get health care, but it is not a smart decision for the U.S. in the fact that the country cannot afford to give everyone health care. (I read an article on this and cannot find the exact one, however google works just fine to make my point). This makes the people who have health care suffer and also harms the whole country in general since we are putting ourselves into a situation that we cannot afford financially. It is the same basic principal with the world. It is a nice idea for everyone to have health care and get money to help survive, but it isn’t possible for the world to do at this time. There is too much abuse in the system for the welfare state to work the way it should. If the welfare system was used properly then people who actually need to be on welfare could potentially get the help they deserve. But as long as people all over the world keep abusing the welfare system it will be hard to help the people that really need the help.

The biggest critique to the welfare state is that it doesn’t really help the poor. It is also a problem to the whole country that issues the welfare system. To keep the welfare system going citizens of the countries need to pay high taxes for others to benefit from it. This harms the middle class people that are just trying to get by and doesn’t affect the high class people as much since they have all the money they need. This leaves the poor to fight for the chance to receive welfare.

Many of the people who would be eligible for welfare don’t even know where to go or where to look for welfare. If they do it isn’t a guarantee that they will even be approved for financial help. There are application processes in which you have to prove that you need the welfare. The applications are a good thing though. They could use some work. The applications make it to where people can tell white lies on the application to get the money they need and then once they receive the money they go drive off down the road in their nice sports cars. If the application process was better then the system might actually be able to help those that need it. The system also needs to make it aware for poor people of where they can find the help they need, they can’t get help if it isn’t accessible for them to get. Accessibility is the key to successful welfare state.

The poor countries don’t have money so they can’t afford to have a welfare system to help the poor citizens of their country. The more developed countries have more money to help, but mainly use the taxpayer’s money to pay for it. This helps the poor to some degree, but also makes the middle class people (the ones that are affected most by taxes) hurt the most and lowers their financial income to live off of. This is a cruel process that just goes round and round. I think the welfare system is a good idea, but it has some things that need to be fixed to make it work better. I believe the biggest problem is going to be fixing the application process so that it is harder for people to tell their white lies and get money that others deserve. Until then the poor of the world will keep having the problem of accessibility to the welfare state that they deserve.

More information can be found at these sites:
http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/2/87
http://tutor2u.net/sociology/poverty-politics-welfare-state.html

Click HERE

Resources for the Welfare State

These resources talk about the welfare state and race in a global situation. It is a collection of websites that talk about the welfare state in general, who it helps, its history, and even the specifics about the U.S. and the welfare state.

http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/wstate.htm
This is a good website because it gives a general over view of the history of the welfare system and relates race and other issues to it as well.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ag27/english
This website explains how Americans view race and welfare compared to how Europeans view race and welfare.

http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/equality.htm
This site has to do with equality in the welfare system. It has some general facts of how to deal with equality in the welfare state.

http://www.global-economic-symposium.org/solutions/the-global-polity/globalization-and-the-welfare-state/strategyperspectivefolder/points-about-globalization-and-the-welfare-state
This website talks about some of the problems that arise with welfare in globalization.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/3/structural-adjustment-a-major-cause-of-poverty
This particular website talks about the problems that poverty and welfare have and their connections. It gives quite a few major details about how the system works with poverty.

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Global-welfare
This is one mans opinion on how the corporations that run the world can help pay for global welfare.

http://www.welfareinfo.org/
This gives a look at the welfare state in the U.S. and gives other sites to look at and what to expect from the welfare system.

http://mises.org/daily/2225
The origins of the welfare system in America are discussed to some degree in this website.

http://www.urbanhabitat.org/node/858
This site talks about racism in the American welfare state.

http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-wc67.html
The site talks about how the welfare state contributes to the rate of crime in children and in adults.

http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/19607/Welfare_Is_the_Real_Problem_Not_Immigration.html
This website talks about how immigration affects the welfare state. The main point of the article is that immigration is not the problem of the welfare state.

http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=1505
This website talks about how immigration is needed to help keep the welfare state in check
http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/welfsocf.htm
This particular website talks about how the welfare state is affected by different types of people. It talks about everything from single parents, to race, to class, and gender and does so in a general way.

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0509a.asp
This talks about the welfare state and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. It says that the welfare state was a scam and didn’t pull through.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/does-welfare-diminish-poverty/
This website asks the big question that everyone wants to know the answer to: Does the welfare state really help to get rid of poverty?

Click HERE

Equality in the Welfare State

Is the welfare state really equal? I'm not just talking about race. Equality is more then just racial equality; it is also gender and social equality as well. Equality has to deal with the certain rights that everyone has and deserves to have, if any one person is denied the right to have a certain privilege then it is a lack of equality. Although there are many racial inequalities in the welfare system social status and gender play into the inequalities as well.

The social status of a person is going to play a huge effect on whether or not they receive welfare or not. If a person is of a higher social class then they shouldn’t be on welfare, however it doesn’t always work out that way. It is generally the poor that are on welfare. The system is made for the poor to get out of their unfortunate money crisis. The main stereotype is that it is generally big families of another race that are on welfare (and not necessarily when they need to be on it either).

Gender also plays a major role in the welfare state. While both men and women are on welfare it is generally only the women that you hear about on the welfare system. This is generally because of the fact that the mother is the one that takes care of the children in the event of a divorce, death, etc. Another issue that plays into the inequality of gender is that it is statistically proven that men make more money then women do. All of society has the mindset that men are above women in basically everything. This already gives a negative image for women to work on while also taking care of their family and trying to survive with little money. It is easier for society to depict women on welfare then it is for men to be seen as “weak” and on welfare.

As for the race category we have talked about this quite a few times in class. It is generally people of color (or at least that’s the stereotype) that are on welfare. Not only is it persons of color, but more specifically women of color. People of color are usually seen as being of a lower status since there are so many third world countries that are in severe poverty. Third world countries are mainly made up of people of color with very few whites involved. This automatically gives the impression that people of color make up the majority of people on welfare.

It is hard to talk about any of these inequalities without involving another inequality. In other words race, social status, and gender go hand in hand. The real issue is how do we solve the problem of inequality in a world where inequality has always been a problem? I would say it is pretty much impossible. There will always be inequalities and people that are unhappy with the way the system is run. What we can do is just try to stop thinking the way society wants us to think. If we stop using the stereotypes and acknowledging them then it may eventually lessen. The welfare system was made to help the people in need. It doesn’t matter what a person’s race, social class, or gender is; what matters is if they are in real need of getting help. That’s what the focus should be on.

More information can be found at
http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/equality.htm

Click HERE

Problems in the Global Welfare State

In developed countries one of the major problems in determining welfare costs is dependent on the “gradual rise, without apparent limit, of the relative costs of providing human services such as child care, education, health care and old-age care”. When these prices go up the price of welfare goes up as well. In addition it is harder for people to meet these needs when the cost of living goes up and that drives the number of people who need welfare up. Welfare is paid for by the people’s taxes and with the price of welfare going up that means that the price of taxes to pay for welfare may go up as well. Since taxes can only go up so much there may need to be some other forms of payment that the people have to use to pay for others welfare. This could be something like a specific fee for welfare or some other sort of fund to get more money for the welfare program.

Another problem that arises is that the lifespan of humans in developed countries is going up and with the retirement age at a low level it gives the elderly more opportunity to take money from the system. With the increasing lifespan of the human race there should also be an increase in age for the acceptable retirement time. More information regarding developed countries and some of the problems with the welfare state can be found at this website: http://www.global-economic-symposium.org/solutions/the-global-polity/globalization-and-the-welfare-state/strategyperspectivefolder/points-about-globalization-and-the-welfare-state

The developing and third world countries of the world rely heavily on more developed countries for their welfare. This poses a problem. “Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) have been imposed to ensure debt repayment and economic restructuring. But the way it has happened has required poor countries to reduce spending on things like health, education and development, while debt repayment and other economic policies have been made the priority”. Poor countries must export more to make money to make a living and they generally only export one or two items. Other countries compete against each other for the exportation of the same commodities and that makes the situations turn into a price war. The cost of the commodities then reduces to lower then it already was, making it almost impossible to get a profit. Thus the vicious cycle keeps repeating with each commodity.

The gouging of prices makes developing and third world countries stay poor and in some cases make them poorer then they were before. Most, if not all of their income is then spent on repaying back their debts to the more developed countries that support them. For a nation to succeed they need more then just money. They need good health, education, and all the other things that they can’t afford to buy because the poor countries on welfare need to pay off all their debts. “It may be that for real free trade to be effective countries with similar strength economies can reduce such protective measures when trading with one another. However, for developing countries to try to compete in the global market place at the same level as the more established and industrialized nations—and before their own foundations and institutions are stable enough—is almost economic suicide”. This makes it impossible for the underdeveloped countries to get enough money to not be so in debt and not have to rely on other more developed countries to make ends meet. http://www.globalissues.org/article/3/structural-adjustment-a-major-cause-of-poverty

The welfare system has some problems that can be worked out, but with some work. The problems are not just in the lesser developed countries either, but also in the more developed countries as well. Every system has its problems and every problem can be fixed as long as people are willing to fix it. I don’t think that it will be fixed though unless there is cooperation and compromise from both more and lesser developed countries. Until then the countries are going to have to find a way to help solve their own welfare problems.

Below are links to pictures that help to show the problems with the global welfare state...

http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/IMAGES/Worldpov.gif This link shows where in the world people make less then $2.00 a day.

http://viralpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/welfare.jpg This link shows a picture of a shirt with a controversial saying on it about welfare. This would more then likely be the view of the more developed countries. (or the rich people)


Click HERE

History of the Welfare States

Although the welfare state is different by country and even by state in some cases it has the same overall goal everywhere: to help those in need. Depending on where you come from the history of the welfare state is going to be different. There is not just one history for all of the global welfare state. The rules in which the welfare state goes by depends on each individual countries own values and they decide who is able to receive welfare from the government. It also seems that 3rd world countries don’t have a welfare system at all. That has to do with the fact that they are poor and cannot afford to have such a system. The welfare system is mainly used by more developed countries that can afford to use their money to help support their countries people.
Depending on how far back in history you want to go there is reason to believe that back in medieval times there was also some forms of welfare. This types of “welfare” was run by the church, the church would collect money to give to the less fortunate and also to hospitals where there were people in need. That is the real basic form of a welfare state. Since then the welfare state has gotten a bit more complicated.
In Brittan the New Poor act of 1837 enforced the principle of less eligibility for different people. This is the start of people having to prove that they need the money to survive. There were also many acts in the early 1900’s that gave people benefits for their age and health insurance. In 1941 there was a tax reform of the British Welfare System done by Beveridge to tidy up the system. (Beveridge is known to be the founder of the welfare state). Around in the WWII era there were also many new acts that were made to go along with the new welfare system. In the 1980’s the welfare bills started to go up again which has led Brittan to think about new ways of doing things again. More specific information on Brittan can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/field_01.shtml
In the early 1990’s America’s welfare system reduced the number of people that could receive certain types of welfare. There is still an ongoing debate to this day about who should and should not get welfare from the states. (I’m not going to go into the American welfare system in detail since the people in this class live in America) http://social.jrank.org/pages/687/Welfare-Programs.html
In Australia the Welfare states had their emergence generally in times of war (1939-1945). Which makes sense since that is the time when people usually go through economical struggles. I noticed this not only with Australia, but also with other countries as well. There seems to be a pattern that when a war breaks out new welfare system changes come along with it. For example New Zealand’s welfare system was also founded during a war time in 1935-1949.
In any case all of the welfare states throughout the world have been expanding a lot since their founding. There is still a lot of debate going on about what does and does not work for the welfare system, so it is constantly changing. It is hard to pinpoint one history for all of the global welfare state. Every place establishes their own systems and their own ways of dealing with their country’s people through their system. There is a lot of different information out there to look at I particularly like this website though, it has some interesting information on it. http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/publicpolicy/introduction/wstate.htm

CES 301 - Update (2/15/2010)

Overview
This semester, I will evaluate the effects of race and the welfare state from a global perspective. Specifically, I will use my blog as an avenue to compare and contrast the ethnocentric and political ramifications of the welfare state in the United States and abroad.

How does my topic connect to the themes of CES 301?
Yes. The correlary of race and socioeconomic status is evident in every society throughtout the world. Therefore, examining the effect of race as it pertains to the global welfare state fits the learning objectives for this course. Social inequality and race go hand-in-hand, and are often the target of stereotypes in society. Thus, examining the specific effects of race on the welfare state may help clarify these relationships from a global perspective.

What do I want to get out of this discussion?
I want to facilitate a better understanding of race, poverty and the welfare state for myself, and hopefully, as a result of using cyberspace, generate healthy discussions with other CES 301 students through the use of my blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxVKd7zJFk Excerpt about the Welfare State taken from the 2007 movie, "The Great Debaters".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnK84mM5N-o Joe the Plummer was also on welfare. Political fodder from the last presidential election for those familiar with the issue.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5BN9kGhdug Ron Paul: Even Welfare State Supporters Realize That The System Isn't Viable (1/3) - 8/21/2009