Marcello asked:
Too often you hear those in congressional races and so forth proudly professing the success of increases in spending towards social programs including welfare, as though the increase itself was a major victory. Yet logically thinking, if a welfare program is indeed succeeding, then wouldn’t this mean you are getting more and more people off of welfare thus a decrease in spending? But obviously, this is a catch 22, because a decrease in welfare spending does not necessarily equate with people moving up in class, it could also mean people just not getting the same help they once were.
So, what is the determining factor when considering if welfare is working or not?
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6 users responded in this post
First you have to define what you mean by is it working.
Conservatives say it is working if they pay less welfare.
Liberals say it is working if it helps the handicapped.
I think drops in the poverty rate is a good sign, along with growth in low level pay…
and you must also watch out for population increases and inflation in general when dealing with such numbers… people often forget how things change…
The simple answer is no. I guess you could have data suggesting that a higher percentage of people are getting off welfare, or they are getting off quicker. But this also need a stable population to take your data from. If you really studied that data, you probably could come up with a reasonable idea of the successes and failures. I’m sure most politicians don’t do this though. They probably get a small, insignificant statistic, and use it to show success.
It is a success if the only people on it are the disabled.
with corporate welfare is in the billions,, corruption in the white house in the billions,, tax exemption status fraud for the fiscal conservative evangelical churches is in the billions,, so for every person welfare programs are meant to help,, the Republicans have 100 stealing from taxpayers
How about just studying the people on welfare. It would not be difficult to track.
Logically, the shorter the person is on welfare before she is working and paying her own bills, the better the program. Unfortunately, this means spending more money in the short-run, which is unpopular politically.
Politics are the problem. The liberals really do not want this tracking done. If it shows that people are indeed having children to increase welfare benefits. Conversely, republicans do not want this tracking done, because it could prove to justify welfare.
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