What is Welfare Good For?

It is apparent that welfare has some merit based on its longevity in assisting the marginalized community. However for years welfare remains the most controversial topic in American households and on Capitol Hill. Many believe the system supports nonproductive lifestyles by helping people maintain their dependency on government sponsored entitlements. The US Census Bureau reported in 2011 that 15% of the US population receives welfare benefits. That’s 20.5 million Americans of which 6.7% now live in deep poverty.

The Cost of Welfare -The expense of welfare is paid by taxpayers and yet only half of the population pay taxes. The 2012 Budget allocates $668 billion for 126 programs designed to fight poverty. Add another $284 billion from state and local governments and the escalating cost of welfare is $1 Trillion dollars. That amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America or $61,830 per family of three on welfare. Add the salaries of Health & Human services and the cost really spirals out of control (Tanner, 2012). So what is welfare good for?

Disgruntled, we complain to Congress how welfare programs fail to make a difference. The Department of Health and Human Services has unsuccessfully relieved the American public of its tax burden for the poor. Yet in the current economy, the numbers continue to escalate. Our government has implemented employment programs to help welfare recipients gain self-sufficiency. But the ‘great’ recession of 2008, decimated this population and yet even today many new entrants are being added to the welfare roll. Citizens question the impact of the welfare system and its escalating cost. Does the system really add value to its beneficiaries? If so, what are the values?

We could theoretically answer this question in a number of ways. But the question beleaguers a different answer. Who and what makes welfare a good cause? For one thing, grassroots organizations are poised to make a difference by bringing economic development to poor communities using social enterprise concepts. A social entrepreneur is basically someone using business principals to address a social problem.  In many respects inventors of the past were entrepreneurs, but not social entrepreneurs.  As inventive capitalist, they automated many processes and improved the lives of Americans. Unlike social entrepreneurs, Capitalists are defined as accumulating as much wealth as possible. They are individualist; the elite of society.

Millennials are redefining business in America. It is to their credit that we understand the value proposition of welfare.  They create opportunities for what some term the ‘throw-away’ people. They are restoring communities through a progressive business model. Millennials are creating social enterprises faster than any other sector. Their model is changing urban blight into small neighborhood businesses.  They hire locally and teach entrepreneurial skills to help the unemployed start businesses, urban farms, and other community employment opportunities.   

Today isn’t just about profits, but about people and communities. Economic development is a good. However transforming blighted urban areas to revitalize is powerful. I applaud Millennials as change-makers who are really making a difference in the community. No one wants to pay taxes for ineffective entitlement programs that ‘pay the poor to stay poor’.  Perhaps there is one good thing about welfare. It has created a Generation Y paradigm shift that hopefully is unstoppable in helping the ‘least of these!’