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Show A Pragmatic Analysis The Plight Of The Poor By LARRY R. KELLER "The present system of public welfare in the United States is a national disgrace. It is a force for the perpetuation of poverty rather than its elimination." So said James Tobin, former member of the Council of Economic Advisors and now Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale. If one takes the time and effort to research the problem, he can't help but agree with Mr. Tobin. It has been the ramifications of the so-called Protestant Pro-testant Ethic in this country that has brought about this deplorable situation. The average American is willing to pay thousands of dollars in taxes to be used for the race to the moon, research and development on the African tetse fly, and construction of plush, modern government buildings, but when it comes to aiding one's less fortunate fellow citizens, Mr. Average American's reaction is 'shameful, disgraceful! To think my money is being paid to those bums!' It seems that if one doesn't work, he should have no right to a decent standard of living; if he starves that's his own fault. Most Americans don't seem to realize that the. very affluence of our society and all its results has left millions in its wake untouched by its miracles. More Than A Few Using a variable poverty line that took into account family size, composition, residence and the proportion of income required to purchase a minimum adequate diet, the Council of Economic Advisors reported in 1965 that some 34 million Americans were unable to purchase the basic necessities of life. And so LBJ and the boys set out to conquer poverty, armed with cap pistols and water guns. The results of the programs pro-grams initiated thus far explain Mr. Tobin's cynicism: Only 22 per cent of the poor receive help from the various public assistance programs, and if all social insurance and welfare payments are taken into account, ac-count, over half of the 34 million poor are left en tirely to their own devices; Of that number, some eight million receive state and local welfare benefits, but Charles I. Schottland, former Commissioner of Social Security reported that "in most cases the funds are not enough to support health and decency." The Food Stamp program has harmed more than it's helped. In counties where Food Stamps are sold, free distribution of surplus food is prohibited, but in the South many people lack the money to buy Food Stamps. The result, report Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, Professors of Social Work at Columbia, Co-lumbia, has been near starvation for tens of thousands who had previously relied on free surplus food. Further, Fur-ther, because each s' te makes a determination of how much it wants to spend on welfare and who it wants to allow to receive it, states often arbitrarily exclude eligible persons from receiving benefits. The Southern states often exclude Negroes; Michigan excludes anyone any-one who has not livec in the state five to nine years; Many states exclude ,ons who are employable but have been unable to get job. An Drunks? Why do these deplorable situations exist? Mainly, because of the average American's belief that welfare recipients are bums, drug addicts and alcoholics. But who are the poor? One-third of the poor family heads are aged, over 15 million of the poor are children while female family heads make up another 30 per cent. The blind and disabled also make up a substantial amount. When we talk about welfare recipients alone, Joseph A. Califano, a Special Assistant to the president reported in 1966 that of the 7.3 million persons receiving aid under federally supported programs, less than 1 per cent were ablebodied males capable of getting off relief under the right conditions. Our present system of welfare must be reformed and revitalized, and it is we, the American people who must do it. |