What will happen to the unemployed when safety nets are gone?

by Samantha Torrence--  In America today it is becoming increasingly evident there are
not enough jobs to sustain our way of life. In Trumbull County Ohio  jobs began to leave in the 1980’s and that exodus solidified with
NAFTA.   Social problems grow, and how long will safety nets remain?

 Underemployment swept the area of Trumball County, and people began to apply for

welfare benefits like food stamps, cash assistance, medical coverage,
and child care. All services provided for free or for very little cost
to the person who applied.  The sheer number of people who now need food
stamps is overtaxing the social safety net put in place to keep our
citizens from falling into heart wrenching poverty.

Many of these were hard-working people, now lost in a bureaucratic maze as well.

The welfare system, as it is designed with a clean cut off at a certain economic achievement, and the constant means testing  for this mandate, has caused an
undesirable effect of lifetime users.  Nobody wants to live on the cusp
between what the federal government considers poverty, what the states
deem as a non-livable wage, and having just enough to struggle.

Imagine for a minute that you have enough money for all the food you
need, your medical bills are covered, you have some assistance in paying
the rent, and your children are put in childcare for free or
next-to-nothing. You are able to go to school and work as much as you
can fill in for your time. Then one day you find out you make just one
dollar too much to receive benefits. You make one dollar, and suddenly
lose almost 1500 a month and have to find a way to make it work.
Typically people on the cusp will talk with their boss about keeping
their hours low so they can once again receive those benefits. Most of
the time the will just wallow in poverty without a cushion and their
lives will take a turn for the worst.

The people who live on the cusp have many questions to answer to
decide what road they will take. For some it is a road of manipulation,
others a road of regret and bitterness. Living on the cusp affords very
little chance for an honorable solution, when honor will hurt you so
deeply. 

Living on the cusp is a way of life for many people in America, and
they become increasingly embittered to the plight of “the poor” because
they are one of the poor. The working poor who can barely make ends
meet.  They resent that some people receive help while they struggle.
The cusp dwellers more often than not have no way out.

This is what our welfare system creates, people who are dependent, or
people who are bitter. With over 50% of the federal budget going to
social programs we have to wonder are these programs really helping?  Is
the help fairly distributed? Are people truly receiving enough help to
get on their feet and run towards success?


Our economy is still sluggish with more jobs being lost, or none being offered. Some
companies are only hiring if a person is already employeed full time or
in school. There is less opportunity every day. If more people become
the poor, the people on the cusp, who do not pay income taxes, and more
people get on benefits that lead to a mentality of fear to move forward,
how are we going to recover our economy? More importantly, if more
people are losing jobs, and going on benefits, how much longer can we
sustain our social programs?

These are the tough questions as the
recession continues, because with high unemployment the problems
increase in the social arena with more and more people hoping to fall
into safety nets that now have too many holes.



What happens when the safety nets are gone?