Everyone is on Welfare is an article initially published in 1983 and edited in 2001 based on more current trends. Thus, the new study “Everyone is still on welfare: The role of redistribution in social Policy” highlights certain points that have been previously discussed yet with the consideration of newer policies and approaches to financial redistribution. According to the authors, welfare can be divided into three main categories: social (assistance for those in need), fiscal (through tax cuts), and occupational (through fringe benefits) (Abramovitz, 2001). Moreover, the authors mention that statistics show welfare as mainly benefiting the middle and upper class.
It can be interpreted as an interconnected correlation between income and tax cuts. From a distribution perspective, the researchers highlight that while the government spends approximately $236 billion on the poor, the remaining $794 billion are distributed to causes that do not consider poverty a criterion (Abramovitz, 2001). Moreover, the authors mention that corporations and businesses majorly benefit from government interventions aimed at cost coverage and support on the market. This is another major cost that could have been centered on the assistance of vulnerable people yet is used as a tool to help private companies and major corporations.
The aforementioned information directly impacts people who require social assistance. Namely, the economic distribution relates to the fact that individuals do not receive assistance to the full capacity due to the fact that the government spends a significant portion of the finances of the private sector. Thus, potentially efficient programs related to charitable contributions, such as food banks, affordable housing, and education coverage for children from low-income families, are not implemented to the full extent.
References
Abramovitz, M. (2001). Everyone is still on welfare: The role of redistribution in Social Policy.Social Work, 46(4), 297–308.