Full Version: Welfare
While Participating in the topic on Gun control something Bucket posted got me thinking.
It got me to wondering, why is it, when we think welfare with think Urban? And is the Rural use of Welfare really that prevalent?
So, I did my on version of research. Taking a hands on approach, I started asking rural customers about it. Putting aside the opinion of some that farm subsidies are a form of welfare I discovered that many people in rural communities regularly receive welfare checks from the government.
Doing alot of reading on the subject I found the reasonable argument that poor people in rural communities are frequently on welfare because there is less availability of work, less availability to work-supporting services like daycare, and lower education rates of the average citizens due to poorer schools.
Now for one, that sounds alot like the problems in Urban America. Less availability of jobs (at least "living wage" jobs), as more and more companies move out of the urban cores to the more suburban regions, and Lower education levels due to poor performing schools. Now daycare is probably more available in Cities, but if you don't make enough to pay for it then it really doesn't matter.
It seems, according to my googling, that people in rural communities have moved off the welfare rolls at about the same level as urban communities since Welfare Reform was enacted in 1996. So, though the opportunities are fewer, there must be something these folks are doing or I would imagine we would have seen news stories about starving single Moms and the like by now. One thing I did find when talking to people is that more and more folks in Rural America are adding to their home or building second homes or adding Mobile homes to the property to house family members. This is not really an option for the Urban poor as they rarely have family that own large pieces of property due to the property values / costs in the cities whereas many in rural communities come from farm families.
Anyway, everything I have read so far would seem to suggest that Welfare is as big a problem in Rural communities as it is in Urban communities. Yet, those who speak against welfare always seem to focus on the Urban model, never mentioning the Rural issue. For that matter those that speak in support of Welfare due the same.
One thing to consider is that by and large, more people in the Urban environments on Welfare are minorities, whereas more people on welfare in Rural environments are in the majority. I doubt this is the main reason people do not discuss this issue, I favor ignorance on the issue to bigotry in this instance.
Questions for Debate:
Why is it that opponents of Welfare, and Proponents of Welfare Reform never seem to address the issue of Rural Welfare? Why is it that Proponents of Welfare, and opponents of Welfare Reform never seem to address the issue of Rural Welfare?
Bonus Question: What are some of the ways that we can help the Rural poor in America that differ from ways to help the Urban poor? Are there ways to help the Urban poor that differ from helping the Rural poor?
QUOTE(bucket @ Feb 16 2005, 06:02 PM)
Not much of a gun proponent..but I do recognize them as "tools" I think they do have a purpose other than just for killing people or for defense.
I lived in the Laurel Highlands for 4 mo. outside Farmington PA. I worked at a very exclusive resort there hidden in the mountains. Other than this resort there is not much else in Farmington ..the resort is one of the only forms of wage income. The resort really only does good business in the spring and summer..in fact in the winter most of the roads up the mountain are closed. Everyone I knew that lived there and had lived there all their lives hunted. Deer season was a BIG deal and many many of these families supplemented their income with their hunting.
Is this really true tho? Are these people poor or are they free to live life how the wish to live it? Farmington is just over an hour from Pittsburgh (a big city) altho. most Farmington natives have never been there and never wish to..they claim is has nothing there they want. They like living in the mountains..they like only working 2 or 3 seasons out of the year and they like collecting their welfare checks in the winter and going out hunting for WEEKS at a time. I don't think the people of Farmington and the many other communities like her in the US are forced to live like this..they choose to.
Are guns in Farmington not tools? Don't they dictate how the people of Farmington can live their lives?
Source TopicI lived in the Laurel Highlands for 4 mo. outside Farmington PA. I worked at a very exclusive resort there hidden in the mountains. Other than this resort there is not much else in Farmington ..the resort is one of the only forms of wage income. The resort really only does good business in the spring and summer..in fact in the winter most of the roads up the mountain are closed. Everyone I knew that lived there and had lived there all their lives hunted. Deer season was a BIG deal and many many of these families supplemented their income with their hunting.
Is this really true tho? Are these people poor or are they free to live life how the wish to live it? Farmington is just over an hour from Pittsburgh (a big city) altho. most Farmington natives have never been there and never wish to..they claim is has nothing there they want. They like living in the mountains..they like only working 2 or 3 seasons out of the year and they like collecting their welfare checks in the winter and going out hunting for WEEKS at a time. I don't think the people of Farmington and the many other communities like her in the US are forced to live like this..they choose to.
Are guns in Farmington not tools? Don't they dictate how the people of Farmington can live their lives?
It got me to wondering, why is it, when we think welfare with think Urban? And is the Rural use of Welfare really that prevalent?
So, I did my on version of research. Taking a hands on approach, I started asking rural customers about it. Putting aside the opinion of some that farm subsidies are a form of welfare I discovered that many people in rural communities regularly receive welfare checks from the government.
Doing alot of reading on the subject I found the reasonable argument that poor people in rural communities are frequently on welfare because there is less availability of work, less availability to work-supporting services like daycare, and lower education rates of the average citizens due to poorer schools.
Now for one, that sounds alot like the problems in Urban America. Less availability of jobs (at least "living wage" jobs), as more and more companies move out of the urban cores to the more suburban regions, and Lower education levels due to poor performing schools. Now daycare is probably more available in Cities, but if you don't make enough to pay for it then it really doesn't matter.
It seems, according to my googling, that people in rural communities have moved off the welfare rolls at about the same level as urban communities since Welfare Reform was enacted in 1996. So, though the opportunities are fewer, there must be something these folks are doing or I would imagine we would have seen news stories about starving single Moms and the like by now. One thing I did find when talking to people is that more and more folks in Rural America are adding to their home or building second homes or adding Mobile homes to the property to house family members. This is not really an option for the Urban poor as they rarely have family that own large pieces of property due to the property values / costs in the cities whereas many in rural communities come from farm families.
Anyway, everything I have read so far would seem to suggest that Welfare is as big a problem in Rural communities as it is in Urban communities. Yet, those who speak against welfare always seem to focus on the Urban model, never mentioning the Rural issue. For that matter those that speak in support of Welfare due the same.
One thing to consider is that by and large, more people in the Urban environments on Welfare are minorities, whereas more people on welfare in Rural environments are in the majority. I doubt this is the main reason people do not discuss this issue, I favor ignorance on the issue to bigotry in this instance.
Questions for Debate:
Why is it that opponents of Welfare, and Proponents of Welfare Reform never seem to address the issue of Rural Welfare? Why is it that Proponents of Welfare, and opponents of Welfare Reform never seem to address the issue of Rural Welfare?
Bonus Question: What are some of the ways that we can help the Rural poor in America that differ from ways to help the Urban poor? Are there ways to help the Urban poor that differ from helping the Rural poor?
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