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To the Editor:
We have reached a dilemma on a national scale. We have turned social welfare into a form of employment. Because of Government intervention we have paradoxically replaced the market value of actual work with underachievement and bare subsistence. The days of full employment and economic security which represents the America of the ’40s, and ’50s has given way to multiple generations living under the control of government agencies. It is liberal progressive government at its best harnessing the frustrations of low-income households under the pretext of being enlightened. This has resulted in the transference of wealth from those fully engaged and employed to those who are not. Helping those who are temporarily in need is beneficial to any society. It was meant to be short term and not multi-generational.
For the US economically to succeed there needs to be maximum employment. Over the last four decades government by design has grown the number of services associated with welfare exponentially. Through the ’60s to the present government intervention increased services especially regarding the demise of the family unit. According to the US Census by 1960 US the households with single parent families grew from three hundred thousand to 2.6 million. In 2022 we reached 11.6 million with total poverty in the US reaching 37.9 million. Of the many benefits and services Social Security has become the most important poverty program. This is why our children will never receive Social Security! Welfare nationally is considered a new form of wealth. The Democratic Party continues to capitalize on providing such services as a means to make this population dependent on government. They are succeeding. They have guaranteed social and economic rights under welfare. They have developed a powerful constituency who are beneficiaries of their policies. This constituency votes to protect entitlements and essentially protect programmatic retrenchment. So much so it has become a percentage of GDP. The expansion of the poor and poorly educated within our urban centers continues to expand. Administrative costs, healthcare, unemployment, Social Security continue to increase with the burden falling on the 40% of the population that pays taxes.
What of the fiasco at our Southern Border. Millions of illegal immigrants entering the US most with little or no skills sets coaxed on by the Biden Administration who now receive billions of dollars in services, transportation, food, clothing, hotels, etc. How many over time will remain a ward of the state? Is this by design by one political party to gain future votes? At the same time, we have thousands of volunteers in communities across America seeking food, clothing and shelter for US citizens who are in need. We have seniors being forced by the Biden administration to decide if they should purchase food, pay their heating bills, or purchase medication. We have thousands of homeless veterans living in tent cities All of whom will need some form of welfare assistance and/or medical treatment.
If the goal is to eliminate poverty and inequality, then reeducation and work is the solution. On both sides of the aisle politicians refuse to address the issues. One party turns its back while the other throws money at it ensuring no incentive to work. As a country we cannot continue to create poverty through generous outpours of government money. Taxpayers need to understand as with Social Security, it is unsustainable!
William Bellotti
Middlebury, CT
Bellotti served as Deputy Labor Commissioner under Gov. John Rowland