US GOVERNMENT INCREASE FUNDING AND AID - To what extent should the United States government increase funding and aid impoverished areas?

Sep 23, 2026

The text evaluates whether the United States should increase government funding and aid for impoverished areas, arguing that poverty has risen substantially since 2000 and increased sharply after the 2007 recession. It presents a two-sided debate: supporters view aid as beneficial for recovery, while opponents claim higher funding raises taxes, fuels welfare dependency, and damages productivity. It further discusses welfare fraud rates, “high error” programs, misuse of funds, and drug-related concerns, alongside notes about welfare benefit levels for basic needs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

To what extent should the United States government increase funding and aid impoverished areas?

Poverty trends and causes

Arguments for increasing funding

Arguments against increasing funding

Welfare dependency and productivity

Welfare fraud and program errors

Misuse of welfare funds and drug use

Welfare benefit levels and unmet needs

Running Head: US GOVERNMENT INCREASE FUNDING AND AID To what extent should the United States government increase funding and aid impoverished areas? (1905 words) Poverty in The United States of America has been increasing since the year 2000, whereas in 2010, the poverty rate in America has been at an all time high since the year of 1993, and in 2014, the poverty rate has risen to 2.7% more than in 2007. In 2014 the poverty rate was nearly 15%, coming in at a shockingly high 14. 8% . The topic is raised to what extent should the United States government focus its funding to aid the impoverished area and to help the people in poverty come out ofpoverty. The reason for poverty rates going up was the 2007 recession the United States suffered which plunged over 6 million Americans into the poverty line. There are two sides to the argument, one claiming that helping to fund impoverished areas would be beneficial to the United States and the other side claiming that by increasing funding, will not help, but hurt the economy. The question is should we increase funding and funds to aid impoverished areas? I was inspired by the AP stimulus material “The Life of a Peasant” and this article inspired me because of how the growing changes in poverty and how it has evolved since the dark ages when an area was ruled by a single person with absolute control. By increasing the funding to subsidize impoverished areas, this would require more taxing to the hard working class in the United States, those hard working people would be against such a tax increase. Over one in three people in the United States were receiving welfare and government assistance checks in 2012, over 100 million Americans are on welfare. Then to add to that another 50 million americans are receiving a Running Head: US GOVERNMENT INCREASE FUNDING AND AID non veterans’ benefits from the government, to put that in perspective, there are currently more Americans receiving some sort of government aid then there are people living in The Russian Federation, according to the CIA world factbook. The money that is being given to these people are from the taxpayers that are working and receiving income taxes. Some of the working class in America has harsh views as the working class think the people terminally living on welfare are leaching off of them, and being lazy. This creates a system of dependency culture, where it encourages people to stay on welfare rather than working. In America, it is observed that people living on welfare will continue to do so because of they were to get a job, they would risk losing those government paid benefits and have to pay higher taxes on income. Dependency culture furthermore decreases the overall productivity of a society as it is keeping people out of work and paying them for being out of work. The system of welfare is rewarding people for being unemployed, and not offering an incentive to get a job. This was observed in Britain, where the unemployment rates were above 7%, and the population that was receiving the welfare checks were getting them at a rate above the minimum wage jobs were paying, not incentifying the purpose to get job when the checks they are receiving could be larger than the paychecks they would be receiving at the payment cycle, especially when the United Kingdom's income tax rate is over 20% . The cases of welfare fraud, as pointed out by the Federal Safety Net, has accumulated to about 9.0% of total welfare payouts, resulting in nearly 1 in every 10 welfare government payments are falsely paid out. Estimated from almost the $60 million dollars that were paid out in the fiscal year of 2014, a sum of an alarmingly high $6 Running Head: US GOVERNMENT INCREASE FUNDING AND AID billion dollars were paid out on false benefits and welfare frauds (estimated based on reports from the Office of Management and Budget(OMB), The General Accounting Office (GAO) federal agencies) . Seven of the welfare programs are li

FAQs

What evidence does the text use to show that U.S. poverty has increased?

It cites rising poverty rates since 2000, a peak around 2010, and a further rise by 2014 to nearly 15% with 2014 being 2.7% higher than 2007.

What is the main argument against increasing funding and aid in the text?

Opponents argue increased funding would require higher taxes on working people and would not solve poverty, instead harming the economy through long-term dependency.

How does the text discuss welfare fraud and the impact on welfare payouts?

It states that welfare fraud is around 9.0% of welfare payouts, estimates billions paid out on false benefits in fiscal 2014, and claims several welfare programs are considered “high error programs.”

What does the text say about welfare benefits and incentives to work?

It argues the system can reduce incentives to work because benefits can be large relative to minimum-wage jobs, and it notes typical monthly payments may be around $200 for a single person, plus food stamp amounts up to about $500.

Sep 23, 2026

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