Combatting Family Disintegration, Crime, and Dependence: Welfare Reform and Beyond

Publication Date: April 1994

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Robert Rector

Research Area: Social conditions

Keywords: Welfare

Type: Report

Abstract:

Government spending on welfare now exceeds funding committed to the national defense. The welfare state is growing rapidly, drawing more and more Americans into dependence each year. The core problem behind this growth is that the current welfare system promotes self-destructive behavior: non-work, illegitimacy, and divorce. Welfare insidiously creates its own clientele; by undermining the work ethic and family structure, it generates an ever growing population in “need of aid.”