I – Search Paper (should everyone be entitled to the same benefits?)
By Laura Kinsey
Do you think everyone should be entitled to the same benefits for the people who lay down their life for your freedom? Does a CEO of a corporate 500 company have the same benefits as the janitors in his/her business? I highly doubt it, I bet if he wanted to, he could hop on the company jet no questions ask. Do you think his cleaning crew has the same opportunities? I bet most of the cleaning crew has never even been on a plane, much less had the privilege of using the company jet. Does the Restaurant owner have to come to work everyday to make a living? No, he/she has employees to call in and do the work to make the money for them. Exactly my point. In this class we have learned about a few things that I would like to further research for myself. I feel like today people feel very entitled and want things that they have not contributed to. The topics I am most interested in is the GI Bill, Social Security benefits and Unemployment. We were asked in a recent module if we thought everyone should receive these benefits. To me these are all amazing benefits that this country has that others do not, but I do not think EVERYONE should get these. I think in order to get these you should have to contribute in some kind of way. We all are supposed to pay taxes. Taxes and other garnishments that they take from our checks every month are what go to fund these types of programs. If you are not working and paying taxes, then why should you get to enjoy the benefits that others pay for? So first I want to find the first idea for how these programs came about and how they have changed and developed over the years and at the end of this paper I would like to know your opinion on the matter. So first we will look at the GI Bill. It was created in June 1944 after WWII. The intentions was for veterans to have options for loans for school, homes etc. It was mostly for veterans to use for continuing their education and going to college. To provide people in the working class a higher education in a way never done before. It also provided medical care for veterans. To me this all seems like very small but great things our country is doing to try and help/repay veterans for sacrificing their own life so that you and I can have our freedom and our own opinions like we are all doing right now with writing these I-search papers. Next, lets look at when and why social security came about. It was created in August 1935 with the intentions of paying retired people over the age of 65. After they have worked all of their lives and contributed to society, they can now hang up their boots and let the younger generation contribute, and the retired can still have a income/paycheck during their retirement. So, again why should young people be entitled to those benefits when they have not contributed. And we wonder why the government says that by the time the millennials are old enough there probably wont even be anything left in the social security fund. To many people are on social security collecting money and not enough people are paying into it to keep it going. So last but not least let us look into unemployment. Unemployment was created within the social security act in 1935. Its purpose is to keep the economy stabilized when someone loses their job of no fault of their own. Do you remember a few short months ago when most people received a stimulus check? The idea was not to give you free money. The idea was to give people money so they could unintentionally keep the economy stimulated. Unemployment is founded on the same idea. Yes, it gives us money to pay our bills and buy groceries and such but if we didn’t have that money then the our landlords couldn’t pay their mortgage, the mortgage company would eventually go out of business with no one paying. It is a domino effect then next thing we know we are in another great depression and the government will play dumb like they have no idea what happened or led to such things. All of these programs are created for a reason and are meant to be used when needed and not for convenience. As Americans we have gotten complacent and lazy and expect things to be given to us when in reality we can get out and work to make our own living but we would rather keep asking for more but contributing less. I do say we because I as a fellow American have used some of these benefits at one point of my life. I do work and have worked since I was 15, but things to happen and I lost a job. Thankfully I had these options to help me until I got on my feet again and got another job, well joined the military and getting to use my GI Bill to further educated myself just like I am now in hopes to do bigger and even better things in the future. Not only for myself but for my children and all the generations after me. So, I will leave you will this. After reading all of my rambling, do you believe that EVERYONE should be entitled to these benefits or others like them and why? Maybe you can change my mind or educate me in another way that maybe in am missing. I am looking forward to anyone who replies to my paper. Thanks for reading, our semester is almost over guys. Let’s finish strong!! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and happy holidays.
Works Cited/ References
https://eligibility.com/unemployment/history-of-unemployment-insurance
Hi Laura! (And hi @Kelly Bell!) I am really interested in this topic--my personal research is on the history of welfare and I think you've touched upon some of the recurring debates over how government benefits are utilized and understood throughout the 20th century. The best thing to do now is to really dig into primary sources. There are multiple approaches you can take--getting into the ways in which policies were debated and framed among politicians and the public; exploring the individual histories of people who have utilized the GI Bill, Social Security, or unemployment; or assessing the text of these policies in their historical context further.
There are a selection of interesting primary sources available here through the VCU Social Welfare History Project. One of the most useful ones might be this selection of early promotional posters for Social Security. You'll see a lot of perspectives on what the government safety net should look like in the sources in that list.
Great topic, well written, I felt that I've learned something very interesting.
Thanks so much for your comment. I will most definitely look into your sources and further educate myself. Thanks so much for all the extra info.
Hi Laura!
I found your research topic interesting, but many of your assertions are unfounded.
I put together a lot of information (backed by reliable sources) that I implore you to educate yourself on.
To start, you stated "...the government says that by the time the millennials are old enough there probably wont even be anything left in the social security fund".
In reality, social security won't run out! I linked an article explaining why.
You also wrote, "As Americans we have gotten complacent and lazy and expect things to be given to us when in reality we can get out and work to make our own living but we would rather keep asking for more but contributing less."
From 1979 to 2018, productivity has increased by 69.6%, yet hourly compensation has only grown by 11.6%. This is called the productivity-wage gap, and its a huge problem in the united states today. This article has a great graphic and explains why we have this problem. In short, people aren't lazy, actually, they are even more productive than the past! However, employers are failing to properly compensate their workers.
"...but things do happen and I lost a job. Thankfully I had these options to help me until I got on my feet again and got another job, well joined the military and getting to use my GI Bill to further educated myself just like I am now in hopes to do bigger and even better things in the future."
This isn't factually false of course. However, this isn't a good thing. Joining the military because you were financially unstable is exactly what the United States government wants.
It goes like this:
1. High paying jobs are locked behind a degree.
2. College is extremely expensive.
3. The lower classes are forced to join the military for several years in order to attain a proper education.
This isn't freedom, this is extortion.
I would recommend doing some research of your own on this. You can start by googling something like "how military takes advantage of the poor".
https://www.afsc.org/sites/default/files/documents/The%20Poverty%20Draft.pdf
I would also like to add that joining the military has nothing to do with fighting for freedom anymore. It's just imperialism and capitalism.
In 2015, the military consumed 53% of our national budget, whereas social security and unemployment combined only composed 3%. We invest billions into waging useless wars when we could be providing basic necessities like health care and education to our citizens. You can read this article for more information.
Lastly, I think you should do some research on income inequality in the United states. Buying into the narrative that people these days are "just lazy" and need to work harder is exactly what the ruling class wants you to believe. In the united states, the top 1% holds 30.5% of the nations wealth!
You can google income inequality or follow this links for more infographics and learn more about how this problem is getting worse.
Some more things I recommend researching:
-Why Amazon and other big companies don't pay taxes
-Why millionaires/billionaires pay less in taxes than the average american
-Why billionaires shouldn't exist
-Why capitalism is failing
I hope you take the time to read about some of these topics and let me know what you think!