Cartoon Analysis

Arnold Schwarzenegger may be the terminator, but lately even he hasn’t been able to defeat the critical situation in California. His muscles can hold the fire hoses raging with water to put out the burning hillsides, and he can use his charm to convince citizens to recycle, but Schwarzenegger’s intimidation can’t even persuade Californians to get a job. Instead of trying even harder to show the value of hard work and determination, he just hands out money like it’s candy. The answer to his problems: welfare.

Welfare was developed in the 1930’s due to the Great Depression. Its purpose is to help families in need who have little or no income. When the wonderful world of welfare was first established, it was federally regulated. However, in 1996 Congress passed a reform law giving the power of welfare to each individual state. This is when California began transforming welfare into something negative and twisted (“US Welfare System”).

Each state has its own requirements and regulations for welfare. However, the federal government provides each state with TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds. The states are given this money to use, as they feel necessary, for the welfare system. Most states have similar ways of determining whether or not a family meets the criteria for welfare. A caseworker is assigned to each family that applies for welfare. The caseworker looks at the gross and net income of the family, size of the family, and also crisis situations such as pregnancy, loss of job, or medical emergencies. Welfare varies in different areas but mostly includes food stamps, cash aid, health care, childcare assistance, and housing assistance (“US Welfare System”).

It is federally regulated that parents receiving welfare must find work within two years after first getting granted welfare. Single parents must work 30 hours per week; families with two parents must work 35-55 hours per week. However, for some unknown reason, California doesn’t feel like it has to abide by these laws. Peter Foy, a California Chairman of Americans for Prosperity, a Ventura County Supervisor and a successful business owner states that “According to the Department of Human Services, Department of Social Services and the Welfare to Work Division, it is costing the state $330 million for their failure to meet [work to welfare] requirements California has lost 330 million dollars in the past five years”. The United States is already in debt, but no one in power seems to feel the need the take care of the issue in California.

            While the government ignores this issue, Pat Bagley exploits it. On August 31, Bagley’s cartoon of Octo-Mom was released. Nadya Suleman is pictured flying in the air with babies dropping out of her and a man and a woman with baseball mitts attempting to catch the kids. The artist portrays Suleman as irresponsible because of the fact she has a smile on her face and is flying away from her babies. This may symbolize that Octo-Mom did not necessarily have the kids because she wanted them, but instead she was only looking for attention and money. The statement at the bottom of the cartoon is “New Item: Single, unemployed mom tests the carrying capacity of the planet”. Bagley may be suggesting that if more people were irresponsible like Suleman that the world would be overpopulated, and extremely poor. Nadya Suleman is drawn as a carefree everyday mom; this more than likely shows Bagley feels that Suleman thinks as herself as a normal mom, but the rest of the world does not see her as that. Perhaps the author is trying to show America that people are abusing the welfare system; He hints at this through the two people catching Octo-Mom’s responsibilities. America is paying for a family whose 14 kids were all were conceived by in vitro fertilization (“Octo-Mom…”).

            Welfare is a debatable issue mainly because of the fact that some people abuse the system. Most Americans would be willing to help others who have fallen on hard times and need a helping hand; however, the system is failing. California is falling behind in payments because they are not strict enough on the work to welfare ratio. Only 21% of single parent families meet the work to welfare ratio in California and only 35% of two parent families do. The Sunshine State has 12% of the population in America but they have 29% share of the total welfare recipients. This problem could easily be solved. All that the state governments need to do is make sure all of the recipients of welfare meet the two-year requirement. This way, people could not abuse the system, and the welfare money spent would also decrease which would make the rest of America happy (Foy).

            Welfare is a serious issue. If someone as publicly watched as Octo-Mom can cheat the system, imagine how many everyday people are. America is struggling deeply in debt. If the United States doesn’t fix this problem soon chaos will break out.

 

 

Works Cited

Bagley, Pat. "8 Babies!" Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoonists Index. 8 31 09. 6 Sep 2009

<http://cagle.com/ news/ 8Babies/main.asp>.

Foy, Peter. "California's Broken Welfare System." Flash Report. 03 23 08. 6 Sep 2009

<http://www.flashreport.org/featured-columns-library 0b.ph p?faID= 200 8042310573185>.

"Octo-Mom: ‘Student Loans’ Will Raise Kids." NBC Universal. 02 10 09. 6 Sep 2009

<http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/natlocto-mom-interviews--.html>.

"US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens." Welfare Information. 2009. 6 Sep 2009

<http://www.welfareinfo.org/>.