Why One-Size-Fits-All Welfare Programs Don’t Work: Star Parker

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This is a condensed version of Jan Jekielek’s interview with Star Parker. The full version was released on Epoch TV on August 29, 2024.

Star Parker is the founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) and editor of the book “The State of Black Progress."

“When [social security] was first established, you had 40 workers for every retiree. Today, we have three workers for every retiree. You also have people living longer, and you have all people forced into this system that they don’t own … and they can’t transfer it to their heirs,” says
America’s social security system is broken, Parker says. And it’s not just social security. She argues that America’s welfare and safety net programs are all built on a one-size-fits-all model that fails to actually help the poor. Instead, they entrench generational poverty in certain communities,” she argues.

“As you get older and you start thinking about benefit, you look at what maybe your 401, K gained you and or some other instruments that you may have invested in, and then you look at what Social Security is telling you that you’re going to receive from, of course, current workers, if they continue to pay into this tax system, and a lot more Americans, younger Americans in particular, are saying, I’m just not sure this is sustainable, and I’m not sure that I’m going to wouldn’t have fared better had I put that same money into something, a safe, mutual or an annuity.”

“I believed all the lies of the left and my life was whatever I wanted it to be, and I ended up on welfare. We can go into all the details of that, but the rules were: don’t work, don’t save, don’t get married. And these rules are one size fits all and over time, they do not work for anyone, and that’s why we have pockets now of very, very broken communities, 8700 of them, 20% of our zip codes, because we have concentrated poverty in those communities.”

“Over time, you can get on this treadmill, if you will, and if you’re relatively poor, and the society says, Well, we’re going to help you, but we’re not going to help you personally. We’re going to help you through a one size fits all government apparatus. Then you go in to apply for that apparatus, and the next thing you know, you have to start decreasing your life. You have to drain your life. In order to get on Medicaid, you have to make sure that you have no investment in your health plans. In order to get on welfare, you have to make sure that you have no investment in any place, including in income. If you’re on a food stamp program, you have certain requirements. They’re called means tests and every government program has those means tests, but the means tests are negative. They severely impact the poor. That’s why they’re trapped. And now it’s generational, because once you get in the system, it’s incredibly difficult to get out, because every time you try to move yourself upward, you’re penalized by the very system that says they want to help you… If you then say, well, maybe I should go to school, you’re penalized. Maybe I should go get a job, you’re penalized. Now we changed some of those rules during the 90s, under the leadership of Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton, signed well for reform into law after 60 years of having it just that way, but it’s still very difficult.”

“We should have flexibility and mobility, and the only way to do that is to move all of these so-called safety net programs to the states. Let them decide, let’s build out community based on location, as opposed to one size fits all from here in Washington.”

CHAPTER HEADERS

[0:00:01 – 0:00:46] The Flaws of Social Security
[0:00:46 – 0:01:19] Concerns About the Growing National Debt and Aging Population
[0:02:10 – 0:06:14] The Unsustainable Nature of Social Security
[0:06:14 – 0:07:46] The Disproportionate Impact on Black Americans
[0:08:10 – 0:10:13] The Burden of Entitlement Programs on the Federal Budget
[0:10:26 – 0:12:49] Advocating for Personal Retirement Accounts
[0:12:49 – 0:15:28] The Trap of Welfare Programs
[0:15:28 – 0:16:37] The Resistance to Reforming Welfare
[0:16:37 – 0:18:59] Empowering Local and Private Solutions
[0:19:03 – 0:21:47] Starr Parker’s Personal Journey and Transformation
[0:21:52 – 0:22:43] Final Thoughts and Call to Action

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