Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501200026
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CLAUDINE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The elimination of resources available to the middle class and the lack of job security will create a society based on "me-ism," she predicted. In the next five years, people will care even more about their own welfare and become less generous in providing services for the underclass.
"There is no real sense of security in jobs anymore," Gott said. "Even if you have not lost your job, lack of security impacts the future. You will not be as generous."
This attitude will cause more stress on poor people to provide for themselves, Gott predicted. However, many of the poor are underqualified for jobs that could provide them better incomes.
Therefore, Americans can anticipate a society with even fewer resources and public assistance programs, Gott said of the remaining years of this century.
There will be the beginnings of a vicious cycle with even more people abusing each other and their children.
The next five years will bring an increase in high school dropouts and an explosion in poverty.
Although social and government reform will be on the tips of everyone's tongues, many will be unclear of the definition of the term, Gott said.
"When you talk about reform, it sounds like you are going to do something to make things happen," Gott said. "But that is not the case."
She says we will experience what she calls deform. When you deform something you make it worse. Lack of funding is the main culprit in deformation, she said.
That trend is rooted within legislation, Gott said. It began last year with the governor's proposal that public service find a job for people within 30 days after they apply for welfare. The jobs can be paid or unpaid. Although this proposal is still on the drawing board, Gott said she believes that the proposal may become a Virginia law.
Under the plan, single mothers who have children under 18 months will be exempt. Gott is concerned about the parents who have older children. Since the government will not put money into day care, we will see the continuing onset of deformation, she said.
As similar legislation gets under way, people will claim the social service agents are out to protect their own jobs and programs.
"There are some who will say that we are just trying to protect our turf," Gott said, "but social services does not have any turf to protect. We only want to help the poor people."
The government seems to run by experimentalism, Gott said. Leaders put policies in place and find that they don't work. They have to use human bodies to prove that.
"Right now, we are at a crossroads," Gott said. "We have not made any real decisions on where we want to go. We have to decide if we are going to care for people or will we go into isolation where only a few will have part of the American dream."
The public has made its decision by indifference, Gott said.
"If we are not saying we will have to change our policies, it's saying I don't care about anyone else," Gott said. "I don't see how it could get better."
Gott said public service agencies were doing pretty well in spreading their resources to help people, but government budget cuts will greatly impair public services' ability to serve people. There will be more weight put on private charities and individuals to help support the poor.
The charities will not continue to minimally protect people. Welfare reform will cut help from the public sector and the private sector will not be able to carry the load.
by CNB