Exam #2

What are the three energy policy considerations?

- Energy demands (U.S. uses SO MUCH energy but doesn't make up a lot of the world's population. Robert's article what genuine no b.s.... talks about how we could shift to less meat intensive diets and also change the heating and cooling of our houses). - supply vs demand (we are always looking for more stuff, ex: fracking; a lot easier to reduce demand than find more supply, we will buy cheaply but not for energy efficiency) - "Green energy" vs cheap/reliable energy (right now you can't have both on a large scale)

What are the policy options combating climate change? What article talks about this?

- carbon cap and trade, carbon tax, EPA regulations, or nothing --> renewable resources would then become more competitive because they dont' have externalities - don't tax consumers, put pressure on producers (REGULATIONS) - the article "what genuine no bs ambition on climate change looks like" discusses how the target agreed upon at the paris climate agreements was staying below 2 degrees celsius, and that we can possibly do this by relying on negative emissions. Only problem is there really isn't an industry set up yet for negative emissions. Why is staying below 2 degrees important? it can prevent 150 million premature deaths!!! (risk assessment/ costs and benefits). This can be done through reducing carbon emissions, increasing renewable energy sources (wind, solar) and electrifying everything while doing a bit of negative emissions. Additionally, the article the false choice between economic growth and combatting climate change notes how a gradual tax on high carbon emitting companies could prove to be useful.

What are the problems with cost in the U.S. healthcare model?

- fee for service In Rosenthal's article "American way of birth, costliest in the world" she details how in the U.S. the price of maternity care can rage from $4,000 to $45,000 dollars. Childbirth in the U.S. is uniquely expensive with charges having tripled since 1966. The level of care isn't even that great. Again, its a pay for service model. Payment incentives for healthcare providers mean that they will make sure women get every little thing because they will be charged for it. women without insurance pay around 30k to give birth. poor women are put at a disadvantage because they can't afford to give birth, and will risk not getting the care they need. Rosenthal's other article on colonoscopies details the same things, that the colonoscopy is a procedure that many medical professionals have convinced people they need frequently, and charged them at exorbitant rates. Other nations are able to offer colonscopies at rates for a few hundred dollars while the U.S. charges thousands just to maximize revenue. - market failures (free markets assume genuine competition) The procedure isn't really needed but is the result of business wanting to maximize revenue and charge people thousands of dollars for a procedure that isn't always needed. But we are made to think it is necessary, like a check-up. - medical culture that focuses on treatment, not prevention -administrative bloat talked about in the article "how medical bills harm us all" shows how the treatment of illnesses has always been for profit due to the medical industrial complex. systems of competing insurers and insurance plans have complicated the system and resulted in a bunch of money being funneled into administrative activities. Administrators hired to help doctors offices and patients find out if they can even use their insurance at a place.

What is the reality of living in poverty?

According to the article "the lives of people who live on $2 a day" living in poverty is both mentally and physically taxing. While the U.S. government offers some support programs, its primarily cash economy means that poor people are unable to buy things such as new clothes or have access to reliable transportation, both which cost money. A lack of transportation coupled with lack of education could lead them to having odd jobs that don't provide enough money to make ends meets. Some become desperate and resort to crime. The myth that many are lazy is simply not true.

What can the U.S. do to improve its education system?

According to the article, "7 Great Education Policies for Progressives," ideas to help kids who are falling behind include providing tutors to failing kids, offering free breakfast and lunch to all, support, train and treat teachers like professionals and transition to a 9-5 school day to better meet parents needs. This can be done through reducing prison spending and leveraging taxes on marijuana.

What are charter schools? what is the controversy surrounding them

According to the article, "What school choice means in the era of DeVos," Charters are schools that are publicly funded but independently operated. That means they aren't part of the traditional school system in which they are located, and they are not subject to the same rules of transparency that apply to traditional public schools. The controversy surrounding them is that they can create socioeconomic barriers for people (they don't provide school buses), there is no evidence children perform better at them, and they take money away from public schools.

What is AOC'S New Green Deal, critics and supporters?

According to the articles read, AOC's New Green Deal aims to reduce carbon emissions to zero. This plan has been called out for being infeasible by many scientists and climate experts. AOC's base argues that while it may be impractical

What is common core and what are its criticisms?

Common core is a set of standards on what students should learn in basic subjects across the curriculum. The standards are more difficult than before and focus on critical thinking. They were created by educational experts. This was a bipartisan effort at first, but was politicized by Republicans who later dubbed it an Obama policy. The criticisms that come with it include parents who can't help kids anymore due to different approaches in learning. However, it looks like Common Core will stay for the time being. Red states have adopted their own thing that is legit just common core repackaged... ok whatever makes u happy.

Who benefits from social welfare policy?

Contrary to the belief propagated by the media, it is not just the poor who benefit but the middle class and the elderly who do from social policies. This is namely through entitlement policies such as social security and medicare. Poor people get less than 1/3 of this money.

How does the US healthcare system compare to other countries?

In some ways we have the best healthcare (our technology is superior and we can treat rare disease). However, most people's health is only affected by mundane things. Our efficiency in this realm is really awful. In Frakt and Carroll's article "Why the U.S. spends so much more than other nations on healthcare" it is revealed that people in the U.S. use the same amount of healthcare if not less than other OECD nations, however we pay a lot more for it and the quality isn't even significantly better. This has to do with the American "pay for service" model in which patients at a hospital are charged per every small service, such as an ice pack, a bandage etc. In the documentary "Sick around the world" detailed how Japan had one of the world's best health statistics with the longest life expectancy and lowest infant mortality rate. Everyone there MUST buy insurance and the government picks up the tab for those too poor to pay. In france, according to the article "american way of birth, costliest in the world" women can stay in hospital for free for days to a week to learn how to properly nurse their baby. LMAO no way in america. kick em out after a day or so.

What was No Child Left Behind?

No Child Left Behind was a President George W.Bush era policy that emphasized testing in an attempt to ensure minimal expectations for students regardless of where they graduated from. This increased federal involvement in education. NCLB allowed for choice, meaning that if a school was failing people could leave it. Teachers were expected to be subject matter experts and there was flexibility in standards depending on the states. However, NCLB came under much criticism because it created disparities between states with high standards and those with lower standards. Additionally, it judged many teachers by test scores. This was replaced by Common Core during the Obama era.

Medicare vs. Medicaid

Provided health care to elderly vs. Provided health care to poor people

ACA/Obamacare

The Affordable Care act was legislation enacted during the Obama era whose goal was to expand health coverage to near universal coverage and fix individual insurance plans as well as help those with pre-existing conditions. In this system every person is required to have health insurance for it to work. Everyone must buy it. If people cannot afford the ACA the government will try to subsidize it. It also forced insurers to have minimum coverage requirements (for example they must cover cancer). The ACA has come under fire by many republicans despite it originally being an idea proposed by the Conservative Heritage thinktank. Criticisms of it include more expensive premiums for some. It is indeed a flawed system.

What is the U.S. culture concerning preventative care versus treatment? What does this have to do with prescription drugs and pharmaceutical companies?

The U.S. focuses on treatment rather than preventative care, but this is in part due to the medical industry, not everyday people's perspectives. This is shown in the article "How the U.S. Health Care Became Big Business". A pharmaceutical manufacturer wouldn't want to develop a pill to cure diabetes, because people could take it and it would be done. It would kill a multi billion dollar industry. it is much better to have ongoing treatments so people continue to pay into it.

What is the current state of education in the U.S. and what can it learn from other countries?

The U.S. is below average when compared to other OECD countries in terms of education. We have a lot of inefficient spending on it. However, we are not in a crisis. We like local control in the U.S. where counties have a decent amount of control over their individual education policies, however there has been growth in the states role since they supply a large amount of funding. According to the article "Why it's hard for the U.S. to learn from other countries on education," notes how the US falls behind other OECD countries, one of the main reasons being our disadvantaged kids really struggle. There isn't much to be said about a positive correlation between school choice and higher performance. However, higher teacher salaries and tough standards for teachers could help. In countries such as Finland teaching is a prestigious position. (also robust social services help)

What are the arguments for and against free college?

The article, "The student loan debt crisis is overblown," expands upon this idea by discussing how students loans are not the main reason for students going into massive debt. On the contrary, 40% of students graduated college debt-free, and most with huge borrowings make it back with higher paying jobs. The people who struggle are those who drop out of college and are responsible for paying back massive amounts of debt. Making college free is a popular idea among liberals such as Sanders, but will only inflate the wealth of the middle class and super wealthy, who maybe should pay for at least some college. College costs are furthermore increasing because of a decrease in federal funding for schools, that burden must be passed onto students.

What are the causes of poverty?

The article, "This is your brain on poverty," details how scarcity due to poverty changes the way many people think and their ability to make rational decisions. They are so busy trying to survive that they don't have time to plan far ahead. There is little "bandwidth" for anything else. However, there is a political debate here where many conservatives will argue that it is not circumstance but laziness on behalf of the poor that keep them in their condition. Another article by Chang notes how the neighborhood ones grows up in has an effect on their socioeconomic status. Many black families have been historically subject to the practice of redlining in the housing industry. This is when they are refused loans to move into "white" nice neighborhoods and forced to stay in worse off neighborhoods.

What is the school choice debate with Trump and DeVoss?

The article, "What school choice means in the era of DeVos," says how the school choice movement, which supporters say seeks to expand alternatives to traditional public schools for children who have poor educational options in their neighborhoods and to give parents a choice in their children's education. Critics argue that using public funds to support choice schools is undermining the traditional public system, which educates the majority of America's school-age children, and that it is ultimately aimed at privatizing the most important civic institution in the country.

What is the politics in the school choice debate?

The article, "What school choice means in the era of DeVos," says that a key fissure is between the free-market believers who want very little regulation — who are mostly libertarians and Republicans, including DeVos — and those who believe in heavier regulation and more accountability, and tend to prefer charters over vouchers. The latter includes some Republicans and many Democrats, including former president Barack Obama. Most Republicans are big choice supporters, but many Democrats are, too — though they all don't support the same choice initiatives

What is the "false choice between economic growth and climate change?" and what is the current climate change problem?

The current problem: We are on track to doubling CO2 concentration, which could melt our polar ice caps by 2030 ): → an externality!!! we have to choose apparently between growth in economics or climate change prevention. This isn't true!!! Studies have shown that a low carbon tax which would be raised over time could be enough to help keep emissions at low levels (example of regulation, shift burden on companies) . If we do not enact policy change, there is little chance that the U.S. will achieve average emissions cuts necessary to meet Paris climate targets.

Examples of the politics of Climate Change

The right usually against climate regulation. the Trump administration's 2020 budget proposal calls for EPA cuts. Republicans and democrats disagree. Republicans have usually held the stance that helping the enviornment will mean that there will be negative repercussions for economic growth. Regulations on businesses would restrict economic growth and the economy must be prioritized. There is also some controversy in the republican party concerning the legitimacy of global warming. Meanwhile those on the left AOC are asking for things such as the "New Green Deal". People are not having a productive argument over science, but rather stuck in political controversy. Scientists are at a consensus worldwide that climate changing is happening. The problem is Republican oil and special interest groups are influential. There is additionally a generational gap in public opinion.

What is the contemporary policy issue with social insurance?

The social security issue is a contemporary policy. Social security is the largest line item of federal spending and gives money to elderly people after their retirement. Most people get more of out of benefits than they put in, this works because there are many young people paying into the system. However, in the article "How can the U.S. salvage social security," the dilemma of shrinking social security benefits is brought up. There are two proposed options to "save it": either increase revenues coming in or cut benefits. Demographic shifts have hurt society and now there are more old than young, and not enough young to pay into the Social Security system. Solutions of raising payroll taxes through a gradual increase of 2% is proposed but may not be popular. The public would also HATE if we cut benefits because they are "paying for it."

What is the policy evaluation on public assistance?

There is a stalemate on the war on poverty. Public assistance programs also face a lot of complexity concerning who qualifies and the sheer amount of programs. There are food stamps, SNAP, TANF (temporary assistance for needy families). The welfare paradox also exists in which welfare programs are implemented on all levels of government and things get complicated concerning who is eligible. There are also many costs, some being that many costs are used to eliminate fraud resulting in a lot of administrative bloat. People must accept there there will be fraud in order to make sure at least some benefits come to people who need them.

What are the problems with access with the U.S. healthcare model?

There is inadequate access to healthcare in the U.S., 65% of people have private insurance, 10% are uninsured and the rest are on Medicaid. There is also a maldistribution of resources, being some areas such as Wake County have a lot of doctors, while other less populated counties don't have any (Shelby in North Carolina for example). Lastly, the pricing for healthcare is extremely expensive in the U.S. , which is why many people don't have health insurance. The article "How U.S. Healthcare Became Big Business" discussed this when talking about how the healthcare industry in the US is a trillion dollar industry many cities see a monopoly of this hospital industry that basically controls all prices. Prices rise to whatever the market will bear in an effort called "sticky pricing". The ACA tried to address this.

What are the four features of the U.S. healthcare system?

US healthcare service is a mix between the public and private sector, which makes it massively inefficient. 1. fee for service 2. managed care (variety of incentives for consumers to hold down costs, go to our primary care physician before a specialist because it is cheaper to stick to a doctor you know. You have a fixed fee, but a very restricted network you can go to). 3. employer based insurance 4. government subsidized care (medicare, medicaid)

Talk about teachers and education reform

While teachers are of course important they are not "everything" in the education system. Socioeconomics plays the overriding actor. Getting better teachers doesn't always mean better policy. In terms of teacher assessment and accountability we look at test outcomes, which we really shouldn't because they don't always measure teacher quality but could have other factors such as poor versus wealthy students. Teachers unions also exist, but come under scrutiny for making it hard to fire bad teachers. However, this is only a small fraction of the problem. from "why its hard for the U.S. to learn from other countries on education," Lessons to be learned to get better teachers include paying teachers more and seeing teaching as a collaborative endeavor instead of an island. lastly no other high performing countries rely on local funding for schools.

what are school vouchers and what's the argument for/against them?

school vouchers are when families receive government money in the form of a voucher that can be used to pay for private school tuition. This is a popular option amongst conservatives, however research has revealed that they are not effective. Furthermore, there is a huge separation of church and state argument that appears when public money may be used to send a child to a private religious school. Trump proposed a 20 billion dollar expansion of the voucher program, but this policy did not move anywhere politically, revealing that it is not high on his agenda. (What school choice means in the era of trump and devos)

social insurance vs public assistance

social insurance programs that protect from poverty, economic calamity, an example of it is social security. public assistance are programs designed to alleviate poverty after it has already hit, such as food stamps or SNAP benefits.

What are examples of public assistance?

welfare (means testing for welfare to make sure you actually need help). EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) is a "negative income tax" for the working poor and has popular bipartisan support. TANF are block grants to states that have a lot of leeway in how states choose to use them. Food stamps are in kind benefits run by the department of agriculture.