Social Policy, Social Policy, Soc 148 Midterm, Final Exam, SOC 148 Midterm, Soc 148 Midterm
GI Bill of Rights
1944, post WWII
A Nation at Risk
1983 Department of Education issues "x", an influential report that identified low educational standards as the cause of America's declining international economic competitiveness
What are the advantages and disadvantages of privatization, or even partial privatization?
Advantage of privatization is that it gives people an opportunity to save as much of the money as they want to put towards their own retirement account rather than the government. Disadvantage is that those that don't make as much money can't put as much money into a retirement account
2000
Al Gore staked this campaign this idea to respect the trust fund by keeping it in interest-bearing government securities but in a "locked box" unavailable to serve as a hidden part of the national debt--Gore was ridiculed
History
American do not have a long history of taking public responsibility for economic inequality Why? 1. Americans' faith in individualism was extremely strong 2. faith was long fed by the existence of the frontier, and poverty was seen as a temporary condition that could be alleviated by moving westward 3. Americans conceived of poverty as belonging in two separate classes: "deserving poor" and "undeserving poor" Americans believed that all deserving poor would be taken care by private efforts Congress did enact pensions for Civil War veterans and their dependents, but that was highly progressive social policy Congress also attempted to reach lower-income groups with policies that would eliminate child labor, and a number of states joined in with attempts to eliminate the most dangerous and unsanitary working conditions efforts soon declared unconstitutional though traditional approach: dominated by the private sector with its severe distinction between deserving and undeserving poor, crumbled in 1929 with the stark reality of the Great Depression--misfortune became widespread and private wealth shrank so drastically that private charity was out of the question large-scale public policy approach became necessary 1935 Social Security 2010, ACA traditional views about responsibility and poverty were relaxed but never released by the Great Depression however, America never truly lost its historic discomfort with social policy social spending amounts to less than 20 percent of the nation's GDP whereas in most European nations its nearly 30 percent of GDP
Entitlements
Any federal government program that provides benefits to Americans who meet requirements specified by law
Senate Judiciary Committee
Republicans kept many of Clinton's judicial nominees off the agenda by bottling up their names in this committee
Progressive Era Reformers
designed AFDC and wanted single mothers to stay at homed with their children
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
federal funds for children in families that fall below state standards of need 1996, Congress abolished AFDC and replaced it with "x" these are block grants disparities!! 2012: monthly benefits for a family varied from $216 in South Carolina to more than $1,400 in Alaska (which still falls well below the federal poverty line, which in 2012 was set at $19,000 or $1,590 a month)
third rail
in recent years, despite budget deficits, social policies have been referred to as "this" of American politics
Popular depiction of law-making process
presents a legislature made up of representatives, all equal in having been elected from a "constituency," who debate for as long as necessary, then call for a vote on the bill not everyone can be equal though/need committee assignment to ever actually get through anything
History v. Collective Action in Social Policy
realm in which history and collective action are frequently at odds with one another poverty is alleviated through individual rather than collective effort the story of impoverished immigrants rising "from rags to riches" is deeply ingrained in our psyches we tend to believe that those who do not succeed are neither hardworking nor deserving still believe individual self-help is still key to success in America Obama administration has launched new initiatives in health care and other arenas of social policy that expand welfare state Americans continue to be inspired by the idea of rugged individuals, but when they lose their jobs and their health insurance they turn to the government. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no rugged individualists in the unemployment line.
Education Policies and their Politics
universal compulsory public education is the most important single force in the distribution and redistribution of opportunity in America national govt. did not involve itself at all in education for the first century or its existence as an independent republic since the GI Bill was aimed almost entirely at postsecondary schooling, the national government did not really enter the field of elementary education until after 1957 why? embarrassment over the Soviet's beating us into space with the launching of Suptnik Reagan's administration signaled new focus for federal education policy: the pursuit of higher standards George H.W. Bush called himself the "education president" because Republicans have historically opposed a strong federal role in education, the initiatives of Reagan and Bush remained primarily advisory influential in focusing educational reform on standards and testing, now widely practiced across the states--but these standards remained voluntary
Welfare Reform (1996) -Explain main provisions of PRWORA legislation. In what ways was the new TANF program different from the AFDC program it replaced?
**Ending poverty was not one of the goals--just wanted to end dependence, and as long as welfare spending went down, that's good. -->PRWORA: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (AKA WELFARE REFORM). -Provide assistance to needy families so children can be cared for in own homes or those of relatives -End dependence on government benefits by promoting work and marriage -Prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancy -Encourage the formation and maintenance of 2-parent families -->AFDC: (1935-1996) -Entitlement -Cash benefits -No time limits -No work requirements -Sanctions rarely enforced -Federal, centralized program or less uniform across states, with some variation in benefit levels. -->TANF: (1997-) -No entitlement, Federal block grant -Mix of cash, job training, employment supports -5 year lifetime limit -Strong work requirements -Strong sanctions -Devolution of responsibility to states--massive differences across states in TANF programs.
Welfare Reform (1996) -Was welfare reform a success? -According to Eden and Shaefer ($2 A Day), what were the short and long-term consequences of welfare reform?**
-->Early success?: Caseloads fell, child poverty declined, Employment rose. Long term: -For those who found work: wages, benefits, and quality of work was low -Rise in disconnected: No work/No welfare -Rise in people with no cash income/deep poverty -Rise in food pantry use and homelessness. -TANF not responsive to economic downturns **TANF lifts many fewer children out of deep poverty than AFDC did. --->The "working poor", especially families, have seen a significant increase in social support since the early 1990's because of : -EITC -Child Tax credis -Food stamp liberalization -SCHIP same time... -good economy -Expanded EITC -Modest rise in minimum wage -Child care subsidies
Submerged State -How has spending on these policies changed over time?** -How does adding spending on the submerged state revise our story about social welfare spending in the United States compared to the other rich democracies?
-If we look at net social expenditure instead (Which includes the submerged state policies) the United States ranks 5th , just after Sweden. And we rank #1 for "tax breaks for social purposes" --->96% of Americans rely on some kind of government social program---BUT relatively little of this money goes to the poor. So we have higher poverty and inequality than other countries. In sum, United States social welfare spending is comparatively high (when we include the submerged state) but only minimally re-distributive.
Social Security Act (1935) -What did this act do (i.e. what programs did it create)?** -Describe how inequality was inscribed into the SSA. --->Who was included and who was excluded (and why)? -How is it a two-tied system?
-More or less universal -Workers pay payroll taxes throughout their lives -Receive benefits when they reach 67(1960 and later) -Benefits based on participation in labor force Inequality: men>women in regards to benefits **Due to the assumption that women would be married with a man and that the man should be given more benefits to provide for his wife and children. -->Domestic and Agriculture workers were not covered, non-profit; covered employment (Under this category were most likely Mexican and Black; hence they'd miss out) -Why?: Some people thought it'd be difficult to include everyone under this benefit; and White Southerners didn't want agricultural workers to have it. -->Lack of federal oversight over the state's distribution, and allowed them to decide on their own. -->Minorities relied on the provisions of the Act. 1939 (Amendments): -Dependent benefits: If someone is working in the family, they may also receive benefits. -Survivor benefits: If the worker (providing for their family) died, then the family would be compensated. **Didn't cover domestic/agricultural workers. Two tiered system: -Top: Social Security and unemployment insurance provide assistance to those who are deemed "worth" . -Bottom: Mean tested assistance run by stat, harder to obtain, recipients viewed as "undeserving".
Welfare Reform (1996) -What were the four stated goals of welfare reform?
1) Provide assistance to needy families so children can be cared for in their own homes or those of relatives. 2) End dependence on government benefits by promoting work and marriage. 3) Prevent and reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancy. 4) Encourage the formation and maintenance of 2 parent families.
Arguments for State Welfare
1. good fiscal policy: when the economy is declining welfare payments go up enough to help maintain consumer demand 2. paternalistic: Americans notoriously save too little, safety net for employers just as much for employees 3. savior of capitalism; every title in the original Social Security Act creating the welfare system identified a particular imperfection of capitalism and sought to cope with it: age, unemployment, widowhood, disability for injury, illness, birth defects, inadequate education or training, etc. 4. welfare system lays most of the blame for society's owes on the system; many chiselers and abusers in the contributory and noncontributory parts of the system, but cheating abounds in the private sector as well and need not discredit welfare any more than it discredits business; which of us isn't taking welfare? 5. politically essential conservative reasons: to reconcile the masses to vicissitudes and hazards of a dynamic and hierarchal industrial economy likelihood of great social and political disorder, if not revolution, was very much on the minds of American political leaders in 1933-1935, the years leading up to the passage of the Social Security Act the welfare system was not a solution in the first place; rather, a series of improvisations to challenges every nation faces
Arguments Against State Welfare
1. welfare costs too much: both parties agree that the crisis will come because too little account has been taken of demographic factors, with a ratio of workers to retirees approaching two to one 2. cost escalation being driven by health care benefits paid by Medicare and Medicaid--third party structure of repayment (allows doctors and patients to establish relationships) 3. too paternalistic--it's forced savings, leaving all individuals with some degree of concern for their future (contributory); noncontributory also paternalistic even though those in poverty usually have no chance to save 4. moral hazard-the danger that a policy will encourage the behavior or bring about the problem that it is supposed to ward off; the safety net might a moral hazard if it can be shown to weaken self-=reliance and individual responsibility; entitlement benefits weakens the incentive to work; entitlement to child support --> "brings more babies into the world." 5. lays most of the blame on the system; meanwhile the employees to a large extent are relieved of personal responsibility proponents of this view give the best examples and the best logic available in the hopes that "the preponderance of evidence" will convince the jury
Questions Social Policies must Answer
1. who shall be poor 2. how poor the government will allow them to be 3. who will be provided for because they cannot work or otherwise find the means to provide for themselves
Social Security Act
1935 provided old-age pensions and other benefits for retired workers as it expanded, went to cover the vast majority of Americans: al wage earners, temporarily unemployed workers seeing work, survivors of eligible workers, the elderly, and disable persons
Frances Perkins
1935, Secretary of Labor urged by an influential friend to leave Washington for the summer if she possible could because of expectations of widespread violence
National Defense Education Fund
1958 national policy under this fund was specifically aimed at improving education in science and mathematics
Politics of Welfare Reform
1960s-1990s: opinion polls consistently showed that the public viewed welfare beneficiaries as "undeserving" judgment was the belief that welfare recipients did not want to work Progressive Era reformers designed AFDC and wanted single mothers to stay at homed with their children Common criticisms charges that welfare recipients were taking advantage of the system, that they were irresponsible people who refused to work by 1973, approximately 46% of welfare recipients were black, but media portrayals helped create the widespread perception that the vast majority of welfare recipients were black modest work requirement in 1967 see 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 2002: Democrats proposed changes that would make the welfare law "an anti-poverty weapon" Republicans, by contrast, proposed stricter work requirements and advocated programs designed to promote marriage among welfare recipients caseloads began to rise again in 2001, as a result of recession, both sides were attentive to new problems 2009: federal government made $5 billion in stimulus funds available to the states to help meet welfare needs and Obama proposed making welfare benefits available to a larger number of poor Americans
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
1965 general fund aid for elementary and secondary education allocated funds to school districts with a substantial number of children whose families were unemployed or earning less than $2,000 a year
Goldberg v. Kelly
1970, Supreme Court held that the financial benefits of AFDC could not be revoked without due process, which made it much harder for govt. to terminate those benefits if the welfare benefit were truly a property right, Congress would have not authority it by a mere majority vote thus the est. of in-kind benefit programs and the legal obstacles involved in terminating benefits contributed to the growth of the welfare state
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
Clinton's major achievements: increase the earned income tax credit allows working parents whose annual income falls below ~$45,000 to file through their income tax return for an income supplement of up to $5,000 "if you work, you shouldn't be poor." Congressional Republicans proposed a much more dramatic reform of welfare and Clinton, faced with re-election in 1996, signed the legislation repealed AFDC block grants to the states and allowed states much more discretion in designing their cash-assistance programs to needy family restricting recipients to tow years of assistance and creating a lifetime limit of 5 years new work requirement on those receiving welfare, and it kept most legal immigrants from receiving benefits AIM: reduced welfare caseload, promoted work, and reduce out-of-wedlock births families receiving assistance dropped by 61 percent nationwide former welfare recipients have been more successful at finding and keeping jobs than many critics of the law predicted many families eligible for food stamps and Medicaid stopped receiving these benefits when they left the welfare rolls BUT IT HAS DONE LITTLE TO REDUCE POVERTY
Democrats, Republicans and Obama debt commission's plans to save Social Security
Democrats plan is to tax the working class more to pay into social security. Republicans want to cut benefits and privatize social security. Obama wants the same thing that the Democrats want
What can or should be done to save Social Security?
Either tax the working class more for it, or cut benefits for recipients, or increase age when you start collecting social security
Paternalism -Give a few examples of paternalism in welfare reform/TANF?
Example: Hope Act -Prohibits Welfare recipients from withdrawing more than $25 a day and on goods that can be purchased... **Restrictions on what they can buy, but also when taking out money they have to do it all on different days-->increasing the amount of fees they have to pay to all withdrawals. Example: Aid to Dependent Children (1935-1960) -Suitable provisions (people could be denied ADC because of moral evaluations of women's fitness of raising a child). -Man in the house rule (women caught if another assumed man, would be terminated). **House investigations
Medicare
Federal health care plan created in 1965 that provides coverage for retired Americans for hospital care, medical care, and prescription drugs
Social Security Trust Fund
Financial accounts in the U.S. Treasury. There are two separate Social Security trust funds, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund pays retirement and survivors benefits, and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund pays disability benefits.
Great Society and New Deal programs
Great Society (1960s) was a term coined by LBJ, this time period brought along policies like Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, public housing. New Deal policies (1930s) were enacted by FDR, included social security, aid to families with dependent children, agricultural adjustment act
What are the main arguments why this reform was necessary?
Helps pay for the baby boomer's retirement, takes care of people who previously couldn't afford to have health insurance
Agenda
How a bill becomes a bill 1. any member of Congress can propose a bill 2. read once by presiding officer 3. referred to a committee 4. it can die after a long waiting period 5. to survive, it has to be moved up to a higher priority, the real agenda of Congress getting it on the policy agenda--most creative phase of the entire policy-making process prime function of the two major parties, probably their most important function, to compose the agenda, enforce the order of priority, control the time allotted, and provide and police the procedures governing debate and passage
the welfare state
Idea that the government of a state is there for people to be dependent on
What are the main features of health care reform?
Idea that the government should have a greater role in society, forces people to have health insurance
Welfare Reform (1996) -Combined with the other policy changes of the 1990's (especially the expansion of EITC and establishment of CHIP), who were the "winners" and "losers" of these policy changes?
Losers: The children are not being pulled out of poverty as much as AFDC legislation provided. --> Those who struggle to find stable work have fared very poorly since welfare reform-->rise in deep poverty. Winners: The working poor, especially families have seen a significant increase of social support since the early 1990's: -EITC -Child Tax credits -Food stamp liberalization -SCHIP
How does Theodore Lowi argue that political relationships in the policy making process are determined by the type of policy that's at stake?
Lowi argues that different types of public policies produce different patterns of participation. Public policies can be classified as distributive, regulatory, or redistributive, each with its own distinctive "arena of power"
Submerged State -What's wrong with submerged state policies according to Mettler?
Metler believes that the submerged state interferes with the process and relationship between citizens and the democracy government present in the United States. This is because the democracy system depends on the citizens having the means and capacity to form meaningful opinions about acts of governance. But the Submerged state makes it difficult for citizens to develop their values and opinions of its policies because citizens have limited or faulty information about the submerged state--or even never heard of it. This is because the submerged state conducts governance through "smoke and mirrors"--causing confusion amongst citizens and blinding them to its true size, growth, and upwardly distributive effects--or even its very existence. In order to defeat the submerged state, one must begin with the nation-wide recognition of it in order to remove the "smoke and mirrors" effect. --> For mettler problem is not that were subsidizing for hc for middle class, the problem is that people don't see the govt providing this benefit and see that it was provided by the market (employer)
expansion of medicaid under obamacare
Now it includes more people that's covered by obamacare
Redistributive policies
Policies, generally favored by Democratic politicians, that use taxation to attempt to create greater social equality
Social Security
Policy developed in the1930s, government retirement program for old people paid for by working class through taxes
What's the problem that the nation currently faces with entitlement programs, especially Social Security?
Problem is that there are a lot of promises yet we're running out of money to pay for all of these promises
TANF welfare reform
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is a welfare program that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 1996, eliminating the entitlement status of welfare, shifting implementation of the policy to the states, and introducing several new restrictions on receiving aid. These changes led to a significant decrease in the number of welfare recipients
the "ownership society"
Term used to describe the social policy vision of George W. Bush, in which citizens take responsibility for their own social welfare and the free market plays a greater role in social policy
Submerged State -What is the submerged state (definition)? -What are some classic examples of submerged state policies? -How do these policies shower more benefits on the upper middle class and the rich than on the poor and middle class?
The "Submerged state" includes a conglomeration of federal policies that function by providing incentives, subsidies, or payments to private organizations or households to encourage or reimburse them for conducting activities deemed to serve a public purpose. (One Detailed Example) Take the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction (HMID), for example, which is currently the nation's most expensive social tax break aside from the tax-free status of employer-provided health coverage. If a family buys a median-value home and to finance it borrows $230k at an interest rate of 6.25% for 30 years. The richer the household, the larger the benefit: in the first year, the average family , with an income between $16,751 and $68,000, would owe around $3,619 less in taxes; those in the next income group, with earnings up to $137,300, would reap an extra $5,146; and so forth, on up to the wealthiest 2% of families, with incomes over $373,650, who would enjoy a savings of $6,673. Low-to moderate-income Americans usually do not have enough deductions to itemize, so they would forgo this benefit and receive instead only the standard deduction. Meanwhile, the most affluent are likely to purchase a far more expensive home; (purchasing a home of $500k); they;d receive a benefit of $14,506. Other Examples: 1) Student Loans --> without the government, due to our age, it would be unlikely for a private bank or organization to loan us money. Therefore, the government provides loans to students through the social tax break. 2) Incentives 3) Subsidies-->High-income people have long been most likely to gain employment in positions that offer health insurance and have had the good fortune of being covered by more generous plans. **The average subsidy for households with incomes between $200k and $500k is over three times the average subsidy for those in the $10k to $20k range, $4,791 compared to $1,535. 4) tax-exempt healthcare, Retirement Benefits (tax-free retirement benefits)
Different Health Care options
There are different options for each situation, depending on level of income and other factors
What are the arguments against health care reform?
Too much Government intervention, should the Government be able to force you to have health insurance
Contributory and non-contributory programs
Types of social policy. Contributory is social security, medicare, unemployment compensation. non-contributory is medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance
health insurance exchanges
Various ways that people can transfer their health insurance coverage to that of the affordable care act
What are the arguments for and against the welfare system?
Welfare system is good because it takes care of those that otherwise couldn't afford to take care of themselves. Problem is that it makes people feel dependent on the Government for everything, there's no incentive to get off of welfare
Paternalism -Be able to compare Mead and Soss & Schram's takes on paternalism: -What is it? -Whose interests does it serve? -Are punitive policies paternalistic?** -Is paternalism conservative or liberal? -Why are people poor? -Is paternalism old or is it new?
What is Paternalism?: -Mead: Conditionally of the giving of welfare for recipients based on behavior There's an implicit social contract that govt provides social assistance but expects the public to behave in a certain way (Obligations such as work.) -->"Comes from the idea of father knowing what is best for the child." -Soss & Schram: Imposing moral programs on the poor in order to control them rather than uplift them ------- Old or New?: -Soss & Schram: Old because policies emerged a long time ago in an attempt to control the poor. -Mead: New because policies were not meant to deny in the past as the patrol were charities, but now it is the federal government. --------- Why are people poor?: -Mead: Because they can't take care of themselves, their behaviors are part of the problem. If only we can create a system that limits behavior, then poor people won't be poor again -Soss & Schram: Societal stigma; largely because of luck (circumstantial) but definitely structural barriers; policies created by stereotypes worsen the status. -------- Why did it emerge?: -Mead: says its not an issue about budgets, because budget were tights and we needed to save money—> because paternalism cost money, it's expensive. The republican approach would be to cut programs, public opinion has a lot to do with policies. The public cares (very least at children) but also image of poor people and how they live their lives. So they want to enforcement. -Soss & Schram: Through old practices. Racism is a huge part of the story. Public opinion laced w racism pointing a finger at neoliberalism. These policies mobilize conservative coalition against the enemy: the poor. The demonization of the poor and the need to regulate the lives of poor. If you pass laws that force recipients to take drug tests, fraud detection, spend $ on luxuries—> you're telling the public that these people are drug addicts, fraud... demonize the poor and unionize the conservatives. ------- Is paternalism conservative or liberal?: -Mead: Issue that divides conservatives, if you believe in small govt then paternalistic policies are not something you're interested in. If liberal, you want those policies, the government can do something to alleviate problem. Conservatives: poverty is a problem, poor should have aid programs but it shouldn't be provided by govt but by market. -Soss & Schram: Both democrats and conservatives have used it politically, its a purple issue. It started with conservatives but became bipartisan because republicans target democrats as soft on crime, so Clinton adopts a stricter version. -------- •Whose interests does paternalism serve?: -Mead: Serves both the interest of society as a whole as well as of the most needed. Govt act like a parent whose child can't behave to their best interest. It's not that poor don't value work, but in reality they dont have the capability to do it themselves. -Soss & Schram: Serves the interest of the ruling class, 1% Hope act prohibits welfare recipients to withdraw >$25/day. ATM only gives $20, $1 fee to bank. (Doesn't serve interest of poor.)
Social Safety Net
a collection of services provided by the state or other institutions such as friendly societies, including welfare, unemployment benefit, universal healthcare, homeless shelters, and sometimes subsidized services such as public transport, which prevent individuals from falling into poverty
Medicaid
a federally financed, state-operated program for medical services to low-income people est. in 1965, extended medical services to all low-income persons who have already established eligibility through means testing under TANF government significantly expanded its publicity efforts to encourage dependent unemployed to establish their eligibility for these programs
means testing
a procedure that determines eligibility for government public-assistance programs a potential beneficiary must show a need and an inability to provide for that need
Head Start
a program specifically designed to enhance educational opportunities for poor and minority children
contributory program
a social program financed in whole or in part by taxation or other mandatory contributions by its present or future recipients the most important examples is Social Security, which is finance by a payroll tax forced savings
noncontributory program
a social program that assists people based on demonstrated need rather contributions they have made; also known as public assistance program aka as welfare until 1996, most important one of these was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), originally called Aid to Dependent Children (ADC)--founded in 1935 by the original Social Security Act; replaced with TANF 1935-1965: govt. created programs to provide housing assistance, school lunches, and food stamps to other needy Americans most significant advances in the 1960s and 1970s with est. of Medicaid federal rather than nation: grants-in-aid are provided by the national government to the states as incentives to establish the programs --> considerable disparities in levels of old-age benefits from state to state real federal spending on AFDC did not rise after the mid 1970s AFDC was not indexed to inflation; without COLAs, the value of AFDC benefits fell by 1/3 more over, the largest noncontributory welfare program, Medicaid, actually devotes less than 1/3 of its expenditures to poor families; the rest goes to the disabled and the elderly in nursing homes
equality of opportunity
a universally shared American ideal, according to which all people have the freedom to use whatever talents and wealth they possess to reach their full potential no general agreement about what government should do to address inequality: groups that have suffered from past inequality generally support more extensive governmental action to promote equality of opportunity than do others our policies have not solved the problem of unequal opportunity
undeserving poor
able-bodied persons unwilling to work, transients, or others of whom, for various reasons, the community did not approve
Social Security Trust Fund
all contributions for Social Security are deposited in this fund that officially earns interest at the average level for U.S. government securities myth! U.S. Treasury regularly borrows money from the trust fund and leaves IOUs to hide--softening the impression of--the true national debt
11.6 percent
as late as 1928, only "x" percent of all relief granted in 15 of the largest cities came from public funds
Let's see how far we've come
controversies over the welfare state have led to adaptations in welfare policy in recent years similar controversies over affirmative action policies--those that determine who shall be poor--have led to gradual changes in civil rights policies the U.S. has a long way to go before it constructs a truly just, "equally protected" society federal govt. has become an active partner in ensuring civil rights and political equality all explicit de jure barriers to minorities have been dismantled equality of opportunity has produced unequal results, and the unequal results of one generation can be visited upon later generations yet efforts to reduce the inequalities or eliminate the consequences of prejudice can produce their own injustices if government intervention is poorly planned or too heavy-handed
means-tests
eligibility to receive benefits is based on demonstrated needs
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
est. in 1974 to address disparities in implementation of Medicaid from state to state a program providing a minimum monthly income to people who pass a means test and are 65 years or older, blind, or disabled SSI is financed from general revenues that are not Social Security contributions no state is permitted to provide benefits below the minimum level set by the national government --> 25 states increased their SSI benefits to the mandated level
Distributive policies
extend goods and services to members of an organization, as well as distributing the costs of the goods/services amongst the members of the organization
No Child Left Behind Act
federal role in education was substantially increased by President George W. Bush's signature education act, "x", signed in 2002 which created stronger federal requirements for testing and school accountability requires that every child in grades 3-8 be tested yearly for proficiency in math and reading strong congressional opposition to creating a national tests, so the states are responsible for setting standards and devising appropriate tests difficult to implement critics argue that yearly test results are too volatile to provide a good measure of the school's performance and that failing schools have been made weaker as motivated parents transferred their children out of them ironic because Republicans complained about "unfunded mandates" but then here was them doing the same thing federal money aimed at the poorest students DID increase by 1/3 2011: Obama introduced revisions in the program's testing requirement that would show federal schools failing under the law and gave the states more leeway in the law's implementation
Politics of Reforming Social Security
for more than half of all American workers, Social Security is their only pension the program faces demographic pressure as the ratio between contribution workers and retirees has declined from a comfortable 16 contributors to one retiree in the 1950s downward toward three contributors to one retiree today why? baby boomers aged 60 beginning in 2010 low ratio of contributors to retirees couple with projected higher life expectancies could stress the system turned out to be a pay-as-you-go program in which today's youth take care of today's aged 1940s: to safeguard the reserve (the trust fund) by having the Treasury invest the contributions in private securities, earning interest and at the same time keeping the reserve safely away from politics and government social security taxes must be increased and the retirement age must be raised to maintain the program's solvency in 1935, after all, 60 seemed reasonable and the average life expectancy was barely 60
3/5
given the filibuster rule in the Senate, it takes a "x" to get it on the real agenda and an up-or-down roll call vote
in-kind benefits
goods and services provided to needy individuals and family by the federal government, as contrasted with cast benefits. The largest in-kind federal welfare program is food stamps
welfare
government involvement in charitable activities until the end of the 19th century, government involvement was slight
presidential initiative
government's agenda is equally a presidential concern president's party and Congress depend on the president to mobilize the public in support of key issues 2013: Obama mobilized social policy most important when the policy at issue is a redistributive social policy, because mass support on either side of such an issue is so much more difficult to mobilize than the support that is already mobilized and well organized by the interest groups that dominate in the regulatory and promotion field of public policy
Poverty Line
if you live below this line/threshold, seen as impoverished annually adjusted for inflation 2013: $19,530 for a family of three, $23,550 for a family of four nearly 50 million Americans live in poverty, by the definition 10 percent of whites 26 percent of hispanics 27 percent of African Americans 20 percent of children live in poverty minorities, women and children disproportionately live in poverty stem from the position of these groups in the labor market minority workers tend to have low-wage jobs, more likely become unemployed and remain unemployed for longer periods of time African Americans typically have experienced twice as much unemployment as other Americans more likely to fall into the precarious categories of the working poor or the nonworking poor
Obamacare
in 2010, Obama administration rolled out a major expansion of federal health care policy: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was designed to ensure that tens of millions of Americans who could not afford health insurance would have access to at least basic coverage expanded Medicaid and children's health insurance programs and imposes a number of regulations upon health care providers aimed at cutting health care costs Republicans also feared an enormous new entitlement program might substantially expand the Democratic Party's base of support as Social Security had in the 1930s believed the expansion of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a bastion of Democratic influence in Washington 2012: Supreme Court upheld major provisions of the Act, including individual mandate (but Republicans still have vowed to abolish it) 2013: Obama administration delayed implementation of key provision of the act-the requirement that employers provide health insurance--to 2015
Congressional Quarterly
in February 2005, this magazine led of its cover story with the headline: "The Real Crisis Waits Its Turn: Looming Medicare Crunch Dwarfs the... Social Security Shortfall"
Otto von Bismarck
in support of welfare: "I will consider it a great advantage when we have 700,000 small pensioners drawing their annuities from the state, especially if they belong to those classes who otherwise do not have much to lose by an upheaval and erroneously believe they can actually gain much by it" hella pessimistic
Education: The Policy Principle in Action
institutional processes (ambition + institutions = policies) schools soon objected to the expensive new obligations the law placed upon their schools states were required to improve student performance by providing such new services as supplemental tutoring, longer school days, and additional summer schools 2004: several states were refusing to implement NCLB and several states along with the National Education Association even sued the federal government on the grounds that Congress had not provided them enough money thus the Obama administration gradually allowed the states to opt out of the requirements in the case NCLB, institutional context worked against a policy maker's ambition b/c the institutions chosen to implement the president's program, namely the states, were not fully convinced of the value of the effort and certainly were not willing to spend their own funds to achieve the presidents goals --> NCLB being undermined another controversy: issue of school choice (allowing students to move from failing schools means that these failing schools are just left even worse off) most controversial? school-voucher movement, which calls for parents to be given vouchers to enroll their children in the school of their choice, whether public or private defray the cost of tuition at chosen private school supporters claim that public education system is too bureaucratic to provide quality education after several years of trial use, vouchers remain fairly popular in principle, but the data on their comparative success are not clear enough to provide a clear verdict lastly: charter schools publicly funded school but are free from the bureaucratic rules and regulations of the school district in which they are located must be issued a charter Charter schools are free to design specialized curricula and use resources in ways that administrators think most effect est. in Minnesota in 1990 class biased? opportunity for school choice will skim off the best students in the problem schools and thus doom those schools to continued mediocrity or failure
Politics of Social Policy
interest groups mass opinion, political parties, and public appeals interact at all levels with representative institutions, culminating in legislation that passes into the agencies of the new executive branch for implementation social policies tend to be redistributive, and thus controversial because even small changes can have enormous consequences for large numbers of citizens often result in a significant transfer of income from the upper-income brackets to the lower once a social policy is adopted, though, it tends to remain on the statute books as though it were untouchable care should be taken her not to let the politics of policy making overshadow the significance of agenda
Regulatory policies
limit the discretion of individuals and agencies, or otherwise compel certain types of behavior. These policies are generally thought to be best applied when good behavior can be easily defined and bad behavior can be easily regulated and punished through fines or sanctions.
American Dream
material success and social acceptance opportunity to rise as high as their talents will take them
January 2013
month in which Obama's inaugural address took place that launched his second term in office, Obama declared that the beneficiaries of social programs were not "takers" who weakened the nation by undermining Americans' sense of initiative social programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid "strengthen us"
Medicare
national health insurance for the elderly and the disabled biggest expansion in contributory programs after 1935 est. in 1965, it was set up to provide substantial medical services to elderly persons who are already eligible to receive Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance through their contributions under the original Social Security system like social security, not means tested a major role is given to the private health care industry by essentially limiting Medicare to the role of third-party payer there is little government control over the quality of the services and the level of fees that health care providers charge 2003 drug benefit championed by the Bush administration, adding billions every year to the government's outlays
feminization of poverty
political analysts have begun to talk about the fact that women are more likely to be poor than men are especially true for single mothers who are twice as likely to fall below poverty line when Social Security Act was passed in 1935, the main programs for poor women were ADC and Survivors Insurance for widows but the social model behind SSA was still that men were the breadwinner with a wife and children, and thus did not anticipate today's large number of single women heading families made AFDC more controversial "Why shouldn't welfare recipients work if the majority of women who are not on welfare work?" --> requiring that mothers of toddlers be looking for work in order to qualify for welfare beneftis
social policy
programs promoting a range of public goods 1. protect against the risk and insecurities that most people face over the course of their lives (most spending on social programs goes to programs for the elderly that serve these purposes, such as Social Security and medical insurance)--least controversial 2. promoting equality of opportunity 3. assisting the poor--alleviate poverty most controversy, because Americans seem to suspect that the able-bodied poor will no try to support themselves if they are offered "too much" assistance or if they receive the wrong kind also recognition, though, that poverty may be the product of past inequality of opportunity economic and social transformations pose new challenges and often alter public views about what government should do today, the increased number of women in the labor force and the growth in single-parent households have prompted calls fro more government assistance to help people combine work and family responsibilities more effectively at the same time growing budget deficits have led to demands for cuts in social spending
Social Security
social insurance a contributory welfare program into which working Americans place a percentage of their wages and from which they receive cash benefits after retirement under the original retirement program, Old-Age Insurance, the employer and the employee were required to pay equal amounts-1937, 1 percent of the first $3,000 of wages now? 6.2 percent of the first $113,700 of income for SS benefits, plus 1.45% of all earnings for Medicare individuals must pay an additional .9 percent on earnings over $200,000 for Medicare employers pay an additional 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare not real insurance: workers' contributions do not accumulate in a personal account as an annuity does, thus contributors do not receive benefits in proportion to their contributions
entitlement
the eligibility for benefits by virtue of a category defined by law. Categories can be changed only by legislation; deprivation of individual benefits can be determined only through due process in Court a class of government benefits with a status similar to that of property
food stamps
the largest in-kind benefits program, administered by the USDA, for individuals and families who satisfy a means test. Food stamps can be used to buy food at most grocery stores now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP debit cards that are used to buy food
George Wills
the man who said "to reconcile the masses to the...hazards of ...industrial economy" especially when those come to head as quickly as they did in the 1930s in explaining the necessity of welfare
indexing
the process of periodically adjusting social benefits or wages to account for increases in the cost of living use of COLAs (cost of living adjustments) based on consumer price index to determine this
individual mandate
the requirement of ACA to maintain health insurance
Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787
these two acts that preceded the Constitution, provided for a survey of all the public lands in the Northwest Territory and required that four of the 36 acres in each township be reserved for public schools and their maintenance
Martin Gilens
this man showed through his study how racial stereotypes of blacks as uncommitted to the work ethic reinforced public opposition to welfare
James Madison
this person in his right of Federal 51 wrote: Justice is the end of government It is the end of civil society It ever has been and ever will be pursued Until it be obtained, Or until liberty be lost in pursuit
Federal Insurance Contributions Act
this tax, as Social Security is formally known, sends the message that people cannot be trusted to save voluntarily to take care of their retirement needs
Civil Rights
took the 1954 Supreme Court decision and 10 years of mass movements coupled with the assassination of JFK to get the first serious "x" bill on Congress's agenda
Morrill Act
until 1862, with the adoption of this Act, that Congress took a third step--establishing the land-grant colleges and universities
deserving poor
widows, orphans, and others dependent by some misfortune beyond their control, such as national disaster, injury, or effects of war
1988
year in which, for AFDC, imposed stricter work requirements but also provided additional support services, such as child care and transportation assistance reflected a consensus that effective reform entailed a combination of sticks (work requirement) and carrots (extra services to make work possible) also identified absent parents (usually fathers) and enforced child-support paments
