Means Tested Programs

1. Means Tested Programs Welfare- TANF Source: Brookings

2. Quiz – Overview and Misconceptions of Welfare • Attitudes about Welfare –Ideology • Race and Welfare • Welfare Reform • Why Judging Reform Success is So Complex

3. First a True False Test of your knowledge on Welfare/TANF A good deal of information and misinformation abounds in common knowledge.

6. Answers:

11. SCHIP Prescriptions for seniors FDA CDC UI Food Stamps HUD EITC SSI “Welfare” Public School College Loans One Stop Centers VESID

12. Begin from the reason for means-tested policy. Poverty

13. Census Bureau • uses set of money income thresholds • vary by family size and composition to determine who is poor • poverty thresholds do not vary geographically; • updated annually for inflation but they have not kept pace with rising real incomes Since some argue it over estimates and others that it underestimates, the primary importance of the poverty line in the United States is analyzing changes over time Stratification by Social Class • The thresholds in 2000 were: • 1-person under 65: $9,214 • 3-person family (adult & 2 children): 14,269 • 4-person family (adult & 3 children): 18,022 • Quiz question: 4 http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p60-236.pdf Note: The data points represent the midpoints of the respective years. The latestrecession began in July 1990 and ended in March 1991. Source: Figure 1 in Joseph Dalaker. 2001. Poverty in the United States: 2000. Current Population Reports Series P60-214. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also accessible at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty00.html. Source: U.S. Census Bureau Source: Brookings

14. Census Bureau • uses set of money income thresholds • vary by family size and composition to determine who is poor • poverty thresholds do not vary geographically; • updated annually for inflation but they have not kept pace with rising real incomes Since some argue it over estimates and others that it underestimates, the primary importance of the poverty line in the United States is analyzing changes over time Numbers in millions, rates in percent Recession 45 40 Number in poverty 35 31.1 million 30 25 20 15 Poverty rate 11.3 percent 10 5 0 1959 1964 1969 1974 1979 1984 1989 1994 2000 Stratification by Social Class Number of Poor and Poverty Rate: 1959 to 2000 • The thresholds in 2000 were: • 1-person under 65: $9,214 • 3-person family (adult & 2 children): 14,269 • 4-person family (adult & 3 children): 18,022 • Quiz question: 4 Note: The data points represent the midpoints of the respective years. The latestrecession began in July 1990 and ended in March 1991. Source: Figure 1 in Joseph Dalaker. 2001. Poverty in the United States: 2000. Current Population Reports Series P60-214. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Also accessible at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty00.html. Source: U.S. Census Bureau Source: Brookings

15. As with unemployment, median income and poverty are affected by recessions. The median household income adjusted for inflation fell to $49,445 in 2010, a 7 percent decrease from a peak in 1999. The last time American households earned less than a median of $50,000 was in 1996. Meanwhile, the nation’s poverty rate reached 15.1 percent in 2010, the highest level since 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/13/us/income-poverty-rate-at-1990s-levels.html?ref=us

16. Source: 2010 Census, 2006-2010 American Community Survey, Legal Momentum's "Reading Between the Lines: Women's Poverty in the United States, 2010" Credit: Stephanie d'Otreppe, Nicole Cohen, JoElla Straley/NPR http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156387172/poverty-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

17. http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156387172/poverty-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

18. http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156387172/poverty-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

19. http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156387172/poverty-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

20. History of Government Assistance in the United States Social Security Act of 1935 (Great Depression) Social Security, pensions for elderly Unemployment compensation Aid to mothers with dependent children Later became AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) In 1996 it became TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996) Commonly Known as Welfare

21. http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/takeitfromme/abouttheissues.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/takeitfromme/abouttheissues.html • Was an entitlement • States had discretion primarily over setting income eligibility limits and benefit levels • Originally intended primarily for widows, AFDC increasingly served never-married mothers • Beginning in early 1990s, states increasingly used waivers to try new approaches to reducing welfare dependence Data Source: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/stats/3697.htm

23. Applying for Welfare (TANF): Investigative LensQuiz Question # 9 • Section1 • One Application for Many Needs: Programs often combined All Means-Tested Quiz Question # 10 • Section 3 • Name required, not anonymous -- Fraud Q 13-14 • Section 4 • Problem-Oriented/ Based on need/Residual • Section 8 • Like Poverty Level, Depends on # in Family, and Citizenship Important

24. Section 9 • Absent Parent, Child Support Enforcement • Section 13 & 17 • Means, not income tested Applying for Welfare (TANF): Investigative LensQuiz Question # 9 • Last Page Top Left Consent (3 from bottom) • Must consent to an investigation Fraud Quiz Questions # 14 & 17

25. Quiz Question # 9 http://www.cartoonwork.com/archive/socio-econcartoons/welfare-experience.htm

26. Shift to part B – Welfare Reform

27. www.claybennett.com/pages/welffare_reform.html

28. Two Views of Poverty ??? • Conservative ??? • Liberal • The poor are victims of their circumstances and do not have opportunities to advance • The poor are responsible for their circumstances and do not take advantage of available opportunities Source: Brookings

29. Source: Mark Rank. 2004. One Nation, Underprivileged. Oxford University Press. P.80 Two Views of Poverty ??? • Conservative ??? • Liberal • The poor are victims of their circumstances and do not have opportunities to advance • The poor are responsible for their circumstances and do not take advantage of available opportunities Source: Brookings

30. Reading Q # 4 What are the 4 different ideologies profiled by Jansson? Ideal Types • Libertarians • Conservatives • Liberals • Radicals • 8 grps of 3 or 4, guess ideology then unite a’s and b’s to see if they match and decide on final answer.

31. 1a A CONSERVATIVE PERSPECTIVE “MY CONCLUSION IS …[THAT] IN ADDITION TO ITS STRONG MORAL BASE IN PERSONAL FREEDOM, CAPITALISM AND COMPETITIVE MARKETS WORK TO DELIVER SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC PROGRESS;…BUREAUCRATIC WELFARE STATE[S] DO NOT WORK. THEY SAP INDIVIDUAL INCENTIVE, INITIATIVE AND CREATIVITY AND ULTIMATELY CANNOT DELIVER SUFFICIENTLY RISING STANDARDS OF LIVING TO MEET THE EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR CITIZENS….” MICHAEL BOSKIN CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS DURING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION • Source: Katz MSU

32. 1b CONSERVATIVES • XXX’s argue that, especially in its more advanced European forms, the WS has become a dangerous anachronism. By requiring high taxes, the WS deprives society of needed investment resources and saddles employers with workers who feel that they are “owed” a living---by the state if not by the boss! • XXX’s concede that the WS may once have been fiscally tolerable (if never politically or economically desirable) but argue that it should now be dismantled because its extravagances are unsustainable in our age of intensified global competition. Indeed advanced nations that continue to adhere to old-style “welfarism” risk permanent inferiority within the emerging postindustrial division of labor. • XXX’s believe, that federal government in welfare is not good, however, involvement in international policy and in supporting business through subsidies etc. is good. • Source: Katz MSU

33. 2 a A LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE “I’m often asked if I’m a XXX, and I say, ‘Well, if Jack Kennedy was a XXX or… Franklin Roosevelt was a XXX, then I’m a XXX.’ This is not 1960, and it’s not 1932. We’re in a completely different world than then. But I believe in opportunity, and I believe in…fairness. The only way this country prospers is if everybody is sharing in the prosperity. I think my party has uniquely stood for that…,where government can be an active partner with the private sector in moving the country forward….” RICHARD GEPHARDT DEMOCRATIC LEADER, US HOUSE OF REPRESENATIVES. • Source: Katz MSU

34. 2 b LIBERALS • XXX support a moderately high level of social services, but tend to favor equality of opportunity more than equality of social condition. They do believe that society has a duty to help the poor and oppressed, and to make appropriate arrangements for the young and elderly, but they would not go as far as social democrats and other radicals in the pursuit of these goals. • Many XXX also believe that the educated elite should lead society and that the power of rational persuasion (“ideas” again) are sufficient to convince voters of the moral correctness of their aims; they are thus “idealists” in the strictly philosophical sense of the term. • The dominant political ideology during certain periods of 20th century American history, classic reform XXX reached its high tide during the Johnson years (1963 - 68). While still strongly supported by minorities, intellectuals, femininists, and various other groups, XXX has essentially been on the defensive ever since. Indeed, the “X” word is now often shunned even by XXX’s themselves, who are afraid of alienating voters. Many XXX’s accordingly now prefer to be called “progressives.” That has not increased their electoral popularity, however. • Source: Katz MSU

35. 3 a A RADICAL PERSPECTIVE “THE CENTRAL QUESTION…IS WHETHER AND UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES THE CLASS DIVISIONS AND SOCIAL INEQUALITIES PRODUCED BY CAPITALISM CAN BE UNDONE BY [LEGISLATIVE] DEMOCRACY.” GOSTA ESPING-ANDERSEN RADICAL WELFARE STATE ANALYST • Source: Katz MSU

36. 3 b RADICALS • To understand the WS, XX’s contend you must first understand the relative political strength of the principal classes (“forces”) in capitalist society:---on the one hand, the asset-owning rich (“capitalists”) and the top managers who work directly for them; on the other, ordinary wage - dependent workers in potential political alliance with the “new middle class” of technical/professional workers. • Distinct social classes can have distinctly different perceptions of their interests and, hence, different attitudes towards social welfare programs and the Welfare State. Blue-collar workers may well look to the WS for socially – financed protections against the uncertainties of life under capitalism, whereas owners see the WS as blocking their quest for a “free market” system in which worker resistance & government intervention are minimized. • XX’s thus view politics largely in terms of coalition-building, since failure to form such alliances means that, as in the US, the WS is likely to be limited. • Source: Katz MSU

37. 4 a A LIBERTARIAN PERSPECTIVE IMAGINE AN AMERICA WHERE CHILDREN HAVE ACCESS TO A BROAD SPECTRUM OF WORLD-CLASS EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES. WHERE SCHOOLS SPARK THE IMAGINATION AND TEACH THE FUNDAMENTALS— CONSISTENT WITH YOUR VALUES. IMAGINE AN AMERICA WHERE POLITICIANS DON’T DOLE OUT BILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS TO WEALTHY COMPANIES LIKE GENERAL MOTORS, AT&T, AND EXXON. WHERE THE RICH NEVER GET RICHER WITH YOUR TAX MONEY. IS THAT THE KIND OF AMERICA YOU WANT TO LIVE IN?…. IT’S TIME TO KICK RONALD MCDONALD OFF WELFARE. THE RED-HAIRED CLOWN IS THE MASCOT FOR MCDONALDS -THE FAST-FOOD CORPORATION THAT RUNS 30,000 RESTAURANTS IN 121 COUNTRIES AND EARNS $40 BILLION A YEAR IN REVENUE. BUT EVEN AS MCDONALDS RAKES IN MASSIVE PROFITS, IT’S ALSO CASHING WELFARE CHECKS FROM THE GOVERNMENT. A FEW YEARS AGO, POLITICIANS GAVE THE CORPORATION $1.6 MILLION TO HELP IT ADVERTISE BIG MACS IN EUROPE....IT’S CALLED CORPORATE WELFARE, AND IT’S HOW DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS ENRICH THEIR BIG-BUSINESS FRIENDS — AT TAXPAYERS’ EXPENSE. Libertarian Viewpoint Newsletter, Issue 1 Volume 1. Source: http://www.lp.org/services/files/libviewpdf.pdf

38. 4 b LIBERTARIANS • Because of their emphasis on free markets, many XX are called conservative. But XX also think people should be free to pursue "sex, drugs, and rock & roll," if that's what they want to do. This live-and-let-live attitude makes XX very difficult to pigeonhole in the traditional left-right paradigm. • As one publication explains: [THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SAYS]“GOVERNMENTS ARE INSTITUTED AMONG MEN, DERIVING THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED...” NOTE WHAT COMES FIRST:YOUR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. THE GOVERN-MENT FOLLOWS. TODAY, THAT EQUATION HAS BEEN REVERSED. TOO FREQUENTLY, THE GOVERNMENT COMES FIRST. AND OUR “UNALIENABLE RIGHTS” COME SECOND. OR NOT AT ALL. XXX’S ARE WORKING TO CHANGE THAT. IN FACT, WE HAVE SOME BOLD, INNOVATIVE IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO START BUILDING A BETTER AMERICA. Source: http://www.lp.org/services/files/libviewpdf.pdf

39. Even though these ideal types tend to be aligned with major political parties… • There is much variation within parties and, • There is much variation over time