Ch 19 Notes

· Chapter 19 Notes

· Government payments to individuals as a percentage of the federal budget have almost doubled since 1960

· As of 1995, 60 cents of every dollar spent goes to payments for individuals

· The welfare debate is an example of the modern dilemma of government, the choice between freedom and equality

· The ideological origins of social welfare as government policy are in the Industrial Revolution, when production shifted from the home to the factory

· A major result of the Great Depression was to increase the economic role of the federal government

· The New Deal was a package of programs that was not guided by, or based on, a single political or economic theory

· The New Deal consisted of two basic elements: (1) boosting prices and lowering unemployment; (2) aiding specific groups of disadvantaged people

· The Supreme Court opposed the New Deal on the belief that Congress was exceeding its Constitutional authority

· Equality was the underlying value of LBJ’s Great Society

· Kennedy’s domestic policies included limited programs for the poor along with a middle class tax cut

· Originally, the War on Poverty sought to involve the poor themselves in administering anti-poverty programs; its major legal component was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

· Regarding the reasons for poverty, Americans cite lack of effort by the poor and uncontrollable circumstances about equally

· In social welfare policy, Reagan shifted the emphasis from economic equality to economic freedom

· Reagan’s legacy, the budget deficit, continued to make any spending increases on social welfare policy impractical even after he left office

· Reagan effectively reversed the New Deal


· Those who opposed Medicare in the 1960’s were correct in the prediction that it would become enormously expensive


· Medicare provides care to those age 65 and older; Medicaid provides care to poor people under 65


· Compare to the western European democracies, the United States provides its citizens the lowest level of health benefits


· More than 14% of the US GDP is spent on health care


· Public assistance varies from state to state


· About 14% of Americans are officially living in poverty