Steven Tsay

3/22/2016
AP US Gov
Chapter 16 outline

Poverty is a large and persistent problem in America, affecting about one in

eight Americans, including many of the countrys most vulnerablechildren,
female-headed families, and minority-group members
Welfare policy has been a partisan issue, with Democrats taking the lead on
government programs to alleviate economic insecurity and Republicans
acting to slow down or restrict these initiatives
Social welfare programs are designed to reward and foster self-reliance or,
when this is not possible, to provide benefits only to those individuals who are
truly in need
Americans favor social insurance programs (such as social security) over
public assistance programs (such as food stamps)
A prevailing principle in the US is equality of opportunity, which is terms of
policy is most evident in the area of public education

1) negative government
a) the period of time when people believe government governs best by staying
out of peoples lives, so they can determine their own pursuits and become
self reliant

b) great depression changed this, FDRs new deal makes people look to federal
govt for help
2) positive govt
a) the idea that govt intervention is necessary to enhance personal liberty and
security when individuals are befitted by economic and social forces beyond
their control
3) transfer payment
a) grants that govt give directly to individuals who fall behind
b) such as, social security monthly checks for retirees
4) most programs are entitlement programs
a) everyone who meet criteria gets it
b) for ex, all retirees get social security payments
c) usually work like textation, ex: employees are required to pay social security
insurances monthly, which they would then receive upon their retirement
5) social insurance: more support, to all citizens, funded by payroll taxes
a) eligibility restricted to those who did contribute to insurance pool monthly
(its usually required though)
b) social security
i) began with social security act of 1935
ii) there will be fewer workers relative to the number of retirees (inflow of
payroll will be less than outflow to retirees)
iii) a lot of public support
c) unemployment insurance
i) also began with social security act
ii) benefit for unemployed people who lose their jobs involuntarily
iii) joint federal state program: federal collect taxes but individual states
determine whether both employee and employer pay or just employer
(more common)

6) medical assistance ot retirees and is funded primarily through payroll taxes

i) gained much public support
ii) 2006 added prescription drug benefit
b) programs often referred to as welfare and recipients as welfare cases
c) supplemental security income (SSI)
i) federal assistance ot the blind and elderly poor and disabled states have
retained control over benefits and eligibility
ii) social security act of 1935
iii) not widely criticized
iv) states can loosen restrictions or tighten them
v) TANF reduces welfare recipients dramatically
d) head start
i) a part of LBJs great society
ii) education program aimed at helping poor children at early age
iii) preshool ed to low income children
iv) never was big enough to fund all students who need assistance
v) many of the students who received funding are not performing better than
those who did not
e) earned income tax credit (EITC)
i) more public support, since its tied to employment, so only those who work
are eligible to receive the payment
ii) americans favored work based assistance to welfare payments
f) inkind benefits: food stamps and housing vouchers
7) resulting in a welfare system that has the following characteristics:
a) insufficiency
i) america has mot inefficient welfare system in the western world

ii) single individual may qualify for overlapping programs with different
criteria that are confusing
iii) common conception that we need to constantly check on the poor to
make sure that they deserve the money they are getting actually
increases the funding of it, since federal employees needs to reinvestigate periodically
iv) cumbersome administrative process of apply for benefits:
(1) 1. potential recipient goes to administrative office to get forms to
fill out > 2. administrative officer interview and check forms > 3.
administrative officer investigate > receive fund
b) inequality
i) us spends a lot of money on the non-poor than on the poor
(1) ex: social security and medicare provide benefit even for people like
BILL GATES! the money federal govt spends on social security and
medicare already exceeds what they spent on public assistance
(2) most retirees receive more in social security benefits than they
contributed in payroll taxes while working
8) most american endorse the principle of equality of opportunity: idea that people
should have a reasonable chance to succeed if they make the effort, all should
have a fair chance to get ahead (its ideal only, not very practical)
9) public education
a) us schools are relatively standardized to fulfill the principle of equality
b) the quality of education depends significantly on the wealth of the
community in which a child resides, since many child in poor neighborhoods
attend overcrowded understaffed shcools
c) supreme court: this arrangement is okay, since it gives all child adequate
education not equal is fine
d) to sustain the belief that success is within the reach of anyone who works of
fit
10)

improving americas schools

11)
americas students are not high performances, ranking below Canadians and
Europeans, because
i) 1. theres a lot of non-native speaker student sin the US

ii) 2. America is segregated residentially by income so poor kids go to school

with poor kids
(1) schools with more poors have less resources
iii) opponents say this benefits the wealthy ones as poor families have no
money to transport student to farther and better schools
iv) school vouchers
(1) parents receive voucher that they can use in private or parochial
schools as tuition
(2) did little to help actual poor kids as they only cover a part of the
expensive tuition of private schools

v) mandatory high stakes testing