Chapter 13 Ending Poverty in America
1. Who started the War on Poverty? 233
2. Give details for the argument that AFDC perpetuated rather than relieved poverty. 234
3. What is the EITC? [Note: a refundable tax credit means the government may actually pay the taxpayer if the amount of the tax credit is more than the amount of tax owed.] 234 How was eligibility for the EITC different from eligibility for AFDC (when there was an AFDC)? 234 How was it similar? [A: in both poor family needs kids]
4. Has the transformation of AFDC into TANF been followed by a reduction in the number of people in the program? Has it had much impact on poverty rates? 234-5
5. T F Wright and Rogers argue that the main recipients of welfare in the US today are middle class and wealthy people, not the poor. 235ff
6. How do Wright and Rogers define welfare? 235
7. What are the two main forms that welfare takes? 235
8. Give an example of welfare in the form of direct targeted spending. 235 In the form of tax subsidies.
9. Auburn students pay tuition. If Auburn is like other public universities (and in this regard it is), why do Wright and Rogers (professors at a public university) say Auburn students are receiving welfare? 236
10. Why is the welfare subsidy for mortgage interest payments greatest for the most affluent homeowners? 236 What costs the government more, housing subsidies for the poor or tax subsidies on mortgages? 236-7
11. Agricultural subsidies in the US are about $30 billion per year. About how much is that per person per year? [Remember that $1 billion is about $3 per person (actually $3.25; you can use either figure).]
12. Give two examples listed by Wright and Rogers of corporate welfare. 238
13. Why do libertarians object not just to corporate welfare but to welfare in general? 238
14. T F Wright and Rogers argue that programs that benefit the non-poor are bad public policy. 238
15. T F Wright and Rogers feel that it is possible to completely eliminate poverty in America. 239
16. Benefits people receive from free or highly subsidized things like public facilities like parks and community centers, education and training, public transport, bike paths, and [in some places] health care are called the ______. 239-40
17. List two benefits Wright and Rogers think would result from their "basic income" proposal. 241ff
18. Define "means tested program." 241-2 What is the opposite of a means tested program? [A: a universal program]
19. According to Wright and Rogers, markets ______the winners and ______the losers, and over time this dynamic cumulatively generates high levels of economic inequality. 245