Sean Hu

AP US Government and Politics

Due: March 15, 2016
I.

II.

Chapter 16 Outline
Poverty in America: The Nature of the Problem
A. The Poor; Who and How Many?
i.
The poverty line is defined by the US government as the
annual cost of the thrifty food budget for an urban family of
four, multiplied by three to include the cost of housing,
clothes, and other necessities
1. In 2012, the poverty line was set at an annual
income of roughly 23,000; one in seven American
live below poverty line
ii.
They include individuals of all ages, races, religions, and
regions but they are concentrated more within some groups
such as children
B. Living in Poverty: By Choice or By Chance?
i.
Many Americans hold to the idea that poverty is largely a
matter of choicethat most low-income Americans are
unwilling to make the effort to hold a responsible job and
get ahead in life
ii.
This, however, is not true and most poor Americans are in
their situation as a result of circumstance rather than by
choice
The Politics and Policies of Social Welfare
i.
Negative government holds that government governs best
by staying out of peoples lives
ii.
Positive government holds the idea that government
intervention is necessary in order to enhance personal
liberty and security when individuals are buffeted by
economic and social forces beyond their control
iii.
Republicans continue to cling on to traditional ideas about
self-reliance and free markets and holds more negative
government perspective
iv.
Entitlement programs are those that support any individual
who meets eligibility criteria and is entitled to benefits
B. Social Insurance Programs
i.
Social insurance includes social security, Medicare,
unemployment insurance, and workers compensation
1. They are such programs because eligibility is
restricted to individuals who paid special payroll
taxes during their working years
ii.
Social security is meant for retirees and is one of the few
welfare programs run entirely by the federal government
iii.
Although people qualify for paying payroll taxes during their
working years, the money they receive upon retirement is
funded by payroll taxes on current workers salaries
iv.
Unemployment benefits are for those that loses their jobs
involuntarily

v.

III.

Medicare was created because after World War II, most

European democracies created government-paid health care
systems and Truman proposed a similar program for
Americans
vi.
LBJ made his proposal a reality and Medicare now provides
medical assistance to retirees and is funded primarily
through payroll taxes
vii.
Medicare is based on the insurance principle, and because
of this, it has gained as much public support as social
security
C. Public Assistance Programs
i.
Public assistance programs are funded through general tax
revenues and are available only to the financially needy
ii.
Eligibility for these programs are established by a means
test; that is, applicants must prove that they are poor
enough to qualify for the benefit
iii.
Supplemental Security Income is a major public assistance
program that originated as federal assistance to the blind
and elderly poor
iv.
Medicare was created for retirees in 1965 but Congress also
established Medicaid which provides health care for the poor
D. Culture and Social Welfare
i.
The United States has the most inefficient welfare system in
the Western world because scores of separate programs
have been established to address different, often
overlapping needs
ii.
Bureaucratic costs of welfare are substantially lower in
Europe because they use a single-payer system (the
government)
iii.
European systems are also much better in providing equity
and that is not the case in the United States because of the
excessive involvement from the private sector
Education as Equality of Opportunity
i.
Equality of opportunity is the idea that people should have a
reasonable chance to succeed if they make the effort
ii.
The role of education was relatively small until the 1960s
but is now highly emphasized and children are forced to go
B. Public Education: Leveling though the Schools
i.
Public schools seeks to broadly educate its children
ii.
The nations education system preserves both the myth and
reality of an equal-opportunity society
C. Improving Americas Schools
i.
Because they play such a key role in creating a equalopportunity society, public schools are scrutinized closely
ii.
Parents of schoolchildren are not shy about saying what
they think of their local schools and parents tend to rate
their own childrens school more highly than they rate other
schools
iii.
Americas students are not high performers from objective

indicators