Full Description
Why is the welfare system failing to work for so many people? This book examines the problems with the current welfare system and proposes reforms to create a smarter, smaller system that helps people improve their lives through rewarding work.
Unlike other books on welfare, this one draws on the stories of more than 100 welfare recipients who are trapped in a system that keeps them underemployed and unemployed. The authors present case studies that show that being a part of a welfare program can actively result in the recipient having to limit their job efforts for fear of losing government assistance. The book examines all major U.S. welfare systems, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, SNAP, Medicaid, and others.
The authors begin by exploring the nation's basic poverty issues and examining the relationship between work and happiness. Next, they zero in on specific welfare programs, reporting both on their dollar costs and on the ways that they fail enrollees. The book then concludes with strategies for addressing the shortcomings of the current U.S. welfare system. This book is appropriate for readers interested in public policy, government programs, welfare, and cultural shifts in America. It adds a new perspective to the existing body of welfare scholarship by systematically assessing the impact of welfare on the receivers themselves.
Contents
Figures, Tables, and Appendices
Foreword by Jonathan Rauch
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Welfare Reforms Need Reforming
Part I. The Welfare Conflict
Chapter 1. What Does Work Have to Do with Happiness?
Chapter 2. The War Between Welfare and Work
Part II. The Counterproductive Qualifications for Welfare
Chapter 3. What Counts as Poverty
Chapter 4. Marriage, Childbearing, and Teen Pregnancy
Part III. Welfare Programs in Theory and in Fact
Chapter 5. TANF: The Changing Face of Cash Assistance
Chapter 6. A Housing System Leaves the Needy Out in the Cold
Chapter 7. Who Gets Food Stamps?
Chapter 8. WIC: Missteps with Women and Children
Chapter 9. How We Disable the Disabled
Chapter 10. Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act
Chapter 11. The Earned Income Tax Credit: Welfare Done (Almost) Right
Part IV. Building Blocks for a Better Welfare System
Chapter 12. Patterns of Dependence and Independence: American Indians on Reservations, Barterers, and Immigrants
Chapter 13. What Should Be Done: From Incentives to Special Savings Accounts, Solutions Abound to Get Americans Back to Work
Notes
Bibliography
Index
