Lecture 29 Comparative Poverty policies US more focus on individuals while Europe Canada Austrailia develop social programs to benefit all families US spends least amount of money on social welfare programs despite large poverty rates Lowest expenditure percentage US tax policies only reduce poverty by 28 average for other countries is 62 Norway has least amount of children in poverty Family Allowances Redistributing income from childless households to households with children Supplementing incomes from poor and middle class parents to reduce or prevent poverty ITC our solution to help people out of poverty UK Child Poverty Pledge Proportion of children living in poverty has doubled in past generation In 1999 Prime minister was committed to ending child poverty by 2020 o 2005 reduction of 17 instead of 25 US Poverty Pledge Cut poverty in half Greenberg Provide decent work and opportunity for all Ensure economic security Help people build wealth Programs o Restore minimum wage o Expand EITC o Expand child care o Increase tax based assistance for families with children Hays Work plan and family plan o Work Plan work requirements of the welfare laws exist to rehabilitate mothers so they can enter the work force o Family plan work requirements serve to punish mothers what happens when you fail to adhere to traditional social norms such as divorcing or having a child out of wedlock Money v morality welfare debate o Individual self sufficiency v maintenance of traditional family values should remain central Target group for welfare reform is mothers with children 60 40 split employed v unemployed former welfare recipients have remained fairly steady from 1998 2002 Meaning every time someone in nonworking group finds job some family in working loses their job Decline of welfare rolls millions of mothers trying to work their way out of poverty and continuously moving in and out of low wage jobs Arditti Lack of child support Financial strain due to loss of money More than half of the participants were on public assistance Expenses due to incarceration Most families disadvantaged before incarceration Drop of income Race by itself was not associated with financial disadvantage Stress on family due to emotional trauma social isolation o Lack of social support o Lack of self care for survivor parents o Burden and struggle of solo parenting
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