Welfare and Education Policy

Chapter Sixteen Welfare and Education Policy: Providing for Personal Security and Need

Multiple Choice

1. The U.S. social welfare system differs markedly from those of West European democracies, a situation that is attributable primarily to America’s a. cultural emphasis on individualism and federal system of government. b. greater wealth and cultural emphasis on charitable acts. c. weak party system and separation of executive and legislative power. d. egalitarian ethos and pluralist group system. e. dependence on foreign oil. Answer: a Page: 485

2. The poverty line is defined as a. the income level below which 10 percent of the American people live. b. three times the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four. c. the annual cost of all goods and services that a person can reasonably be expected to want. d. the percentage of homeless people. e. the income level below which 20 percent of the American people live. Answer: b Page: 475

3. According to survey data, the form of assistance that Americans favor the most to help the poor is a. money. b. education and job training. c. government jobs through government programs. d. government services for the poor. e. public assistance. Answer: b Page: 489

4. ______has the highest child poverty rate among the major industrialized nations. a. Sweden b. Norway c. France d. Germany e. The United States Answer: e Page: 477

5. The largest proportion of Americans living below the poverty line are a. African Americans. b. the elderly. c. Latino Americans. d. children and their divorced, separated, or unmarried mothers. e. white males. Answer: d Page: 476

6. Poverty is a condition that today affects roughly one in ______Americans. a. two b. three c. eight d. fifty e. one hundred Answer: c Page: 476

7. In his book, Losing Ground, Charles Murray argues that a. welfare reform can only be enacted through a new war on poverty. b. welfare programs should be modeled after European models and not kept in their current form. c. welfare programs create a foundation for a permanent underclass of unproductive people. d. welfare programs should be based on the principle of efficiency, not the principle of equity. e. welfare programs should be terminated completely. Answer: c Page: 476

8. ______was terminated in 1996 and replaced by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. a. The Food Stamp program b. Medicaid c. Medicare d. SSI e. AFDC Answer: e Page: 483

9. The term entitlement refers to a program a. which provides indirect payments to individuals, such as funding for public schools. b. designed specifically to alleviate the hardships of old age. c. where any individual who meets the eligibility criteria is entitled to receive the benefit. d. of social welfare for which citizenship is the only criterion of eligibility. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: c Page: 480

10. The EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) represents a reallocation of income to a. wealthy individuals. b. lower-income workers. c. middle-class taxpayers. d. corporations. e. all working families. Answer: b Page: 489

11. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal reflected the concept of positive government, meaning a. that the New Deal gave Americans an optimistic outlook. b. that the New Deal helped the United States to balance its budget. c. that government intervention helped people to attain a greater degree of individual freedom and security at a time when economic insecurity was widespread. d. that the federal government take over policies from the states. e. That President Roosevelt himself was optimistic, using his radio broadcasts to bolster Americans’ spirits. Answer: c Page: 478

12. The defining characteristic of a social insurance program is that a. eligibility for the program’s benefits is confined to those who pay the special taxes that fund the program. b. it is administered jointly by the national government and the states. c. it is targeted at those who are most in need of welfare assistance. d. it is administered through private insurance companies. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: a Page: 480

13. Social insurance programs have high levels of public support because a. of their self-financing feature. b. they are based on an equality principle—all citizens are eligible for the benefits and all recipients receive the same level of benefits. c. their cost is consistently below the spending level for public assistance programs. d. of the necessity of increased taxes to fund them. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: a Page: 480 14. The Social Security benefits that today’s retirees receive are funded primarily by a. tax contributions they made in the past and which were put in a trust fund from which current payments are made. b. payroll taxes on people who are currently working. c. equal contributions from the national and state governments. d. borrowed funds, which contribute to the national debt. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: b Page: 480

15. The term “means test” refers to a. the tax on a portion of the Social Security benefits of upper-income retirees. b. whether an applicant’s income is low enough to qualify for public assistance. c. the mandatory physical examination that Medicare and Medicaid applicants must undergo before they can receive benefits. d. the mandatory psychological examination that Medicare and Medicaid applicants must undergo before they can receive benefits. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: b Page: 482

16. ______was called the great leveler when it began in the early nineteenth century. a. Social welfare b. Public education c. The federal government d. The Internal Revenue Service e. Social Security Answer: b Page: 491

17. The Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was unpopular because of a. the public perception that it contributed to welfare dependency and irresponsibility. b. lack of public concern for child welfare. c. public opposition to locally administered welfare programs. d. public opposition to welfare programs for the needy. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: a Page: 482

18. Criticism of the food stamp program occurs because it a. is costly to taxpayers. b. stigmatizes its users by identifying them publicly as welfare cases. c. is based on need and therefore is not earned. d. requires a costly bureaucracy for its administration. e. All of the answers are correct. Answer: e Page: 484

19. All of the following are true statements about Medicaid except a. it is a public assistance program. b. it is funded by general tax revenues. c. it serves all Americans who cannot afford health insurance. d. it is controversial due to its cost. e. it is funded by both the federal government and the states. Answer: c Page: 485

20. President Franklin Roosevelt’s greatest domestic policy legacy is a. Medicare. b. Medicaid. c. SSI. d. AFDC. e. Social Security. Answer: e Page: 478

21. In terms of its educational system, the United States ranks at the top in terms of a. per-capita spending on public education. b. proportion of adults receiving a college education. c. performance of its students on standardized tests. d. All of the answers are correct. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: d Page: 490

22. More than 90 percent of the funding for K-12 public education comes from a. the federal government. b. the state governments only. c. local governments only. d. state and local governments combined. e. private sources. Answer: d Page: 490

23. Which of the following statements is true concerning American public opinion on school vouchers? a. Americans are divided in their opinions on school vouchers. b. Americans strongly support school vouchers. c. Americans strongly oppose school vouchers. d. Most Americans have never heard of school vouchers. e. Americans favor higher taxes to pay for vouchers. Answer: a Page: 492

24. ______persuaded Congress to enact the No Child Left Behind Act. a. President Ronald Reagan b. President Bill Clinton c. President George W. Bush d. Vice President Al Gore e. Vice President Dan Quayle Answer: c Page: 493

25. The primary reason that the existence of Social Security greatly lessens the demand for other forms of social welfare is that a. Social Security is so popular that many people believe other welfare programs are neither necessary nor desirable. b. the anticipation of Social Security benefits upon retirement leads many people who need public assistance to believe there is a better life ahead if they will only wait for it. c. Social Security checks keep millions of elderly Americans with no other substantial source of income out of poverty. d. the incentive of Social Security benefits upon retirement encourages individuals to work during their productive years, which reduces the need for other forms of social welfare, such as unemployment benefits. e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: c Page: 486

26. Compared to tax policy in Western European democracies, tax policy in the United States shifts a. a substantially greater portion of income from the rich to the poor. b. a slightly greater portion of income from the rich to the poor. c. about the same portion of income from the rich to the poor. d. a smaller portion of income from the rich to the poor. e. no income from the rich to the poor. Answer: d Page: 486

27. Studies indicate that most unemployed American workers lost or left their jobs because a. they are lazy. b. of economic slowdowns and corporate restructuring. c. they are undereducated for the work they are doing. d. they wanted to be out of work in order to collect unemployment benefits. e. they were not getting paid enough to cover their job-related expenses. Answer: b Page: 481

28. Welfare policy in the United States a. is an issue that frequently divides the two political parties. b. is based entirely on the principle of need. c. is entirely a federal issue. d. is entirely a state issue. e. has changed very little during the nation’s history. Answer: a Page: 478

29. The TANF program must operate within all the following guidelines except a. states have no discretion in their handling of welfare cases. b. eligibility for cash assistance is limited to no more than five years in a lifetime. c. within two years, the heads of most families on welfare have to find work or risk the loss of benefits. d. unmarried teenage mothers are qualified for welfare benefits only if they remain in school and live with a parent or legal guardian. e. single mothers will lose a portion of their benefits if they refuse to cooperate in identifying the father of their children. Answer: a Page: 483

30. Which of the following is a true statement about the visibility of poverty in American society today? a. Media coverage often focuses on the plight of the poor in America. b. In polls each year, Americans identify the problem of poverty as one of the nation’s top three problems. c. Poverty is less visible to residents of the suburbs than in inner cities or rural areas. d. Poverty has been virtually eliminated in the United States. e. Poverty is most apparent in the case of elderly Americans. Answer: c Page: 476

31. Which of the following social welfare programs was supported by a majority of congressional Republicans at the time of enactment? a. the 1965 Medicare program b. the Social Security Act of 1935 c. the 1965 Medicaid program d. the 1995 Welfare Reform Act e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: d Page: 478

32. ______orchestrated the Great Society programs of the 1960s. a. Franklin Roosevelt b. John Kennedy c. Dwight Eisenhower d. Richard Nixon e. Lyndon Johnson Answer: e Page: 478

33. Which of the following is true regarding income patterns in America? a. The income of the average American family exceeds $100,000. b. The top fifth of Americans in terms of income receive half of the total income in the nation. c. The bottom fifth of Americans get only slightly less than 20 percent of total national income. d. The United States has the lowest amount of income inequality of any industrialized democracy. e. U.S. tax policy is designed to transfer a large proportion of the nation’s wealth from richer Americans to poorer ones. Answer: b Page: 487

34. The major reason why Social Security is likely to be a focus of reform is because a. many Americans are leaving the system in favor of private retirement plans. b. Republicans wish to eliminate the system entirely while Democrats wish to save it. c. at some point in the future, the number of workers will be insufficient to provide enough Social Security tax revenue to pay the benefits due to eligible retirees. d. it is a very unpopular program. e. All of the answers are correct. Answer: c Page: 480

35. The Medicare program provides health benefits to a. the unemployed. b. children. c. all retirees. d. only retirees who have reached the age of eligibility and paid the payroll taxes that are required for eligibility to receive the benefit. e. low-income family members. Answer: d Page: 481

36. The American preference for equality of opportunity is consistent with Americans’ a. trust in the marketplace. b. belief in liberty. c. support for competition in the private sector. d. belief in individualism. e. All of the answers are correct. Answer: e Page: 494

37. Of the following, which is likely the least criticized public assistance program? a. Supplemental Security Income b. Aid to Families with Dependent Children c. Food Stamps d. Medicaid e. housing subsidies Answer: a Page: 482

38. Most social welfare programs are a. run jointly by federal and state governments. b. uniform throughout the states. c. fully supported by the Americans. d. managed entirely by the federal government. e. managed through the partnership of governments and private charities. Answer: a Page: 482

39. ______is an example of an in-kind benefit. a. The Food Stamp program b. Social Security c. Unemployment insurance d. Supplemental Security Income e. None of the answers are correct. Answer: a Page: 484

40. In contrast with Medicare, the Medicaid program is a. a public assistance program. b. funded totally by the states. c. funded by payroll taxes. d. very popular with the general public. e. designed to provide health coverage to all Americans who lack health insurance. Answer: a Page: 485

41. The program that replaced the sixty-one-year-old federal guarantee of aid to the poor was a. SSI b. Medicaid c. TANF. d. food stamps. e. housing vouchers. Answer: c Page: 483

42. A recent poll determined that Americans believe that public assistance programs for the poor are the second-costliest federal program. How accurate is this perception? a. Public assistance programs are in fact the second-costliest federal program. b. Public assistance programs are the costliest federal program. c. Public assistance programs are not the costliest or second-costliest federal program but are among the five costliest programs. d. Public assistance programs are not among the five costliest programs but are the most costly of the social welfare programs, which also include Social Security and Medicaid. e. None of the above answers are correct. Answer: e Page: 482

43. All of the following are true of the Head Start program except that it a. began as part of the War on Poverty in the 1960s. b. has helped disadvantaged children develop their learning skills. c. has been weakened by children’s unsupportive environments at home. d. is fully funded at the present time. e. is designed to assist preschool children. Answer: d Page: 489

44. The success of the No Child Left Behind Program has been hampered by a. inadequate funding b. President George W. Bush’s opposition to the program. c. opposition from Republicans in Congress. d. the fact that America’s school children already perform at a level that exceed the standards set by the program. e. the fact that it does not apply to religious schools. Answer: a Page: 493

Essay/Short Answer

1. The American welfare system is widely criticized for being inefficient. Explain this criticism and describe the underlying causes of inefficiency.

Answer: Inefficiency refers to the fact that much of the money spent on welfare never reaches the recipients. Inefficiency arises from the enormous size and complexity of the social welfare system which is designed to address many different and often overlapping needs. The country’s individualistic culture also leads to inefficiency because a highly labor-intensive and expensive system must be constructed to ensure that recipients actually earn or deserve the benefits that they will receive.

2. Discuss what is meant by a social-insurance program and provide examples.

Answer: Social-insurance programs are those programs in which recipients attain eligibility for benefits through special payroll taxes when they were employed. The self- financing feature of these programs accounts for their strong public support. The premier social insurance program is Social Security for retirees, and it enjoys widespread public support. Most people get far more out of Social Security than they pay into it. Consequently, it is necessary to use contributions from the current work force to finance the program. Unemployment insurance is another social-insurance program, and it provides unemployment benefits for workers who have lost their jobs involuntarily. This is a joint federal-state program. While the federal government collects the funds through payroll taxes, the states set the tax rate, conditions of eligibility, and benefit level, subject to minimum federal levels. A third social-insurance program is Medicare. This program provides medical assistance to retirees and is funded primarily through payroll taxes. Since it is based on an insurance principle, Medicare is popular with most Americans.

3. Discuss what is meant by a public-assistance program and provide examples.

Answer: Public-assistance programs are funded through general tax revenues and are available only to the financially needy. Eligibility for such programs is established by a means test, which is a demonstration that the applicant has a genuine economic need for the benefit. In short, applicants for public assistance must prove that they are poor. Such assistance is usually termed welfare and its recipients as welfare cases. Public-assistance programs have much less public support than social insurance programs, due in part to a cultural bias against government handouts. Five examples of public-assistance programs are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, subsidized housing, and Medicaid.

4. What is meant by the poverty line? Which Americans are most likely to live in a household with an income below the poverty line? Why is poverty in America somewhat invisible even though it is relatively widespread?

Answer: The government defines the poverty line as three times the annual cost of a thrifty food budget for an urban family of four. Families whose incomes fall below that line are officially considered poor. Poverty is most prevalent among families headed by a single woman. These single-mother families constitute more than half of all Americans living below the poverty line. Also, poverty is high among minority-group members and in urban areas. Because the white-dominated suburbs are relatively safe from poverty, the problem of poverty if often called invisible. Although there are millions of poor, many Americans do not consider poverty to be a substantial national problem because they are unfamiliar with it, personally, or in their neighborhoods.