Undeserving Poor

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Review: In the United States in 1960 there was significant poverty. Twenty percent of the population had not seen a doctor and there were some areas in which people did not have enough to eat.

Kennedy and Johnson after him instituted programs aimed at combating these problems. The involved the development of a medical system for the poor and other programs aimed at increasing the disposable income of some of the poor. These programs were reasonably successful and dropped the infant mortality rate by 35% and pretty much ended hunger. The Democratic Party had never been a Labor or Socialist Party and the author suggests that these programs were in part a attempt to gain the black vote.

During the Nixon years it was briefly proposed to end administered welfare programs and to replace them by case payments for people whose income fell below a defined amount. The policy was a suggestion of Milton Friedman. The advantage of such a policy is that it is cheap to administer and gives the recipients more freedom. In the end this change was not enacted.

From that time on there has been tremendous pressure on welfare that over time has seen a reduction in the scope of programs. The American system is different to a large number of wealthy industrial countries. America has a social security system that provides assistance to the aged and some relief to the unemployed. For those who have not contributed to this scheme there exists "welfare" which provides targeted aid involving some income supplements in the form of food stamps and medical assistance. Welfare is limited to a narrow range of people generally single mothers. The payments are low and require the recipient to be in some paid employment.

This climaxed in the 1980's with the election of Reagan. America had been going through difficult economic times with foreign competition decimating the manufacturing sector. Surveys show that most workers who were displaced from manufacturing jobs never retained the wage levels they experienced before being made redundant. Most welfare dependants were black single mothers. It was easy to attack them as a group suggesting that their dependant position was based on their morals rather than anything else. The Democratic Party conceded the contest and made no attempt to argue for a just and fair society. At that time a number of nutty right wingers published a number of books suggesting that welfare was bad for the poor and should be abolished as a favor to them. These gave some semi intellectual justifications for what went on.

The book is very much a literature survey of the various periods. It has some figures and describes the mechanics of programs but basically describes texts that deal in general theories rather than facts. In reality it is a rather poor polemic rather than anything else. It is not the sort of thing which would challenge the belief of the right and it provides not the avalanche of statistical material which might get the uncommitted thinking. It is a book for the already converted. A far better book is "It takes a Nation" by Rebecca Blank.