Discussion 13

#3 - A study of household inequality in eighteen developed countries found that the United States had the most unequal distribution of income. Why is that? What can/should the government do about this?

An unequal distribution of income is caused here by our capitalistic economic system. Many of the other 17 developed countries are not as capitalistic as America. The United States having an unequal distribution of income should not be drastically addressed by the United States Government. I align most closely with Equality of Opportunity, allowing for personal advancement via one's own effort, clever ideas, creativity, hard work, and character. I think that governmental welfare programs that help people who are struggling to attain minimum needs for survival (food, clothing, water, shelter, medicine, etc) are good, and that having them controlled by the government ensures that all those in need will actually have provisions available to them. I also strongly advocate for at least free 2 year degrees. I believe we should encourage higher education as a means to rise above low incomes and dead-end jobs. I think that welfare programs need to continue easing recipients back into the workforce so that they will not be living on welfare for the rest of their lives. I also don't want to see a massive minimum wage. I believe in raising the populace to a higher level, not the minimum wage. 

Web Critique 14

Website Name:  Office of Family Assistance
Operated By:  Administration for Children and Families
Funded By: Administration for Children and Families

The OFA administers several key federal grant programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Tribal programs, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood, and Health Profession Opportunity Grants. Their website has a professional, streamlined look to it and has a simple, easily navigable layout to summarize the assistance offered to families from the government. I liked that among the information on the site (which is generally about federal aid to families-often in the form of block grants to states/tribes), they also had links to state and tribal organizations which are the main way that federal aid is doled out to needy families. That is obviously a very helpful service of the website-directing people to where they can actually get the help they need. There is also access to different reports listed by fiscal year among other data. Their programs tab has an extensive listing of their programs and also the associated policy and laws. At the top of the page there are also links to the Administration for Children and Families, the umbrella administration over the OFA, and also to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is over both. Overall this site is pretty good! I can’t really come up with too much to criticize.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Web Critique 13

Website Name:  www.cbo.gov
Operated By:  The Congressional Budget Office
Funded By: Congress via the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

According to the website, “CBO provides formal, written estimates of the cost of virtually every bill approved by Congressional committees to show how the bill would affect spending or revenues over the next 5 or 10 years, depending on the type of spending involved.”, as well as other information, such as evaluations of the President’s budget, tabulations of Congressional actions, etc. They are required by law to disclose the methodology for their calculations. The website presents its information in a very professional and clean layout. They have a convenient document on the website titled An Introduction to the Congressional Budget Office providing basic information about the institution. Their Topics tab makes it easy to search for budget information on any topic. Once you find a topic you are looking for, there are many different related reports sorted by “Featured”, “Latest”, and “Policy Options”. The reports succinctly convey the information along with appropriate graphs or charts. The website is easily navigable, with access to the tabs on all website pages. The Cost Estimates tab takes you directly to Cost Estimates on specific House or Senate bills, and also a search engine for finding ones you may be looking for.  And between the FAQ tab and the Blog, any other possible budget information you could ever want is easily found!

 

Instructor Notes - Global Policy

Instructor Notes for Chapter 20 - Global Policy Global Policy for the USA is becoming increasingly important as the world is more interrelated every day. Critical issues such as climate change, pandemic diseases, arms control, trade issues, terrorism, and others demand the nations cooperate to manage common issues. The textbook indicates that the American public shows minimal interest in international affairs. This dearth of interest in global issues is further deepened by the lack of reporting on International news by the corporate-owned media. When the electorate is neither knowledgeable nor interested in global affairs, it becomes even more critical that the policy making systems in the government function in a responsible manner for the common good of the nation. This last chapter of the textbook describes the players, structures, and primary issues that define the making of foreign policy in the United States. It is my hope that after taking this class, students will show a greater interest in global events and policy the general public.

Instructor Notes - Policymaking and Domestic Policy

Instructor Notes for Week 15 –Chapter 19- Policymaking and Domestic Policy The USA domestic policy is again being debated by the political parties and members of Congress. The country is at another critical point in the future of our vital domestic programs. If you have time to listen to this hour long debate, you will learn a lot about the issues involved. Here is a sample of what you will hear: “ . . . Now comes Wall Street's "third way" of hijacking the nation's wealth: it's trying to persuade Democratic supporters to support the dismantling of the social contract that has held our society together for 75 years. And it's using many of the same tactics -- and many of the same faces -- it used in its first two forays. If you liked Wall Street deregulation, an inequitable bank bailout, and a get-out-of-jail-free card for bank executives, you're going to love this. The Anti-Social Contract Movement The goal is to cut the popular and successful programs they describe as "entitlements."  Cutting Social Security benefits will reduce political pressure on the undertaxed wealthy, while creating new investment markets for Wall Street retirement funds. Directly or indirectly slashing Medicare and Medicaid benefits also reduces that pressure. It would be more effective, more humane, and more rational to reduce Medicare's costs by reducing the effects runaway greed at every level of our health economy - but that would be bad for their investments. . . .” HuffPost Hill: FIGHT! - Social Security Works' Alex Lawson and Third Way's Jim Kessler battle for close to an hour on Social Security and the social contract. (Lawson's for it.) It's that rare thing in Washington, an actual debate, played out here on Ari Rabin-Havt's Sirius show The Agenda.   (Links to an external site.) The Agenda with Ari Rabin-Havt: Alex Lawson and Jim Kessler debate (Links to an external site.) Read more about it here - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/wall-street-finds-a-third_b_2158836.html (Links to an external site.) ‎11/14/2012 Jim Kessler of the Third Way and Alex Lawson of Social Security Works debate on SiriusXM Left's The Agenda with Ari Rabin-Havt. ................................................................................................................................................................................. Minimum wage is another issue being debated at this time.

Instructor Notes - Economic Policy

Instructor Notes for Week 14 –Chapter 18 - Economic Policy This Chapter and this topic are very important for the public to understand because there has been so much political rhetoric and misinformation distributed about the economy by the corporate owned media. The selftest is therefore a bit longer this week with 60 questions. There is much to learn and it is a topic that most people avoid if possible. However, the USA cannot afford to avoid this topic with the current unemployment rate and the need for the public to speak as loudly to influence Congress as the lobbyists for corporations and the 1%. The voters decided that they believed President Obama presented the best approach to creating jobs and strengthening our economy with his often repeated call to increase taxes for the wealthy. In spite of being outspent by his opponent’s super pacs three to one, the American public chose to reelect President Obama. If more of the public had truly understood the state of the income gap in the USA, I believe the President’s victory margin would have been much greater. This is a great video that is well worth your time to watch. Economist Richard Wolff joins Bill Moyers to shine light on the disaster left behind in capitalism’s wake, and to discuss the fight for economic justice, including a fair minimum wage. A Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, and currently Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School, Wolff has written many books on the effects of rampant capitalism, including Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. http://billmoyers.com/episode/encore-taming-capitalism-run-wild-2/ (Links to an external site.)   (Links to an external site.) It would also be worth your time to listen to this debate that addresses the question our Congress must now actually face. Try not to succumb to the hollow “flat tax” argument as that is quite simply a regressive tax. There is a video and two versions of the audio one of which is condensed if you don’t have much listening time. Please check this out and you can debate all your family at your next Thanksgiving dinner. http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/775-the-rich-are-taxed-enough (Links to an external site.) The Rich Are Taxed Enough  (Links to an external site.) Most Americans have no idea how much wealthier the top 1% have gotten in the last couple of decades. The data below is taken from 2007 figures and the situation has grown much more extreme since then. Measuring the Top 1% by Wealth, Not Income  http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-top-1-by-wealth-not-income/  (Links to an external site.) “But an analysis of the Fed data is still revealing in that it shows the wealth gap, as measured by net worth, is much more extreme than the chasm as measured by income. The Times had estimated the threshold for being in the top 1 percent in household income at about $380,000, 7.5 times median household income, using census data from 2008 through 2010. But for net worth, the 1 percent threshold for net worth in the Fed data was nearly $8.4 million, or 69 times the median household’s net holdings of $121,000. . . . Other nuggets about the wealthy from the 2007 Fed data: — The wealthiest 1 percent took in about 16 percent of overall income — 8 percent of the money earned from salaries and wages, but 36 percent of the income earned from self-employment. — They controlled nearly a third of the nation’s financial assets (investment holdings) and about 28 percent of nonfinancial assets (the value of property, cars, jewelry, etc.). These measures will be particularly interesting to revisit when the new, post-recession data arrives. — Money may not buy happiness, but the Fed survey suggests it buys good health. About 90 percent of the 1 percenters describe themselves as being in excellent or good health, compared with 75 percent of everybody else. About 85 percent expect to live into their 80s, compared with 68 percent of everybody else. — Nearly half of the 1 percenters own two or more pieces of real estate. That was true for just 5 percent of the rest of the population.” The article below further explains the current decline in incomes. September 12, 2012, 1:24 pm Behind the Decline in Incomes By CATHERINE RAMPELL  (Links to an external site.) The Census Bureau just released its sweeping annual report (Links to an external site.) on income, poverty and health insurance coverage. As my colleague Sabrina Tavernise writes, median household income declined (Links to an external site.) last year to $50,054, a level last seen in 1996 when adjusted for inflation. Here are a few quick graphical bullet points from other findings in the report: 1. Median incomes fell from 2010 to 2011 for all races, although the change was not statistically significant for Asians and Hispanics. 2. Inequality rose, and is at its highest level on record since 1967.

The Gini Index is a standard measure of inequality, in which higher values represent more unequal distributions of money income. The “equivalence-adjusted income estimate” (blue line above) takes into consideration the number of people living in each household, and how these people share resources and take advantage of economies of scale.

3. Men have gained more jobs in the recovery (dubbed the “he-covery”) but they also lost a lot more jobs in the recession (“man-cession”).

4. There’s more evidence that the work force is “hollowing out,” as there was significant job growth in the first, second and fifth income quintiles, but not in the third and fourth ones.

5. The share of people without health insurance fell. The biggest drop was among those 19 to 25 years old, who can now join their parents’ health insurance plans. (The number of insured children also showed a decline from 2010 to 2011, but it was not statistically significant.)

Source: Census Bureau

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/behind-the-decline-in-incomes/ (Links to an external site.)