Examines the benefits & problems of public aid programs. Looks at Supplementary Security Income, Medicare, food stamps, Social Security and recommendations.
The welfare state has been defined as a capitalistic economy which largely depends on the free market but in which . . . countervailing powers have been politicized and . . . employed to balance the economy, to develop the national resources, or to pursue fixed goals of social policy.1
The U.S. welfare state, which has played a crucial role in income distribution, has indisputably eased the lives of millions of people. Expenditures on social welfare have accounted for significant reductions in the rate of poverty. In 1980, for example, it has been estimated that the number of people living below poverty level would have increased approximately 70 percent (…)