Morning Video: The Disappearance Of Welfare

While the Romney campaign has hammered President Obama for relaxing work requirements for welfare (see above), the reform community has generally ignored student and parents' dire economic circumstances, and reform critics generally focus on mistreated or laid-off teachers, the American Prospect's Paul Waldman reminds us of some basic facts about the society in which we live and the greatly diminished safety net programs that we now have:  The Truth About Welfare.

Comments

[Mary]

Alexander, just when I conclude I was wrong about you, you come out and show that you really do have an honest bone (somewhere) in your body.

You realize, all of today's corporate reformer poverty pimps actually know what poverty is and does; they ignore that because they see all those poor children as their entry route to the public coffers.

Have you been watching Anthony Cody's ongoing showdown with the Gates Foundation? He's on round three, and it's his turn to go first:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/08/can_schools_defeat.html

"Dialogue with the Gates Foundation: Can Schools Defeat Poverty by Ignoring It?"

I have an idea. When the Foundation puts its answer up, why don't you discuss it here? You might make a contribution to some people there who would like to rethink some things.

[Mary Madsen]

Well Paul apparently believes that the above advertisement is a lie. I guess he knows for a fact that none of the work requirements have been relaxed? Other than a left point of view I really enjoyed reading the article. Thanks for the good information. I can get fired up about topics like these.

[Mary]

Here, MaryM. I tracked down a very credible Republican source to repudiate Romney's attack. Republican governors, as well as Democrats, sought the waivers for to try new welfare-to-work approaches.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/ron-haskins-welfare-reform-mitt-romney_n_1755653.html

Not that I'm defending Obama for his diligence in protecting poor families from the Randian cannibal capitalism espoused by Romney and Ryan. Can you help me out, if you're an opponent of the Obama administration? Try and find any evidence at all they have been excessively socialist in addressing the health crisis faced by undernourished babies?
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/07/28/ranks_of_hungry_children_swell_worrying_doctors/

[Mary]

The Gates Foundation put Cody's column on poverty up last night, on their own blog site. Here it is:
http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2012/08/Can-Schools-Defeat-Poverty-by-Ignoring-It

It's a credit to them that they followed through and posted it. That makes new today, doesn't it? I doubt you can find five better blogs for the day; I think you should point it out to your reformer cohort, Alex.

It might be that selection against counter-narratives reinforces pro-reform pundits' skewed impression that "reform critics generally focus on mistreated or laid-off teachers".

[Sarah]

The problem with the welfare system isn’t that it distributes aid, it’s that it distributes aid without there being enough hours in the day to ensure “aid”, in every case, is genuinely aid at all. I grew up in a small suburban community, almost entirely lower-middle income, and a fascinating trend developed among it, and persists to this day: workers taking disability for minor injuries, and remaining on welfare for them interminably. I, being a amateur statistician, as I’ve previously mentioned, would not suggest this happens in every case, but rather that it’s a bit sick and demoralizing to the entire idea of welfare that it happen can at all. There is no such thing as a flawless system, obviously, but clearly reform is needed, so more money can go to the families actually trying to better their situation, and not those who got used to living on government paychecks while family-friend doctors slip them the “exam results” necessary to keep living well. There needs to be some sort of welfare check-sum.