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Class Action
July 2008 E-news:
Class and Public Welfare
In this Issue
1. Time for Celebration!
2. Public Welfare- guest editor Debbie Lopes da Rosa
3. Book of the Month: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest
Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and
Stick You With the Bill)
4. Related Articles on Public Welfare
5. Resources
6. Action of the Month
7. Take our Survey
8. Birthday Wishes
1.Time for Celebration!
Whether you are reading your first e-news to learn about classism, if you are one of the 11,000+ people who attended one of Class Action’s inspiring programs, or one of our Core Circle members, you are what Class Action is all about. You are taking action to end classism. As we mark our 4th birthday this month you give us cause to celebrate. Thank you!
In just four years Class Action put the issues of class and classism on the map. Giving people a name for their experiences, break downing walls between people from different classes, opening doors for educational opportunities to people from all class backgrounds, and inspiring action to help create a more just world. As we enter our fifth year, we look forward to expanding and deepening the reach of Class Action’s program and impact. Thank you for joining us on the journey!
2. Public Welfare
As noted in Economic Apartheid in America, reducing inequality requires changing not only the rules of the economy, but the values that permit and encourage high levels of inequality. When we talk about welfare, we see a great example of how both current policies and rules, and attitudes and values contribute to continued discrimination based on class.
In its simplest form, welfare is a benefit paid by the government to people. For those with less socio-economic status, that means programs like Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, housing subsidies, food stamps, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, the Earned Income Credit, etc. And, unfortunately, attached to most of these programs comes perceptions of unworthiness – recipients “haven’t worked hard enough,” “are taking advantage of the system,” “don’t have the right values or attitudes to succeed,” etc. In 1996 those negative perceptions were translated into “ending welfare as we know it,” and much tougher eligibility requirements (inordinately hurting women and children of color), devastating decreases in education and housing assistance, and cuts to community grants. Negative attitudes towards welfare recipients made possible changes to the welfare system that have largely led to even greater inequality.
But those with more socio-economic status get welfare too. Corporate tax breaks, subsidies, provision of government goods without adequate compensation, etc. are government payments to those with wealth. For middle-class folks, there are mortgage deductions, low-interest loans and tax credits for higher education, and other benefits. And those payments – corporate welfare or middle-class benefits – come without the negative connotations of payments to individuals in need. Government support for those in higher income brackets remain hidden, or are described as “normal” and “necessary.” Since 1996 benefits have increased with little to no oversight to individuals and corporations with greater wealth and income -- a classic case of classism and hidden privilege in action.
One of the negative effects of our increasing cynicism about government’s approach to welfare is a sense of hopelessness about government providing appropriate safety nets and support for its citizens. In the face of the disastrous policies of recent years that garnered mistrust, Americans are losing our vision of why we need government and its public structures to ensure economic opportunity and address widening economic inequality.
There are lots of ways to think about social change and ending classism, and we’re very obviously committed to our (and others’) role as non-government organizations challenging current inequities. But let’s not forget that questionable as current policies or politicians might be, in a general sense we need OUR government, OUR resources and money, and OUR will and intent reflected in a government welfare system which equitably supports individuals and groups from all classes. Bashing all government entities, programs or leaders won’t achieve that end … but working to change our public structures and to address the classist attitudes that underly them will.
3. Book of the Month: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)
by David Cay Johnston
reviewed by Nick Baumann for Mother Jones Magazine
For its first 280 pages, the new exposé from this Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter is an engaging look at how the superrich consistently—and outrageously—rely on public handouts while preaching about free markets and wasteful entitlement programs all the way to the bank. The villains in David Cay Johnston's tales run the gamut from railroad executives to sports-franchise owners to hedge-fund managers, all joined by a willingness to take enormous sums from public coffers while providing little or nothing in return. Read More...
4. Related Articles on Public Welfare
Redeeming Public Remedy
by Michael Lipsky and Dianne Stewart
It takes effective government to restore opportunity. After decades of government-bashing, we need to win back support for what we do in common. Read More...
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Assessing the New Federalism: Eight Years Later
by Olivia Golden
The Urban Institute’s report on welfare after the 1996 reforms concludes, “The findings, taken together, suggest what a new social safety net might look like. If it emerges successfully, the new social safety net will weave together work and job-related benefits from the private sector with social insurance and benefits from the public sector in ways that sustain low-income families: private and public supports as the warp and the weft of one social fabric." Read More...
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Cutting Corporate Welfare (Excerpt)
by Ralph Nader
Simply to acknowledge the existence of corporate welfare is to point to the enormous discrepancies in influence and allocation of resources in our country. Read More...
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The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses
by Stephen Slivinski
The federal government spent $92 billion in direct and indirect subsidies to businesses and private-sector corporate entities—expenditures commonly referred to as “corporate welfare”—in fiscal year 2006. Read More...
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Corporate Welfare
by Campaign for America’s Future
Conservatives like giving away government money too, they just do it differently. Whether they are billion dollar sole-source contracts to Halliburton, farm subsidies that benefit California millionaires with a hobby ranch in Wyoming, or the twelve billion dollars squandered monthly in Iraq, conservatives are quite liberal with American tax dollars. Read More...
5. Public Welfare Resources:
Demos: a Network for Ideas & Action
Urban Institute: Nonpartisan Economic and Social Policy Research
Institute for Policy Research: Northwestern University
The Finance Project: Helping leaders finance and sustain initiatives that lead to better futures for children, families, and communities
Corporate Welfare Information Center
National Priorities Project: Bringing the Federal Budget Home
Coalition on Human Needs
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Too Much: a Commentary on Excess and Inequality
Dollars & Sense: The Magazine of Economic Injustice
Foriegn Policy in Focus
Public Citizen: Protecting Health, Safety & Democracy
6. Action of the Month: Rethinking Welfare
Changing our policies and attitudes about welfare requires both personal reflection and collective action. On the personal side, for this month, think about what benefits you personally receive or don’t receive from federal, state or local governments. How does your list compare with that of other people you know or how the media covers welfare issues? How does despair about the government’s record over the last years in protecting public welfare affect how you think about addressing inequities?
Go to our Action of the Month page to find out more....
7. Take our Survey
What messages did you get from family, friends, school, work, the media or other sources about welfare? What kind of welfare do you think our government ought to provide, and to whom?
Submit a response here. Read other survey responses here.
8. Birthday Wishes
How can you celebrate Class Action’s birthday?
- Talk about class. Do it today. Speak up at work, with your friends, in your community. Say that class matters and that classism is not OK.
- Tell a friend about Class Action.
- Make a gift to Class Action. Our wish list includes a new Mac computer, underwriting to duplicate 500 copies of the DVD Enough, and printing for our fall newsletter.
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