Hello and welcome to Nutshell History!
Today, we'll be looking at the social safety
net.
Let's picture all Americans on ladders, climbing
up and advancing economically.
What happens if you fall off the ladder: you
lose your job, get sick, or become too old
to work?
Maybe there should be a net that keeps those
people from going kersplat.
That's the idea of the social safety net.
It contains government programs such as social
security, welfare, and Medicare that help
people with their basic needs when they need
it.
Sounds great, right?Well, you pay for it with
your taxes, and we can thank FDR for that
idea.
FDR, that is, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
and his administration knotted together this
net.
Enter the Great Depression.
The economy tanked.
Businesses closed, and millions of Americans
lost their jobs.
Sound familiar?
To fix this mess, FDR proposed a New Deal
that created projects to employ people, passed
new laws to get things back on track, and
set up agencies to help stimulate the economy.
Part of this New Deal was the 1935 Social
Security Act.
How does it work?
Imagine that you are a worker.
You pay a tax -- the Social Security tax -- that
supports senior citizens who can no longer
work.
Why seniors?
The idea is that each generation of workers
chips in some money so that the previous,
older generation can buy groceries, pay the
electricity, and simple living sorts of things.
The older generation doesn't receive these
funds until they are at least 62.
A little piece of your paycheck goes towards
grandma's denture cream now, but your grandkids'
taxes will pay for your denture cream, or
denture plasma, or whatever there is in the
future.
After all, it's about respecting your elders.
Keeping with the program, 30 years later,
President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted a series
of programs he called "The Great Society."
Sort of a New Deal part deux.
You would think the economy was failing again
-- wrong!
It was actually the strongest it had ever
been, and Johnson believed it was time to
use that wealth to better society.
One of the programs created was the controversial
Aid to Families with Dependent Children, AKA
welfare.
Parents with children under the age of 18
must make less money than the specified income
requirement to receive any help from the government.
If they qualify for aid, their state government
dispenses food stamps and money to be used
for childcare, transportation, and basic living
expenses.
Some people think that those on welfare depend
too much on it.
Is it fair for some to be handed a small income,
while others work to earn an income that supports
those on welfare?
At the same time, though, do we have a responsibility
to help each other when we are down and out
for whatever reason?
After all, what if it was you?
As my kindergarten teacher said, "Treat others
like you'd like to be treated... and stop
eating the paste."
So what happens if you're sick and without
health insurance?
Lyndon B. Johnson thought of this too when
he crafted the Great Society plan.
He included two programs: Medicaid, which
funds healthcare for the very poor, and Medicare,
which funds healthcare for the elderly.
Fast-forward to the 1990s.
President Bill Clinton proposed an overhaul
of the healthcare system.
He wanted to expand the medical benefits reserved
for the poor and elderly to everyone.
That proposal was shot down and opponents
called it "unfeasible."
And now we've come to the present day.
President Barack Obama did what Clinton could
not.
He convinced Congress to create a system of
healthcare for all with the Affordable Care
Act.
Americans will be required to have health
insurance or pay a fine.
And insurers cannot decline to cover a person
for having a pre-existing condition, that
is, already being sick when they seek insurance.
Some people don't think the government should
be involved in the healthcare industry at
all.
Others don't want to have to pay for insurance,
or to pay for other people's insurance.
They believe that healthcare is something
people should take care of themselves: it
should not be part of the social safety net.
Should the government take some of my private
wealth, my money, and use it to help the commonwealth
-- the sick, elderly, and poor?
How should we balance the need for citizens
to take personal responsibility (private wealth),
with the desirability of pooling our resources
(common wealth) to help the less fortunate?
How does our nation's common good depend upon
the strength and resources of private citizens?
