Resolved:
The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.
Articles on Economic Inequality
John Goodman grew up in Waco, TX and participated in high school debate competitions around the state of Texas. John was quite successful and won several statewide tournaments. He attended college at the University of Texas in Austin, where he became involved in campus politics and was elected vice president of the student body. All of this experience served him later in life when he became a TV debating partner of conservative polemicist William F. Buckley.
How the Tax and Welfare Systems Penalize Marriage
In effect, Congress has decided to penalize marriage most at life stages when children benefit most from the commitment of more than one adult.
For young, low-income couples: Earn an additional $10,000, and it’s not uncommon to be left with half of that amount or less, even before counting the cost of items like commuting to work and childcare.
By contrast, when couples are past the normal child rearing age, Social Security is designed so that there are almost no marriage penalties and only marriage bonuses — in the range of $100,000 or more.
What’s Wrong with the Food Stamp Program?
First, SNAP participants have very low employment rates, partly because SNAP disincentivizes work. Moreover, the share of SNAP adults who are capable of work has grown over time.
Second, compared to other groups of Americans not receiving SNAP—both high- and low-income—SNAP recipients exhibit much worse health outcomes. In 2018 (the most recent year of data), 65 percent of SNAP adults age 50-64 had been diagnosed with diet-related disease, and 42 percent were obese.
Angela Rachidi in testimony before the House Agriculture Committee, June 7, 2023.
Update on Cash Welfare
On June 14, Bruce D. Meyer testified before the Senate Finance Committee on proposals to transform the child tax credit into a fully refundable child allowance.
Meyer first presented a summary of the historical evidence on tax and benefit changes for low-income Americans, showing that pro-work policies enacted in the 1990s (including the child tax credit) have reduced poverty dramatically, increased employment, raised living standards, and reversed a 30-year trend of rising single parenthood.
Other Theories of Growth
After World War II, mainstream economists offered a number of theories about what it would take to lift the underdeveloped world out of poverty. As an article in the Cato Journal showed, all these theories turned out to be wrong. Inequality among nations was greatly reduced over the last three decades as one billion people were lifted out of extreme poverty. That occurred because of greater respect for private property, opening up markets and participation in international trade. See Jane Shaw’s summary.
Why Are There Unequal Racial Outcomes?
In her newest book, When Race Trumps Merit, Heather Mac Donald rejects the claim of “disparate impact analysis,” which posits, “any standard or behavioral norm which negatively and disproportionately affects Blacks is presumed to be a tool of white supremacy” and must therefore be eliminated.
The Role of Technology (Sumner answer)
“During the late 1920s, the living standard of American blue-collar workers was far higher than 100 years earlier. And yet almost none of the “progressive” ideas advocated by leftists had been put in place. There was no minimum wage, no federal unemployment compensation, no OSHA, and labor unions were fairly weak. In 1929, the federal government spent only a bit over 3% of GDP.”