Well since we’re reading this book, I came across an article on the Economix section of the NY Times site: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/do-americans-still-hate-welfare/?scp=1&sq=WELFARE&st=cse
According to the article it seems that Americans don’t really HATE welfare, they just don’t see it as a problem or serious issue:
“…a recent Gallup poll showed that Americans ranked welfare far down the list of the nation’s problems, below, among other things, terrorism, health care and Social Security…”
I find it ironic that people dont care about welfare but are desperately holding on to their S.S> benefits (although some argue that social security isn’t a form of welfare). I remember one class where we were talking about the stigma that the word “welfare” comes with. One poll resulted in 65% of people believing that government spends too little on assistance for the poor. But then when asked the same question with the word “welfare” in the mix, the results were overwhelmingly lower. I think this is something very important that we, as Americans, need to look at and reevaluate. The election is in spitting distance and the lingering argument of “Obama’s tax plan=welfare for Americans” is getting old now, but its interesting to see the power of a tiny little word, welfare.
