The biggest problem facing
American Politics is that everyone is "talking passed" each other. In effect, everybody is acting like the proverbial "blind men" describing different parts of the elephant.
The Republicans see the welfare state through the prism of the 1970's, when AFDC/ADC was rampant; and poor people were essentially "paid" to have children that they couldn't afford to support.
Further, as the US economy turned from high wage jobs to low wage jobs, at that time, many poor people thought it was better to stay on welfare, than to work for low wages with no benefits. And they were probably right!
The Democrats, on the other hand, see the welfare state as providing everyone with a basic degree of social services.
As the poor are brought up, the entire economy benefits by a more widespread participation of all people in the consumer economy. In other words, the welfare check eventually ends up in Walmart cash registers; so what difference does it make how it gets there......?
Currently, the US is experiencing an extreme concentration of wealth and income in the upper levels of the population. In other words, the rich are getting much richer, and the poor are getting much poorer.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
A prolonged period of wealth concentration could damage the American economy and society for decades; as more and more people are forced out of the cash economy, and into poverty.
As wealth concentrates, there is a tendancy for the rich to protect themselves by using fascist politics and policies, and perhaps even use "death squads" to put down lower class dissenters.
The US may be seeing the first signs of a radical right politics even now....
MY SUGGESTION WOULD BE TO HAVE THE "NEW AMERICAN WELFARE STATE" DEFINED AS---A SYSTEM OF TARGETED INCENTIVES TOWARD SOCIETY-WIDE BENEFITS...
For example, a NATIONAL HEALTH CARE PLAN would take a huge burden off business thus aiding competitivness....AND provide a needed service to the poor, who could afford to work for lower wages, if their health care needs were covered.
Tax incentives for marriage and child rearing should replace the old system that encouraged illegitimacy and single parenting; because if you subsidize something you just get more of it!
A system of subsidized housing and other needs would also allow LOW WAGE AMERICANS to "compete" with China and Asia where worker subsidies are common, thus benefiting the public and the business community.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE NEW AMERICAN WELFARE STATE SHOULD BE CONSTRUCTED TO INCENTIVIZE, WITHOUT BEING UNNECESSARILY CRUEL TO THE POOREST AMERICANS. Wide spread poverty, disease and hopelessness helps no one.
The New American Welfare State should subsidize business as well was consumers....and it should be re-distribuing money in the economy to provide for the most growth in consumer spending.
Welfare should never be a "life-style" again....but a system of tax and benefits could be devised to incentivize and subsidize, not discourage or support.
True, one persons tax is another persons subsidy.
But the effort toward a New American Welfare State is a valid function of modern government if the global economy is to survive.
The markets should be allowed to function, based on the notion that greed is not always "good" ---but it is often 'useful."
Finally, welfare for the military industrial complex will have to end....Americans can simply not afford a standing army on a 24.7 war footing.
There is a need for better coordination and cooperation globally, before the war option is placed on the table again. A CUT IN MILITARY SPENDING BY THE US COULD MAKE THE WORLD A MUCH SAFER PLACE IN THE VIEW OF MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.
Because something there is that does not like a "uni-polar" world. And with WMD now just another 1940's technology.....the entire notion of conventional war may be obsolete!
It would benefit everyone if a discussion of THE NEW AMERICAN WELFARE STATE started as soon as possible..... Because things are starting to spiral out of control now.
And sooner or later, something must be done.
Bretton Woods and American Exceptionalism may be dead..... But the need for a "New Bretton Woods" paradigm has yet to be recognized.
