Suggested Discussion Outline

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johnkarls
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Suggested Discussion Outline

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Suggested Discussion Outline

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Aid To Families With Dependent Children Program (AFDC)

1. Enacted in 1935 as a cornerstone of FDR’s “New Deal.”

2. Bill Clinton won the Presidency in 1992 with 43.0% of the popular vote (George H.W. Bush with 37.4% and Ross Perot challenging from the right with 18.9%) by campaigning against “welfare as we know it.”

3. Bill Clinton won re-election with 49.2% of the popular vote by repealing AFDC on 8/22/1996 despite a 256-170 vote in the House of Representatives (a 2/3 vote in each house is required for a veto override!!!)!!!

4. AFDC repeal included the enactment of a new “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families” Program (TANF) featuring --

4-a. A 60-month lifetime cap on benefits; and

4-b. A requirement to find employment within 24 months; and

4-c. Sending administration of TANF to the states, each of which was authorized to provide NO BENEFITS WHATSOEVER.

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Our Author Prof. Kathryn Edin’s Work

1. Wrote her first book 6 years before Bill Clinton’s repeal of AFDC, which found that people on welfare generally received about $500/month ($17/day).

2. With co-author Prof. H. Luke Shaefer, found that U.S. Census Bureau Statistics proved that by 2011 there were 1.5 million households living on less than $2.00 of cash/person/day and that those 1.5 million households INCLUDED 3 MILLION CHILDREN!!!

3. They found that high unemployment (low job availability) forces many single mothers to sell blood plasma to hospitals, scavenge for cans and bottles in trash barrels, or sell sex

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The Meaning of Less Than $2.00 of Cash/Person/Day

1. Since Food Stamps (aka SNAP) are a “cash equivalent” for buying groceries, Edin and Shaefer INCLUDED THE VALUE OF FOOD STAMPS in their $2.00 of cash/person/day calculations (Introduction p. xvii).

2. Since 1946, the National School-Lunch Program provides free school lunches to “extreme poverty” children.

3. Since 1965, the “extreme poor” qualify for Medicaid, which is NOT the same as receiving medical treatment since medical providers are NOT required to accept Medicaid patients.

4. Since 1986, hospital Emergency Rooms MUST screen ALL patients regardless of ability to pay, for an emergency condition which, if found, must be treated and stabilized by the ER free of charge for those unable to pay.

5. If the “extremely impoverished” do not have some sort of housing subsidy (Edin and Shaefer ascertained that only 20% of them do), they are “couch surfing” with friends/relatives, in a homeless shelter or out on the street.

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Recent (Post-Publication) Developments

1. The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017” increases the refundable “child tax credit” for a parent earning no income from $1,000/year to $1,400/year ($2.74/day/child to $3.84/day/child).

2. TANF (ref. Item 4 in the first section above) now permits states to impose work requirements, which is puzzling since the states were always authorized since enactment in 1996 (as noted above) to PROVIDE NO BENEFITS WHATSOEVER.

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Zakat vs. Voluntary Tithing (Ref. Q&A-17 of The First Short Quiz)

1. Jewish law has always required “tithing” (or giving 10% of your income to the poor) -- Orthodox Jews, at least, still follow this practice.

2. Islam, which is based on Judeo-Christianity (“Allah” is the Arabic word for the God of Abraham and Moses), requires “tithing.”

3. Moreover, in many Islamic countries, their equivalent of the IRS is DZIT (Department of Zakat and Income Tax) which collects the 10% tithe from all Muslims!!!

4. UNFORTUNATELY, so-called Christian countries (and their residents on average) do NOT honor the second of ONLY TWO Commandments by Christ “for inheriting eternal life” -- the second of which (after loving God) is to “love your neighbor as yourself” immediately following which is the Story of the Good Samaritan to drive home the point that EVERYONE in the world is your “neighbor.”

NB: “Loving your neighbor as yourself” would require giving away ALL your income and wealth until you are as poor as the poorest Bangladeshi -- which is why so many religious orders require a “Vow of Poverty”!!!

Suggested Discussion Question that should absorb all of our meeting’s remaining time --

“Should the U.S. follow the example of Muslim countries and require the I.R.S. to collect, IN ADDITION TO ANY INCOME AND OTHER TAXES, a “tithe” that is “ear marked” to benefit the nation’s poor???

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The Meaning of the Word “Tramp” and (As Counterpoint to Zakat and Tithing) Instituting “Tramping” in America

In discussing any question, it is often useful to have something opposite and extreme in order to provoke thought.

Indeed, attorneys are often accused of employing the “Law School 101” practice of taking a principle to its logical extreme in order to test its validity. And having the opposite extreme, as just mentioned, is also often useful.

Accordingly, in considering the Question posed at the end of the last section (“Should the U.S. follow the example of Muslim countries and require the I.R.S. to collect, IN ADDITION TO ANY INCOME AND OTHER TAXES, a “tithe” that is “ear marked to benefit the nation’s poor???”), I propose that we consider an opposite extreme --

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BE IT RESOLVED: That the U.S. institute the policy of England in the 1800’s that nobody living in extreme poverty be permitted to stay in any government facility (federal, state or local) or any facility that is viewed as “charitable” such that it receives an indirect federal subsidy because contributions to it are tax deductible -- FOR MORE THAN 72 HOURS, THEREBY FORCING HER/HIM TO “TRAMP” TO THE NEXT SUCH FACILITY WHERE S/HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND SHELTER FOR ANOTHER 72 HOURS.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the THREE MILLION AMERICAN CHILDREN who live in “extreme poverty” (America’s 1.5 million households surviving on less than $2.00 cash/person/day) as documented in our focus book, BE FORCED TO “TRAMP” EVERY 72 HOURS WITH THEIR PARENTS. [In other words, neither children nor “tramps” having children, should be exempt.]

Background information --

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(1) From the posting labeled “Bitterness vs. Focusing on the Future” which is currently the second of 10 postings on www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org in its “Participant Comments” section for our 2/11/2015 meeting on “Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America” by Bob Herbert, a twice-weekly OpEd Columnist for the NY Times 1993-2011 --

“The Definition of “Tramp” (noun)

“This definition is something to ponder in connection with the issue of the replacement of traditional pension plans with Sec. 401(k) plans.

“Because most Americans have no idea how the term came to be.

“During the industrialization of Britain in the 1800’s, many people who had left the farms to work in the factories and mines became destitute for a variety of reasons such as ill health, injury, etc.

“Most British urban areas had so-called “flop houses” for sheltering such unfortunate people.

“But virtually all “flop houses” had a limit of only a few days for which such a person could be sheltered because of the idea that such people should not become dependent on such public charity.

“Accordingly, after only a few days in each place, any person unfortunate enough not to be able to work (or, if able-bodied, not to be able to find work) was forced to “tramp” across the countryside to the next urban area with another “flop house” where s/he could stay for another few days.

“Such unfortunate people became an all-too-common sight in England during the late 1800’s!!!

“So much so that studies showed that they, in fact, were “invisible” to the general population who no longer noticed them!!!

“God forbid that such becomes the fate of zillions of Americans who begin to retire in the next few years with, as expected, no retirement savings at all or an inadequate amount saved!!!

“America’s callous disregard for the Permanent Under-Caste of our inner cities should already be too much for our consciences to bear!!!”

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(2) And from the posting labeled “George Orwell and The Definition of ‘Tramp’ (nonn)” which is currently the first of 10 postings on www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org in its “Participant Comments” section for our 2/11/2015 meeting on “Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America” by Bob Herbert, a twice-weekly OpEd Columnist for the NY Times 1993-2011 --

In response to the query of one of our regulars regarding the source of the foregoing information just quoted --

“Thank you very much for your e-mail.

“George Orwell is most famous for “1984” about “Big Brother” controlling the tiniest details of everyone’s existence.

“Orwell’s next-most famous work is probably “Animal Farm” making fun of the organization of the old Soviet Union (aka Stalinism) as a result of having fought on the Communist side in the Spanish Civil War.

“Most college graduates are familiar with “1984” and might even be aware of “Animal Farm.”

“From those two seminal works, they might get the misimpression that George Orwell was solely a fiction writer!!!

“But many of his most important works were non-fiction.

“Perhaps his most important work was “Homage to Catalonia” which was George Orwell’s personal account of his own participation in the Spanish Civil War and his views on the war and its ramifications.

“Though right up there with it in terms of importance was his first full-length work, “Down and Out in Paris and London,” about poverty.

“He was writing about poverty first hand!!!

“And he was indeed a “tramp” as described in the second part of his book!!!

“And he took the time to explain what being a “tramp” meant, both with respect to the derivation of the term and with respect to what being a tramp meant in the constant and usually-doomed painful struggle to survive!!!

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