social welfare

Why the French are Striking

by Moshik Temkin

Brits and Americans commonly refer to French protests as a form of national sport, which obscures the serious retrenchment of the welfare state that President Macron is seeking to oppose, and trivializes opposition to the changes. 

Marcus Weaver-Hightower on the Politics of School Lunch

The scholar discusses researching school lunch policies in the U.S., U.K., and Australia – and in his own household—and how nutrition policy relates to inequality, health, and learning. 

The Failed Promise of Free, Universal School Lunch

by Marcus B. Weaver-Hightower

With the lapsing of pandemic support for expanded school lunches, the nation returns to its historical roots of stigma and stinginess around the feeding of children. 

Who Will Now Bear Costs of Crisis Pregnancies?

by Daniel K. Williams

"Perhaps neither Roe nor Dobbs represents a fully Christian way to distribute the human costs associated with crisis pregnancies.  And therein lies a dilemma for Christians who want to preserve human life and are unhappy with the results of Roe as well as the likely results of Dobbs."

Reducing Child Poverty Is a No-Brainer even Without Brain Science

by Mical Raz

Reducing child poverty is a good in itself; justifying policies to reduce poverty in terms of improvements in measures of cognition or IQ scores makes such programs vulnerable to backlash and risks validating racist and eugenicist arguments about race and intelligence.

History Can Guide Fixes for America's Abysmal Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes

by Michelle Bezark

The brief history of the U.S. Children's Bureau shows that treating the health of mothers and infants as a national issue can get results. 

Paid Family Leave was Invented in the US, But We Still Don't Have It

The International Congress of Working Women met in Washington in 1919 and developed the blueprint for a paid parental leave after another international workers' organization punted on the idea. The proposal has undergirded paid leave programs throughout the industrialized world – except the United States.

Work Requirements Would Undo A Signature Biden Accomplishment

by Molly Michelmore

An expanded Child Tax Credit would potentially reduce child poverty by 40%. Placing work requirements on the credit would harm children for the sake of the historic pattern of policing the line between the deserving and undeserving poor. 

Will Biden Reverse 50 Years of Failure on Child Care Policy?

by Anna K. Danziger Halperin

Achieving better childcare policy requires recognizing women may be both mothers and workers, and moving past ideological views that women's economic independence is against the interest of families. 

How Cruelty Became the Point of Our Labor and Welfare Policies

by Gail Savage

The persistence of Malthusian thinking in social welfare debates is leading to policies that create needless suffering and a corrosion of the common bonds of humanity that sustain a society.

The US Funded Universal Childcare During World War II—Then Stopped

Historian Sonya Michel describes the temporary provision of child day care during World War II as a boost to essential war industry that did not survive the end of mobilization. 

The U.S. Government Should Promote the General Welfare

by Lawrence Wittner

The preamble of the Constitution states that the federal government was established "to promote the general welfare." The Democratic Party, for its own good and that of the nation, must aggressively seize that mantle now. 

‘There’s No Natural Dignity in Work’

by Ezra Klein

Is it time to revisit the basic premise of American welfare policies that encouraging or requiring paid labor is the best way to deal with poverty? 

Richard Nixon Bears Responsibility for the Pandemic’s Child-Care Crisis

by Anna K. Danziger Halperin

Today’s child-care crisis may have been fueled by the outbreak, but it is not new. It has been simmering below the surface for decades and can be traced back to President Richard M. Nixon’s 1971 veto of federally funded universal child care.

The Lessons of the Great Depression

by Lizabeth Cohen

The larger lesson the New Deal offers is that recovery is a complex and painful process that requires the participation of many, not directives from a few. And that, ultimately, we’re all in this together.

Donald Trump Is Redefining the Role of "Big Government" in America

by Amitai Etzioni

Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has not renewed "big government." Trump has channeled public funds to private enterprises and left state and local governments responsible for providing services without the resources or power to do the job effectively.

The New Normal: Economic Justice After COVID-19 (Speaker Gene Sperling, May 19)

Gene Sperling's new book challenges decades of market-oriented economic policy in favor of a standard based on human well-being.

Work Requirements are Catastrophic in a Pandemic

by Elisa Minoff

Instead, we should be implementing policies that support people’s work in the wage labor force and make it possible for working families to make ends meet.