{"id":390266,"date":"2018-12-23T14:28:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T13:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/welfare-reform-systematically-impoverishes-people\/"},"modified":"2018-12-23T14:28:28","modified_gmt":"2018-12-23T13:28:28","slug":"welfare-reform-systematically-impoverishes-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/welfare-reform-systematically-impoverishes-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Welfare &#8220;Reform&#8221; Systematically Impoverishes People"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure class=\"featured-media wp-caption\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"798\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-1200x798.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"url\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-800x532.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-2400x1597.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"798\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Truthout-Default-Image-1200x900.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image to4-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"url\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-1200x798.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-1200x798.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-800x532.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/GettyImages-869869006-2400x1597.jpg 2400w\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-credit\" itemprop=\"author\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Maulib via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Janine Jackson: The policies and practices known as \u201cwelfare reform,\u201d marked by Bill Clinton\u2019s 1996 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/history\/pdf\/Downey%20PDFs\/Personal%20Responsibility%20and%20Work%20Opportunity%20Reconciliation%20Act%20of%201996-Vol%207.pdf\">signing<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/104th-congress\/house-bill\/3734\">Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act<\/a>, always traded on a number of myths, often abetted by the media. Myths about how much money the government, or \u201ctaxpayers,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebalance.com\/welfare-programs-definition-and-list-3305759\">spent<\/a> on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and what those families receiving assistance looked like. And the myth that the receipt of state support discouraged people from working, creating what <a href=\"https:\/\/object.cato.org\/sites\/cato.org\/files\/serials\/files\/cato-journal\/1996\/5\/cj16n1-1.pdf\">was bemoaned<\/a> as a \u201cculture of dependency\u201d that might affect two or three generations.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>But at the center of the myths around welfare and the need for its for reform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/from-welfare-queen-to-black-girl-magic-how-black-women_us_58bf62ade4b070e55af9e924\">were always<\/a> women, and particularly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/columnists\/glanton\/ct-met-dahleen-glanton-welfare-queen-20180516-story.html\">Black women<\/a>. Shouldn\u2019t they work more? How many children should they have? How is their working, or not working, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/publication\/welfare-reform-and-marriage\/\">affecting black<\/a> men, and the perennially troubled and troubling black family?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For a policy that always claims to be about economics, welfare policy has always been about much more. Recognizing and understanding that can be part of a necessary \u201creboot,\u201d as my next guest describes it, of the policy conversation around poverty.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"banner_wrapper\" style=\"\">\n<div id=\"banner-247295\" class=\"banner subscribe-banner  banner-247295 bottom vert custom-banners-theme-default_style\" style=\"\"><a class=\"custom_banners_big_link\" href=\"#\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"banner_caption\" style=\"\">\n<div class=\"banner_caption_inner\">\n<div class=\"banner_caption_text\" style=\"\">\n<p><strong>Stay in the loop<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Never miss the news and analysis you care about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Felicia Kornbluh is associate professor of history and gender, sexuality and women\u2019s studies at the University of Vermont. Her books include <a href=\"http:\/\/www.upenn.edu\/pennpress\/book\/14328.html\"><i>The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America<\/i><\/a>, and she is co-author, with Gwendolyn Mink, of the new book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.upenn.edu\/pennpress\/book\/15876.html\"><i>Ensuring Poverty: Welfare Reform in Feminist Perspective<\/i><\/a>. She joins us now by phone from Vermont. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Felicia Kornbluh.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Felicia Kornbluh:<\/b><span> <\/span>Thank you so much for having me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We remember 1996, and the fight around welfare reform. We used to put \u201creform\u201d in quotes then. Media depictions of support recipients as lazy, as having children to avoid work. Diane Sawyer got in a young woman\u2019s face <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=CSUVCgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA804&amp;lpg=PA804&amp;dq=diane+sawyer+why+should+I+pay+for+your+mistakes&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=9XDnw9OXjU&amp;sig=yX8dGKDj1a1azjrMO3k6avvRgNA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj46pHPrfDeAhVNtFMKHXUTDvE4ChDoATACegQICBAB#v=onepage&amp;q=diane%20sawyer%20why%20should%20I%20pay%20for%20your%20mistakes&amp;f=false\">to say<\/a>, \u201cWhy should I pay for your mistake?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>But what was&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/audio\/welfare-reform-systematically-impoverishes-people\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maulib via Getty Images Janine Jackson: The policies and practices known as \u201cwelfare reform,\u201d marked by Bill Clinton\u2019s 1996 signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, always traded on a number of myths, often abetted by the media. Myths about how much money the government, or \u201ctaxpayers,\u201d spent on Aid to Families [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-390266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}