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Study: Public Assistance Programs Lessen Poverty

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 29 2018, @07:39AM   
from the at-what-cost dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Yahoo Finance reports

Poverty-alleviation programs like food stamps (SNAP), Social Security, and other "welfare" programs are broadly effective at reducing poverty, a new study from University of Chicago researchers found.

The study, performed by researchers Bruce Meyer and Derek Wu, conducted a more comprehensive analysis than most studies, because it used administrative data from the programs' payment records, not just survey data of recipients from the Census Bureau.

[...] For the elderly, Wu said the research found that Social Security benefits "single-handedly slashes poverty by 75%." Social Security's overall effect on all poverty is also enormous, responsible for by far the largest poverty reduction among all these programs, the study said.

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Original Submission

• ''lower classes make the system work'' (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @09:56PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @09:56PM (#685935)

  I disagree with your use of "lower classes" as if there are more than 2 classes in total.
  (The 2 classes in a Capitalist system are The Proletariat and The Bourgeoisie.)
  ...then there's the use of "lower".

  In addition, I note that Marx advocated for a classless society.
  ...which was going pretty well in USSR--until Stalin decided he'd rather have a dictatorship. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [redflag.org.au]

  ...but, if we substitute "Workers", your point is well made.

  As proof, let's look at a country with a Reactionary Oligarchical class which, in the prior week, has been shown the power of The Working Class.

  Truckers strike brings Brazil to brink of collapse [wsws.org]

  A week-old truckers’ strike has brought Brazilian economic and social life to the brink of collapse as fuel and basic supplies run out in major cities, shutting down transportation and leaving supermarket shelves empty.

  The right-wing government of President Michel Temer has responded to the walkout by calling out the army to clear highways of truckers’ blockades and suppress the strike. The action marks the first time that the military has been mobilized on such a nationwide basis since the end of Brazil’s two-decade-long dictatorship that began with the US-backed coup of 1964.

  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  Parent