Comparisons with Other Industrialized Democracies

2. Comparisons with Other Industrialized Democracies • TAXES AND SPENDING • ECONOMIC INTERVENTION / GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP • SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS • CIVIL RIGHTS / CIVIL LIBERTIES • EDUCATION • POVERTY

3. American ExceptionalismThe small size of government • General Measures: • Taxes, employees, economic intervention, government ownership. • Social Insurance (Social Security) • no national Health, sickness pay, programs established later, fewer benefits, fewer universal programs • Employment Regulation: • Minimum wage (lower), other protections (fewer)

4. The small size of American government (contd.) • Public Assistance • US has more • Family Programs: US lacks: • Family Allowance • Strict Child Support enforcement • Paid Family Leave • Subsidized Child Care

11. Military Spending, 1993 Sorted bytotal spending (US dollars)

12. GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP Old Socialism: • public ownership of the means of production • Great Britain, for example • New Socialism: • private ownership • extensive social welfare programs • Sweden, for example

15. Social Welfare Programs • Social Insurance (Social Security) • Employment Regulation • Public Assistance • Family Programs

16. CORE SOCIAL INSURANCE PROGRAMS: • OASDHI • Old Age Pension, Survivors Insurance, Disability Insurance, Health Insurance • Workers Compensation • Unemployment Insurance • Sickness Pay • National Health Insurance

17. Source: Robert Kurdle and Theodore R. Marmor, "The Development of Welfare States in North America," in Flora and Heidenheimer (1981, 83) Dates of Enactment of Social Insurance Programs in Seven Nations Workman's Pension Sickness Unemployment Health Country Compensation Insurance Insurance Insurance Insurance Canada 1930 1927 1971 1940 1972 France 1898 1905 1930 1905 1945 Germany 1884 1889 1883 1927 1880 Italy 1898 1928 1919 1945 1919 Sweden 1901 1910 1934 1965 1913 United King. 1908 1887 1911 1911 1948 United States 1935 1935 ---- 1935 ----

19. Employment Regulation: • US Fair Labor Standards Act • 40 hr. week, Minimum Wage, • Child Labor, Family Leave • US National Labor Relations Act • Collective Bargaining Rights • Worker Training Programs • Affirmative Action

22. Family Programs: • Family Allowance • Strict Child Support enforcement • Paid Family Leave • Subsidized Child Care

23. Public Assistance Programs: • AFDC • Food Stamps • Medicaid • SSI (formerly AB, APTD, OAA) • General Assistance • Poverty Programs: • Meals on Wheels, School Lunch, Head Start, Job Training, WIC, Energy Assistance

24. Exceptions to Exceptionalism • Military spending, only since 1941 • Prisons, criminal justice system • Capital punishment • Judicial system & litigation • ---e.g. states suing cigarette companies • Education (maybe) • Regulation (maybe) • Tax expenditures • Farm subsidies (partly) • Prohibition • Slavery and Jim Crow laws

25. Differences in program structure US: • Programs targeted to specific groups • Means tested • Decentralized Europe: • Comprehensive and Universal programs

26. United States Medicare (elderly) {Parts A & B} Medicaid (poor) Tax exclusion for employer coverage (middle class) Indian Health Services CHIPS (working poor, children) Veterans Health Care More…………. Health Care: Europe and US Europe • National Health Service, or • National Health Insurance • Covers 80-100% of pop • Covers 70-90 of costs

27. US Programs (continued) • Black Lung Health Benefits • Municipal Hospitals • Community Health Clinics • Community Mental Health • Kidney dialysis program • Covers 45% of pop • Covers 45% of cost (excluding tax benefits)

29. Civil Rights and Civil Liberties • Bill of Rights • First Amendment (Speech, Press Religion) • Second Amendment • Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments • Abortion • Affirmative Action • Power of the Judicial System

30. Rate per 100,000 of population Imprisonment Rate: Selected Counrties

31. EDUCATION USA • Historical Development • Size • % Private • Centralization / Equality • Quality

32. Link toimage