Current Event Discussion and Policy Analysis 2- Poverty and Economic Inequality
Define the problem: Discuss the articles as a group.
What can you defer as a group are the problem(s)
today in the topic area based on your readings and
other experiences? (2 points)
What policies or programs existed in the past to
address the problem(s)? (2 points)
What policies or programs exist to address the
problem(s)? (2 points)
Who is affected by these/this policy(ies)? Are they
affected positively or negatively? (2 points)
What ideology or ideologies guided the policies, both
historic and current? (3 points)
- The pay gap has become more
concerning between the rich and the
poor during this pandemic
- Based on experiences I can tell that the
rich seem to get richer and the lower
class are losing jobs and therefore are
struggling with paying bills and other
things such.
- War on poverty - job corps, food
stamps, social security act
- Tax Brackets are in existence to tax the
rich more in order to help the poor
(many people who are rich feel as
though they do not want to help the
poor)
- No longer in existence: Charity and
society and “friendly visitors” -- blaming
the victim ideologyOrganizations
- CARES Act - payments based on how
much money you make..
- Big businesses got government funding
because there was not enough
regulations on the money, but the
small businesses didn't get any help
( example: amazon workers getting
paid low and the owner is now a
trillionaire)
- Small business who are not receiving
the benefits from the pandemic
because of the lack of regulations
corporate businesses are getting them
- People living in poverty are using
policies such as food stamps and
unemployment to help them through
the pandemic, but how strict are the
regulations? Can we do more?
- CAUSE AND FUNCTION: People want
to improve society through this
pandemic by helping those in poverty,
the day to day efforts are policies we
make to help the war on poverty. So
this could be giving those who are poor
public assistance, and changing
residual to more universal tional
program

What theories would explain the current legislation?
How do they compare with theories that could
explain past legislation? (3 points)
If you were legislators tasked with writing a bill to
address the problem, what would your bill include? (2
points)
What paradigms did you, as a group, use to
understand the problem and draft your bill? (2
points)
- THE CULTURE OF POVERTY AND
THE UNDERCLASS: Many of the
richer people in our society blame
people in our society for being poor.
Oftentimes they cannot do much to
help themselves. Furthermore, the rich
may not want to follow the tax bracket
to help the poor because they think the
money they earn is their own. Hence
blaming the victim.
-
- Elite Power: this is built on the idea that
a handful of people control the political
policies in our world. So when there is a
window of opportunity either between
republicans and democrats certain tax
laws and laws regarding poor people
will change. However, the dominant
elite class normally controls how public
policy is made.
- Social Control: the people who are in
power make the policies that are
supposed to be in place to help the
poor and needy, but they need to find a
way to understand exactly what the
poor and needy need help with
- Stricter tax laws (redistribution of
wealth): less deductions, better
regulation of
- Inheritance tax: tax those who inherit
large sums of money from family
members
- EDUCATING THE SOCIETY ABOUT
why poverty occurs to lesson blaming
the victim ideology
- Regulate small buinsses and corporate
businesses so the bigger businesses
arent taking money from small
businesses
- Social Empathy: the people creating
these laws should gain insight about
the poor/middle class peoples lives
before creating these policies… if they
don't have an understanding, how can
these policies work for those who need

How did history influence your legislation? What has
worked (even a little) and what has not worked? (2
points)
Who would be affected by the policy your group
developed? Would they be affected positively or
negatively? (2 points)
it
- In the past there was the worthy poor
and unworthy poor. Both in which
needed help to get on the feel but the
unworthy poor were often victims of the
blaming the victim ideology, but today
we must do better as a society to
properly aid the poor no matter the
circumstance.
- Low income individuals , and wealthy
people
- Higher- income individuals are more
able to pay income taxes and keep and
keep a good living standard
- Low-income individuals pay less,
leaving them more to support
themselves
- Wealthy people end up paying a
disproportionate amount of taxes