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The Knotted Line

Evan Bissell, Author

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1996-98: Sitting Ducks

1996-98: President Bill Clinton puts $5 billion towards jobs and $30 billion towards crime prevention. Seeing welfare as problem that needs to be fixed, Clinton ends welfare as it was known since the 1930s by approving the Republican led Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act.  He promises to "weed out any inmate" receiving public aid.   

Actions for Self-Determination:

Discussion Questions:
  • Compare welfare with corporate subsidies (auto bailout, industrial agriculture, military). What stories do you think about when you hear welfare? Auto industry? How do they affect how you view them?
  • Clinton framed his welfare approach with the idea that welfare was a problem that needed to be solved. Why is welfare seen as such a "dirty" word in American politics? Why is welfare more accepted in places like Finland?
  • Is racism or poverty seen as a bigger issue in the United States?
  • Do you, or someone you know, work a minimum wage job full-time? Are you/they able to "get by"? What kind of sacrifices do you/they make?
  • Can debt be a form of confinement? Why or why not? What types of economic confinement do you experience?
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