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117 Although there is an air of pessimism running through this book, there is also a recognition of accomplishments: transfer programs have improved the lives of millions of persons even though the official poverty statistics fail to record such improvements. By using a simple money income measure of household well-being, the Census Bureau ignores the real income gains provided by the in-kind transfers: food stamps, free school lunches, supplemental food for women, infants, and children (WIC), rent vouchers, public housing subsidies, medicaid, energy assistance, etc. These programs, which provide substantial benefits to some thirty million low income persons, are the central core of the war on poverty; they now make up over 70 percent of the budget for all income-tested programs but are not counted as income. Hence it is not surpris- ing that policy analysts relying on poverty rates as the best indicator of social progress have become pessimistic. Glazer recognizes the deficiency of the poverty statistics, but that does not assuage his pessimism: relieving poverty through transfer payments to dependent, fragmented welfare households is not enough. We now have a more demanding measure of success; we want to bring these people into the mainstream of society.
International Journal of Comparative Sociology (in 2002 continued as Comparative Sociology) – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1990
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