Word: underclasses
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There is no all-embracing solution, at any price, for the complex malaise of the underclass. It would be more realistic?and much less inflationary?to press for a mix of endeavors, in which the Government would reorder some social spending and new efforts would be made by private business and by members of the underclass themselves...
...adult minimum, but that might just inspire employers to hire well-schooled middle-class youth at the expense of older workers. A better compromise, suggested by Harvard Economist Martin Feldstein, would be for the Government to subsidize minimum-wage payments to the youthful unemployed. Directed specifically to the underclass, the program would allow businessmen to pay a fraction of the cost for jobs that they might otherwise refuse to fill. Another wise Government investment would be to shift some federal funds to more and better mass transit, which, beyond all its benefits to the environment, would give the underclass access...
Without increasing the federal budget, the Government might sensibly redirect some of its stimulative spending?a bit less for the booming Sunbelt, a bit more for the Northern and Midwestern states, where the urban underclass is concentrated. In 1975, for every tax dollar sent to Washington from the Midwestern states, 760 returned; the Northeastern states got back 860; but the South collected $1.14 and the West $1.20. One reason for the disparity is that many corporations have their headquarters in the Northeast and Midwest, from which they pay taxe based on their total national sales. But there are other factors...
President Carter has struck to the root of one debilitating problem by proposing his "profamily, pro-work" welfare reform bill, which aims to get people off the dole and encourage them to work (TIME, Aug. 15). By offering cash grants to the so-called working poor, it encourages underclass fathers to stay in the home instead of leaving so that their families can collect welfare. The plan offers tax incentives for those who find jobs in the private sector instead of public service. For those who cannot, it proposes to create 1.4 million positions in training programs and in service...
...Washington knows little about their effectiveness. Says Sar Levitan, director of George Washington University's Center for Social Policy Studies: "You end up throwing money away without anyone really knowing what is going to happen." At their best, the federal programs have room for only a fraction of the underclass, and most are designed for fairly experienced workers or the motivated poor...