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Internet Activities: Social Policy
 
 
 

Exploration

1. Go to http://www.huduser.org/ and you will be at the HudUser website, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Public Policy and Research. Select the link "Topics," and then click-on "pd&r/hud" user. Then select the link to the "Mission Statement." Read the statement and answer the following questions:

  1. What is the primary research mission of the PD&R?
  2. What is the PD&R’s mission concerning housing databases? Select the link on the left to "Data Sets." What kind of data is available? Is the bibliographic database searchable?
  3. Select the link to the "American Housing Survey" and briefly describe what kind of data is available for download. If you were doing research on public policy issues relating to housing, would this kind of data be useful? Why or why not?

2. Go to the Policy.com website. Policy.Com is devoted to exploring public policy issues of interest to Americans. Select the link to the "Issues" menu item on the top. Click on the Poverty & Welfare link. Read through a few of the articles (Poverty: Is it Time to Redraw the Line? by John Barry http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1282b-1.html is an interesting one), paying attention to the "Agree" and "Disagree" boxes on the right. Summarize and briefly compare the current arguments on this issue. Go back to the issues page of the policy.com at http://speakout.com/activism/issues/. Select any of the issue links such as health, labor, or immigration and summarize relevant material found there.

3. The Urban Institute, (http://urban.org/)

Discuss and analyze the following issues: Medicare, Social Security (including the privatization of), Welfare Reform, and the Working Poor.

4. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Global Warming (http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/)

What is global warming? How serious is it? What can be done about it?

5. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Ozone Depletion (http://www.epa.gov/docs/ozone/index.html)

What is the science of ozone depletion? How does it occur? What are some of the myths regarding it? What are the health effects?

6. The Census Bureau, (http://www.census.gov/)

  1. How does the Census Bureau measure poverty?
  2. What are the poverty thresholds and guidelines?
  3. Discuss and analyze the poverty rate for 1999 as opposed to previous years.

7. Second Harvest, (http;//www.secondharvest.org/)

  1. According to this website, who’s hungry in America?
  2. If more people are working, then why is there is a demand for increased food assistance, food stamps, and food banks?
  3. What are the policies and politics of hunger?

8. The United States Supreme Court plays a vital role in the American system of government. To inform the public of its origins, its significance, and its procedures, the Court published a pamphlet that is now online at http://www.usscplus.com/info

Go to this site and click on the box titled "The Court and Constitutional Interpretation" in the left-hand margin of the screen. Read through this page, and then answer the following questions:

  1. How does the court describe its basic function in the American system of government?
  2. What basic arguments did Alexander Hamilton and James Madison offer in support of the concept of judicial review?
  3. When the Supreme Court rules on a constitutional issue, is that decision necessarily final? Can it ever be changed? If so, how?

9. Go to http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/just/death/issues.html, the "Justice Center Web Site" at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Here you will find a plethora of resources devoted to the pros and cons surrounding the death penalty issue. There are links to the related topics of deterrent effect, retribution, executing the innocent, limiting appeals, cost of the death penalty, fairness, cruel and unusual punishment, and so forth. Choose the one link that is of most interest you, and then select a pro and con reading within the general topic. Summarize the salient points of each reading. You might also peruse other materials on this web site. After completing this assignment, what is your own position on the death penalty and why?
 
       
   
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In-Depth Exploration: Understanding Social Security

The Basics

Go to the Social Security Administration site (http://www.ssa.gov/)

  1. What benefits does Social Security provide?
  2. What is the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program?
  3. Request a statement to find out how much you will receive, based on past and current earnings.

Privatization of Social Security

In November of 2001, President Bush’s Social Security Commission wrestled with the need to reform the current Social Security system. One reform involved the "partial privatization" concept, whereby workers would be able to invest a small percentage of their wages into stocks and bonds within their own private accounts. In return, these workers would surrender some of their scheduled benefits. Opponents of privatization argued that by allowing private investment accounts, the "security" of social security would be removed. Not only would workers subject themselves to a lower level of retirement benefits, but they would be risking a portion of their retirement with securities that could go down in value. Supporters of privatization argued that wage earners were entitled to control over their own money. After all, the money fundamentally belonged to them, not the U.S. government. Why not allow taxpayers the right to manage a small portion of their wages and possibly see a higher return on their investment than could be earned under traditional government management of social security?

To understand this issue, review what the public thinks about Social Security privatization. Go to the Gallup Poll website listed above and find the April 23, 1999 Gallup Poll on "partial privatization."

Look at the poll and answer the following:

  • How did support patterns for privatization differ among younger and older groups of investors?
  • Do workers generally like or dislike managing their own retirement accounts according to the poll data?
    Do workers wish to use their individual retirement accounts only for retirement or do they believe they should be allowed to use the money for home mortgages and education as well?
  • What total percentage of workers wish to either "completely overhaul" or "make some major changes" in the social security system?

Note: You may wish to find a more recent poll (perhaps from late 2001) on privatization. Given the drop in the stock market, does the public still have similar, supportive attitudes toward the privatization scheme?

Now go to http://www.socialsecurity.org/faqs.html (Under the Cato Institute Project on Social Security Privatization) http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases, found within the Cato Institute Project on Social Security Privatization. Here you will find a section entitled "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Social Security." Briefly, summarize the responses given to the following questions found in this section:

  • What is Social Security privatization?
  • What are the benefits of privatization?
  • What are the alternatives to privatization?
  • Isn’t the stock market too risky?
  • How would privatization affect the middle class?

Obviously, the Cato Institute supports privatization. Through normal search engines, try to find web sources that oppose the privatization program.

The Future of Social Security

Go to http://www.ssa.gov/. Scroll down until you see on the left-hand sidebar "Hot Issues: Strengthening Social Security" and click on here. This will lead you to a December 1, 1998 speech delivered by Kenneth S. Apfel, Commissioner of Social Security, at the National Press Club. The speech was entitled "Strengthening Social Security: Why We Can’t Wait." After reading this speech, go to a related link- http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/1055.html and read the SSA’s publication on "The Future of Social Security." Now first answer the following questions from the speech:

  • Why is Social Security important not only to senior citizens but all Americans?
  • By the year 2030, how many older Americans will there be when compared to today’s numbers?
  • What is significant about the dates 2013 and 2032?
  • What should be done with the budget surpluses vis-à-vis Social Security?
  • What would happen to the poverty rate if Social Security suddenly disappeared?
  • Why is the issue of "advance funding" important when considering Social Security’s future?

Now answer the following based upon the publication:

  • What are the "two philosophies" that Social Security payments are based upon?
  • Why is Social Security more than a retirement program?
  • What new policy was launched in October of 1999 to help with future financial planning?
  • The relationship between "changing demographics" and the need to change Social Security should be delineated?
  • Why is Social Security an "intergenerational compact"?
  • Explain Social Security options for change from the benefit, revenue, and investment sides.
  
   
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