 POLITICS IS CONFLICTUAL
Professors John Wooley and Gerhard Peters of the University of California at Santa Barbara have archived party platforms dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. Using the 2008 platforms as a guide, take a look at how the Democratic National Party and the Republican National Party consider the issue of social security reform.
2008 Democratic Party Platform
2008 Republican Party Platform |
| 1. How does each party characterize the need to reform Social Security? |
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| 2. What reforms does each party suggest? |
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 Political Process Matters
The Social Security Administration has partnered with the International Social Security Association to provide a comparison of social security programs across countries. Using Tables One and Two, compare the social security program benefits offered in three European countries with the benefits from the Social Security program in the United States.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2006-2007/americas/guide.pdf
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2008-2009/europe/ssptw08euro.pdf
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| 3. Does the U.S. program offer more coverage than these European programs, or less? |
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| 4. Using Table 4, compare the contribution rates of these programs with the contribution rates than the United States. Are they higher or lower? |
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 POLITICS IS EVERYWHERE
Using StateMaster’s listing of Welfare Caseloads, take a look at the map of welfare recipients per capita. |
| 5. How does your state rank in number of welfare recipients per capita? Is it higher or lower than the national average of 1.7 per 100? |
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| 6. Looking at the map, keeping in mind that lighter colors indicate more welfare recipients, does there seem to be a geographic trend? If so, does one region seem to have more welfare recipients than another? Which one(s)? |
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| 7. Does one region seem to have significantly fewer recipients than another? Which one(s)? Does this surprise you? |
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