1.5 Reagan Flashcards
What 3 things did Reagan’s welfare provisions impact.
Workfare.
Social Housing.
Homelessness.
What was Workfare under Reagan?
3 reasons
The Reagan administration stated that claiming benefit was causing dependency.
- The administration wanted to change “welfare to workfare” by requiring at least working parent before handing out family benefit. However, the work they found often paid below the minimum wage, (often less than the benefit) so families struggled.
- OBRA also tightened up previous legislation that tied welfare benefits to work projects, it allowed states to make working on projects an absolute requirement for benefits.
- By 1987, 42 states were running work programmes, but none made it compulsory to work on the project.
What happened to social housing under Reagan?
The government slashed spending federal funding for building low cost homes.
- In 1970 there were 2.4 million low income houses available to families.
- By 1985 there were 3.7 million families who qualified but there was not a house available for them as Reagan cut spending for this.
IN 1978 the government was spending 32.2 billion on housing and this decreased to 9.2 billion in 1988.
Caused an increase in the rate of homelessness.
What happened to homelessness under Reagan?
What did Reagan do?
In the mid 1980s homelessness was a significant problem.
-In 1987, Congress pushed through a bill giving some federal help to projects for the homeless.
-In 1984, federal funding available for the homeless was 300 million$ in 1988 it was 1.6 billion.
-The 1987 McKinney Act set up the Federal Emergency Management Food and shelter program to be run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA set up a federal housing project for transitional housing with special emphasis on the elderly.
How did the Reagan administration impact living and working conditions (stats)
-Working class families not on welfare, or only entitled to some allowances benefitted from lower taxes.
–However, they were hit harder by changes to family credit regulations and increasing interest rates. (Between 1980 and 1987, the average mortgage debt increased by 30% and the rate of foreclosure quadrupled)
Workers also felt stretched in other ways: due to the removal of regulations many had to work longer hours and had less hours of leisure.
In 1973 workers had on average 26 hours of leisure time; by 1987 it was 16 hours.
Young people joining the workforce became worse off than their elders. A two-tier wage system meant existing workers kept the wage rates. Workers joining could be offered a lower salary and fewer benefits. If they were new to the business they were put on the lower tier.
What was the impact on minorities of the Reagan administration?
Reagan’s desire to cut back on federal involvement meant that the administration was unwilling to extend civil rights or push for affirmative action.
THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION DID LITTLE TO HELP MINORITY RIGHTS
(In the first 6 months of Reagan’s presidency the Civil Rights division of the Justice department filed 5 law suits compared to the 24 in the Nixon presidency.)
- In the 1982 NAACP magazine it pointed out that the Reagan administration was harming minority school and it pointed to the fact it was busing students into schools which made them more likely to stay in deprived areas.
- The administration also withdrew 40% of its bilingual education funding as English was seen as the most important.
What was the impact of the Reagan administration on female rights and gay rights.
Women’s rights floundered under Reagan as he did not support the Equal Rights Act and spoke out about abortion
Some people accuse Reagan of ignoring the AIDS epidemic until his friend Rock Hudson died of Aids. Others say that he held meetings on the epidemic and provided funding for research.
Many republicans and conservatives would have opposed Reagan if he was to ‘gay friendly’.
What was the impact on business and industry of the Reagan administration?
What was the conflict?
-Despite Reagan’s opposition to big government his policies helped BIG BUSINESSES.
Big firms benefitted from the reduced federal regulation in working hours, wages and conditions.
It allowed businesses to merge or takeover small businesses.
-In a 1983 radio broadcast Reagan explained that he was giving small businesses tax breaks, such as allowing them to pay personal tax and not corporate tax.
He said many small businesses had gone under in the 1981-82 recession but that 500,000 new businesses had set up.
What was the impact on production of the Reagan Administration?
What did farmers do in retaliation?
In the 1970s the USA was exporting wheat to the USSR and farmers were encouraged to expand their production with the use of subsidies.
When USSR invaded Afghanistan the US stopped exporting wheat in protest and this meant that farmers had surplus stock.
This happened in tandem with rising interest rates and a tightening of the money supply.
Things worsened in 1980s and a bad drought made things worse in 1983.
How did Reagan reduce big government in the short term?
-He saw deregulation as a key tool in this.
Crotone- CUT federal regulations almost by half, removing 23,000 pages from the federal register.
Hellas Verona- Helped to reduce the price of petrol and heating through deregulation.
Cagliari- created a federal strike force to combat government fraud and waste, saved 2 billion dollars.
Roma- Replaced federal agencies with private sector ones and federal employees with volunteers.
What were the negatives of deregulation?
- Small companies struggled as it gave rise to conglomerates that bought out other smaller firms.
- Exploitation of workers, as firms would set their working standards lower than government regulators.
- Gave rise to price collusion as they could fix prices as they had all the market power.
- Firms cut services to maximise profits (airline and telephone companies). Rural areas suffered.
Why did the Savings and Loans collapse happen?
In 1983, when banking restrictions were lifted banks could offer high rates of interest.
In order to compete with the banks S and Ls had to make more risky investments, that they did not to before deregulation.
What was the impact of the Savings and Loan collapse?
Competitive Equality in Banking Act 1987, providing money to cover the cost of closed S and Ls.
In 1988 s and ls lost 10 billion.
1989 house market collapse.
What were the negative impacts of deregulation on trade?
Deregulation meant that imports became cheaper.
- This impacted domestic companies, Between 1980 and 1985 250 textile plants were forced to close and over 300,000 workers lost their jobs.
- Economists argued that the trade liberalisation was damaging the economy.
- American companies were being bought out, Nov 1987, one finance magazine said that Britain was getting the colonies back by buying them.
What were the positive impacts of deregulation of trade?
- Supporters of Reagan argued that increased imports gave consumer more choice.
- Also increased foreign direct investment as US was seen as a more attractive place to investment, used Japan as an example.
What were the problems of workfare under Reagan?
- The work provided paid below minimum wage, sometimes less than welfare benefit.
- Despite government promises for childcare, many single parents found childcare impossible to find.
- OBRA tightened up previous legislation that provided work projects tied to benefits for welfare claimants.
What was the impact of the workfare system? (statistic)
By January 1987, there were 42 states running work programmes. Whilst none of them made working on a programme a requirement for benefit, most required the claimant to be looking for work.
What two ways did social housing change under Reagan and what was the impact of this?
- The number of low-income houses decreased.
- Government spending on low cost decreased.
This caused the number of homeless people to increase, which was difficult for the public to accept.
Identify three things that Reagan did for Homelessness?
- 1987 pushed federal help through congress.
- From 1984 to 1988 spending increased
- 1987 Mckinney Act set up the Federal Emergency Management Food and Shelter program to be run by (FEMA).
What were Reagans welfare measures?
-1982 Job Training partnership act.
Shifts job training from federal hands to state and private schemes.
- 1983 Social Security Reform bill
- 1987 McKinney Act
- 1988 Family support act.
Identify the impact on working and living conditions of Reagan’s policies?
- living standards decreased as interest rates rose, debt increased and foreclosures quadrupled.
- Working conditions deteriorated, worked harder and less leisure time
- Young workers were were treated badly
What was the evidence for the impact on living conditions.
Living standards -Between 1980 and 1987 mortgage debt increased by 30% and the rate of foreclosure quadrupled.
Working conditions-Between 1973 and 1987 workers had 10 less leisure hours a week.
Young people- young people became worse off due to two-tier wage structure. Workers joining the firm would be could be offered a lower salary and less benefits for the same job.
What was the impact of Reagan’s stress on productivity?
- It was emphasised by businesses which meant it was difficult for working mothers to have anything but a low level job.
- Many had to move into part-time and temporary employment.
What was the overall impact of Reagan’s policies on minorities?
- Majority of minorities suffered
- Some minorities like well educated black women benefitted.
What is the evidence that Reagan’s administration had a negative impact on minorities?
What groups were impacted?
Black Americans,
Hispanic,
Women,
Gay,
- In the first six months of his administration 5 the Justice department filed 5 discrimination Lawsuits.
- Compared to Nixon first 6 months that filed 24.
- The crisis magazine, pointing to his abandonment of busing students into various schools. (particularly bad for Hispanics).
- Withdrew funding of 40% for bilingual education saying that they needed to use English as much as possible.
- The planned shrinkage of inner cities that started from Carter Continued.
What is the evidence that Reagan improved minority rights?
What is a caveat to this?
- He appointed a woman Sandra Day to the Supreme Court.
- Provided funding from Aids research from 1982.
- High achieving, well educated middle class conformist black Americans could get ahead. They filled two minority quotas for cynical businesses.
- Despite this, they felt that they were merely a ‘quota hire’
What did Reagan think about Women’s rights?
Women’s rights floundered under him.
Reagan did not support the equal rights act and did not support abortion
What did Reagan think about Gay rights?
IGNORED - Accused of ignoring aids epidemic until his friend Rock Hudson, died of Aids.
Most Reagan supporters opposed gays so the administration could not have been too gay friendly.
HELPED- Addressed meetings on the epidemic and provided funding for Aids research from 1982.
How did businesses change under Reagan?
- His policies favoured big businesses. Big businesses profited from reduced federal regulation over working hours and conditions.
- Deregulation meant big businesses could merge up or buy out small ones.
- In 1983 radio broadcast Reagan suggested he was helping small businesses by tax breaks and reducing personal tax.
- He admitted that many businesses had gone under and that between 1981-1982 500,000 businesses had been set up.
How did Farming change under Reagan?
Farming worsened in 1980s
- 1983 Drought created problems.
- Farms were born by agri-businesses or by unrelated companies.
- In 1980 17% of farmers were getting paid 60% of the subsidy fund.
- The National Save the Family Farm Coalition was set up in 1986.
What did the National Save the Family Farm coalition do?
-It organised demonstrations to highlight the plight of family farms, using traffic slowing tractorcades.
