USA - Government Responses

Question 1

What is the introduction?

Answer 1

• This essay will discuss whether the US government’s responses to socio-economic inequalities have been effective in tackling these inequalities or have failed in that mission.
• Some of the responses the government has made are to do with health, education, and poverty.

Question 2

What is the first inequality?

Answer 2

• An inequality that is very prominent in America is poverty.

Question 3

What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this first inequality?

Answer 3

• An act that the government introduced to tackle this issue is the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Question 4

Who was this first act introduced by and why?

Answer 4

• This act was introduced by Donald Trump (former US president) and aimed to reduce tax for people who worked hard and were in middle-income wages.

Question 5

What did the first act eliminate?

Answer 5

• This eliminated any idea of tax loopholes and deductions.

Question 6

What is the first example of the first act?

Answer 6

• For example, according to the Tax Foundation’s Taxes and Growth Model, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would increase the long-run size of the U.S. economy by 3.5%.
• The larger economy would result in 2.7% higher wages and a 9.3% larger capital stock.

Question 7

What did the first act entice people to buy?

Answer 7

• It also reduced business taxes so employers could create more jobs and raise wages,
• decreasing unemployment rates and increasing wages so people were enticed to work.

Question 8

What would the first act result in?

Answer 8

• The act would also result in 890,000 more full-time equivalent jobs.

Question 9

What does the first act successfully show?

Answer 9

• This shows that the act was successful in dealing with unemployment levels and making taxes fairer,
• which emphasizes how this act has helped reduce economic inequalities.

Question 10

What is the disadvantage of the first act?

Answer 10

• However, despite the Act creating many jobs and boosting the economy in the long run,
• it did not help make the gap of unemployment between races the same or smaller,
• which means that there are still inequalities in unemployment, and the mission has not been successful.

Question 11

What is the counter-example to the first act?

Answer 11

• For example, in 2000 there was an 8.2% unemployment rate of black people unemployed compared to a 3.4% unemployment rate for white people,
• then compared to 2018 (pre-covid) where there is a 6.5% unemployment rate for black people and a 3.5% rate for white people.

Question 12

What does the counter-argument show in terms of percentages?

Answer 12

• This is still a 3% gap!

Question 13

How much % has the white people’s unemployment rate has gone up by?

Answer 13

• Plus, the fact that white people’s unemployment rate has increased by 0.1% in 18 years.

Question 14

What does this evidence mean as a counterargument against the first point?

Answer 14

• This evidence further supports the point that the Act has not erased inequalities between races and that they are still prominent throughout US society.

Question 15

What is the mini conclusion for the first act?

Answer 15

• Overall, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was successful in tackling inequalities within the USA.
• This is because although there are still inequalities within finance, the Act, was able to limit the inequalities,
• create over half a million jobs for people who may have been struggling
• and put higher wages for people in need, which could take them out of poverty.

Question 16

What is the second inequality?

Answer 16

• Another area that has inequalities that is prominent in the USA is education

Question 17

What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this second inequality?

Answer 17

• An act that the government introduced to tackle this issue is the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Question 18

What was the second act able to do?

Answer 18

• This act was able to reinvest $140bn in education, where it was most needed in deprived schools
• as they got over £30bn in funds to raise the standards in schools, create initiatives and better learning environments.

Question 19

What did the education act furtherly do?

Answer 19

• It further invested $30bn to help make the idea of college possible for poorer families by introducing Pell Grant Awards and tuition tax credits.

Question 20

What are Tuition Tax Credits?

Answer 20

• Tuition Tax Credits are where families who earn less than $180,000 receive up to $10,000 towards tuition fees and being able to afford to stay in university.

Question 21

What is the example for the second act?

Answer 21

• For example, in 2018 6.8 million students received Pell Grant Awards.

Question 22

What does the second act’s evidence demonstrate?

Answer 22

• This evidence demonstrates to us that the introduction of the Act has helped millions of students around the world, no matter what race they are,
• to achieve a great standard of learning and that the policy introduced has been successful and effective in tackling inequalities in education.

Question 23

What is a third act (sub-act)?

Answer 23

• Furthermore, a sub-act that was included in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARR) was called Race to the Top.

Question 24

What does the third act pursue?

Answer 24

• This initiative offered grants for states to encourage them to pursue higher standards of education
• to be able to use data effectively whilst in the classroom,
• to improve teacher’s effectiveness so the students would be both enticed to learn and improve their grades and
• to adopt new strategies to help struggling schools that were mainly based in deprived areas.

Question 25

How much money was invested into the Race to the Top?

Answer 25

• Over $4bn was invested into this scheme.

Question 26

What is the example for Race to the Top?

Answer 26

• For example, in 2000 only 52% of Hispanics graduated high school with a high standard of qualifications and 10% went on to get a college degree.
• This is compared to 2018 where now 71% of Hispanics graduate high school, and 18% of Hispanics get a college degree.

Question 27

What does the example for the Race to the Top show?

Answer 27

• This evidence shows that the Race to the Top Act with the AAR Act was able to give students of all races a better chance at graduating
• and being able to go to college with a good standard of education with them, which further reduces educational inequalities.

Question 28

What is the first sentence of the second mini-conclusion?

Answer 28

• Overall, the US government with the introduction of these acts to reduce educational inequalities has been effective.

Question 29

Why is the education acts effective?

Answer 29

• This is because students, with the money invested into schooling, are now able to get a good standard of education
• with improved teaching efficiency and even able to go on to further education
• which might not have been possible without the Pell Grant Awards, due to the poverty ethnic minorities may face.

Question 30

What is the third inequality?

Answer 30

• An area that faces inequalities in the USA is health.

Question 31

What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this third inequality?

Answer 31

• An act which was introduced to tackle these inequalities was Obamacare.

Question 32

What is Obamacare officially known as?

Answer 32

• This is officially known as The Affordable Care Act and was made into law in 2010.

Question 33

What was Obamacare meant to do in general?

Answer 33

• The Obamacare Act was to improve health standards within the US,

Question 34

What did Obamacare provide specifically?

Answer 34

• Women could no longer be charged higher premiums just because they’re women,
• young adults can stay on their parent’s health insurance until they’re 26,
• and more affordable healthcare policies with nearly 6 out of 10 uninsured Americans now being able to get insurance for $100 a month
• and people who did not have health insurance would be taxed.

Question 35

What was the Obamacare Act to do for individuals?

Answer 35

• This was to help individuals be able to afford healthcare and have the same privileges as people who are rich can.

Question 36

What is an example of Obamacare?

Answer 36

• For example, in 2000 only 68% of Hispanics and 81% of Black people had health insurance, meanwhile in 2018 now 82% of Hispanics and 90% of black people have health insurance.

Question 37

What does this evidence for the Obamacare Act?

Answer 37

• This evidence shows that the ACA has been effective in making people of all races afford the same standard of health, which reduces health inequalities within races.

Question 38

What are the acts helping to further reduce health inequalities?

Answer 38

• Furthermore, the Medicaid and Medicare acts are helpful in reducing health inequalities throughout the USA.

Question 39

When where these initiatives started, and what do they do?

Answer 39

• These initiatives were started in 1965 and are government-funded programmes which provide healthcare and treatments for the most vulnerable people in society, usually between the ages of 60 to 65 and over.

Question 40

What is evidence to support the Medicaid and Medicare acts?

Answer 40

• For example, in 2018, this initiative covered 60 million people.

Question 41

What does the Medicaid and Medicare act’s evidence prove?

Answer 41

• This evidence shows that the acts have been used to all their ability and that many people within the USA are vulnerable
• and can now because of the acts get treated and cared for as they couldn’t before.

Question 42

What is the argument against Medicare and Aid?

Answer 42

• However, the Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare Acts are all limited as the life expectancy of races is still unequal, meaning that inequalities have not disappeared within health.

Question 43

What is the evidence to support this counter argument for Medicaid and Care?

Answer 43

• For example, in 2000 the White life expectancy was 77.3 years and for black people was 71.8 years.
• This is compared to 2018 when it was for White people 78.8 years and for Black people 75.3 years.

Question 44

What does this evidence of the Medicaid counter argument show?

Answer 44

• This evidence shows that although life expectancy has increased for both ethnicities,
• there is still a huge gap between both races,
• which means health inequalities still exist, and the acts were limited in effectiveness.

Question 45

What is the mini conclusion for health?

Answer 45

• Overall, although there are still health inequalities and limitations to the Acts, majorly the Acts have been successful in their goal of reducing health inequalities,
• as 60 million vulnerable Americans can now receive free treatment for diseases
• 80-90% of ethnic minorities are now able to be covered by health insurance, which previously was too expensive for them to afford.

Question 46

What is the first line of the conclusion?

Answer 46

• In conclusion, the US government has been effective in tackling the socio-economic inequalities that many Americans face.

Question 47

Why has the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced economic inequalities?

Answer 47

• This is because the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts created nearly 1m jobs for vulnerable people and raised wages which eliminated economic inequalities.

Question 48

Why have the Healthcare Acts reduced healthcare inequalities?

Answer 48

• The healthcare Acts allowed millions of vulnerable Americans to be treated for free, which eliminated health inequalities as people could now be treated for deadly diseases.

Question 49

How have the Education Acts reducted education inequalities?

Answer 49

• Finally, the education acts have been able to reinvest over $30bn in schools to be able to further educate students about important issues and be able to get them into college with a good, levelled degree.