USA - Government Responses Flashcards
1
Q
What is the introduction?
A
- 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.
2
Q
What is the first inequality?
A
- An inequality that is very prominent in America is poverty.
3
Q
What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this first inequality?
A
- An act that the government introduced to tackle this issue is the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
4
Q
Who was this first act introduced by and why?
A
- 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.
5
Q
What did the first act eliminate?
A
- This eliminated any idea of tax loopholes and deductions.
6
Q
What is the first example of the first act?
A
- 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.
7
Q
What did the first act entice people to buy?
A
- 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.
8
Q
What would the first act result in?
A
- The act would also result in 890,000 more full-time equivalent jobs.
9
Q
What does the first act successfully show?
A
- 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.
10
Q
What is the disadvantage of the first act?
A
- 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.
11
Q
What is the counter-example to the first act?
A
- 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.
12
Q
What does the counter-argument show in terms of percentages?
A
- This is still a 3% gap!
13
Q
How much % has the white people’s unemployment rate has gone up by?
A
- Plus, the fact that white people’s unemployment rate has increased by 0.1% in 18 years.
14
Q
What does this evidence mean as a counterargument against the first point?
A
- This evidence further supports the point that the Act has not erased inequalities between races and that they are still prominent throughout US society.
15
Q
What is the mini conclusion for the first act?
A
- 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.
16
Q
What is the second inequality?
A
- Another area that has inequalities that is prominent in the USA is education
17
Q
What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this second inequality?
A
- An act that the government introduced to tackle this issue is the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
18
Q
What was the second act able to do?
A
- 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.
19
Q
What did the education act furtherly do?
A
- It further invested $30bn to help make the idea of college possible for poorer families by introducing Pell Grant Awards and tuition tax credits.
20
Q
What are Tuition Tax Credits?
A
- 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.
21
Q
What is the example for the second act?
A
- For example, in 2018 6.8 million students received Pell Grant Awards.
22
Q
What does the second act’s evidence demonstrate?
A
- 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.
23
Q
What is a third act (sub-act)?
A
- Furthermore, a sub-act that was included in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARR) was called Race to the Top.
24
Q
What does the third act pursue?
A
- 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.
25
How much money was invested into the Race to the Top?
- Over $4bn was invested into this scheme.
26
What is the example for Race to the Top?
- 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.
27
What does the example for the Race to the Top show?
- 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.
28
What is the first sentence of the second mini-conclusion?
- Overall, the US government with the introduction of these acts to reduce educational inequalities has been effective.
29
Why is the education acts effective?
- 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.
30
What is the third inequality?
- An area that faces inequalities in the USA is health.
31
What is an act that has been introduced to tackle this third inequality?
- An act which was introduced to tackle these inequalities was Obamacare.
32
What is Obamacare officially known as?
- This is officially known as The Affordable Care Act and was made into law in 2010.
33
What was Obamacare meant to do in general?
- The Obamacare Act was to improve health standards within the US,
34
What did Obamacare provide specifically?
- 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.
35
What was the Obamacare Act to do for individuals?
- This was to help individuals be able to afford healthcare and have the same privileges as people who are rich can.
36
What is an example of Obamacare?
- 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.
37
What does this evidence for the Obamacare Act?
- 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.
38
What are the acts helping to further reduce health inequalities?
- Furthermore, the Medicaid and Medicare acts are helpful in reducing health inequalities throughout the USA.
39
When where these initiatives started, and what do they do?
- 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.
40
What is evidence to support the Medicaid and Medicare acts?
- For example, in 2018, this initiative covered 60 million people.
41
What does the Medicaid and Medicare act's evidence prove?
- 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.
42
What is the argument against Medicare and Aid?
- 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.
43
What is the evidence to support this counter argument for Medicaid and Care?
- 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.
44
What does this evidence of the Medicaid counter argument show?
- 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.
45
What is the mini conclusion for health?
- 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.
46
What is the first line of the conclusion?
- In conclusion, the US government has been effective in tackling the socio-economic inequalities that many Americans face.
47
Why has the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced economic inequalities?
- This is because the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts created nearly 1m jobs for vulnerable people and raised wages which eliminated economic inequalities.
48
Why have the Healthcare Acts reduced healthcare inequalities?
- 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.
49
How have the Education Acts reducted education inequalities?
- 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.
