Public Policy Final Exam

Public Places- Important Concept

Through tax breaks and other means, personal fortunes grow while public goods are allowed to deteriorate

Michigan Tax Cut Example

Legislators accommodated their affluent political base by refusing to raise taxes- they canceled infrastructure upgrades and fired safety inspectors. These factors directly contributed to the flint water crisis

Desmond Personal Fortunes- Important Concept

Personal fortunes have outpaced the public purse, slowly choking public investments

California Proposition 13

Capped property taxes at 1% of the property’s original purchased price- because of this public schools dropped from first in the nation to ninth from last

Government Spending on Public Goods

In 1955: accounted for 22% of the nations economy

In 2021: accounted for only 17.6% of the nations economy

Brown v Board of Education

U.S. Supreme Court Case that ruled separate educational facilities based on race are inherently unequal and thus violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment

Public Reaction to Brown v Board of Education

When public schools were ordered by the federal government to integrate, white parents first protested, then either retreated to private schools are decamped to the suburbs

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Made racial segregation in public parks and buildings as well as restaurants and theaters illegal.

Public’s Response to Civil Rights Act

Closed public services that would have to be integrated

Fair Housing Act

Outlawed redlining, also made it illegal to discriminate when selling or renting homes

White Flight

En masse. whites responded to legally required integration by withdrawing from public spaces, then from entire cities, taking their tax dollars with them

Desmond White Flight- Important Concept

Rather than seeing taxes as a contribution to public good, many viewed them as “compulsory donations to Black people”

Commodification of Opportunity

Entrepreneurs have filled the public sector gap for the affluent- the best way to ensure that opportunity is unequal and unfair is to charge for it (we can buy an education, country club membership, etc)

Desmond Equal Opportunity- Important Concept

Equal opportunity is possible only if everyone can access childcare centers, good schools, and safe neighborhoods- all of which serves as engines for social mobility

Zoning Ordinances

a rule that defines how real property (land) in a specific geographic zone cam be used

Exclusionary Zoning

the use of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community, especially to regulate racial and economic diversity

introduced in the US during the early 1900s to prevent racial and ethnic minorities from moving into middle class or high class neighborhoods

How Exclusionary Zoning perpetuated inequality

Black people lacked resources to purchase homes- forced to rent apartments. Limited access to certain kinds of people from communities by banning the kinds of housing

Not in my backyard- Desmond Important Concept

Most Americans want the country to build more public housing for low-income families, but they do not want them to be built in their community

Reason: impact environment, change integrity of the community, affluent students will share classrooms with students impacted by poverty, school test scores will drop, property values will go down

Equality- Desmond Important Concept

Sharing opportunities previously horded does not mean everyone wins- those who have benefited from the nations excess will have to take less so that others may share

Desmond Investing in Ending Poverty

$177 Billion Dollars is what it will cost to ensure every American can afford to live- for economic security

$177 Billion

Is less than1% of the nations GDP

Less than the money of the food Americans throw away in a given year

Safe, affordable housing, put a dent in homelessness, end hunger, decrease violence/sickness/dispare, decrease crime, permit schools to focus on education rather than triaging deep needs of traumatized students

Tax Evasion

IRS estimated that the US loses more than $1 trillion a year in unpaid taxes- most of it owing to tax avoidance by multinational corporation and wealthy families

Shell Company

Inactive companies used as a vehicle for various financial maneuvers or kept dormant for future use in some other capacity (hides money from US tax collection

Desmond Tax Avoidance

Wealthy families are very good at hiding their money- most Americans pay 90% of the taxes they owe- the ultra rich only pay 75%

when corporations hide profits in tax havens, and when rich families stash valuable assets in offshore accounts… they defraud the American public, forcing everyone to pay for their greed

Desmond’s fix for tax avoidance and shell companies

Fund the IRS so they can go after cheaters

Pass legislation mandating that corporations pay a minimum tax on their profits (25%) no matter what country they are registered in

Tax Brackets

part of a progressive tax system, in which the level of tax rates progressively increases as an individuals income grows

Marginal tax rate

the tax rate a person pays on their highest dollar of taxable income

Desmond- to end proverty

Bump the top marginal tax rate to perhaps 50% or 70% as in previous history

increase the corporate tax rate to 35% as it was in 2017

2025 Child Tax Credit

Tax payers can claim a credit of up to $1000 for each cild under the age of 17

Desmond to fix the welfare state

Expand the child tax credit, confront the affordable housing crisis bu investing in new construction and public housing

Empower the poor

Choice is the antidote for exploitation

• Power to decide where they live work, bank, and start a family

Desmond: What do we have to do to empower the poor

1. Raise federal minimum wage and end subminimum pay

2. The US must promote worker empowerment through restoring the power of labor unions

Power Labor Unions

Must be inclusive, antiracist, empowering workers young and old, and all types of labor (servers, cleaners, aids, etc.)

Enterprise bargaining

under current law, workers who want to organize must do so one Amazon warehouse or one Starbucks locations at a time

Fight for $15 campaign

led by the Service Employees International Union- brought together workers from several fast food chains

• Successfully pressured elected officials to raise wages for all workers in their cities

Sectoral Collective Bargaining

an aim for labor unions to reach a collective agreement that covers all workers in their in a sector of the economy

• Contrast to enterprise bargaining which covers individual businesses

Housing Crisis in CT

Zoning is made by elected boards in local communities- often lack representation for low income, people of color

Desmond Affordable Housing- Important Concept

Under resourced families looking for a safe, affordable place to live in America usually have one choice: to rent from private owners and fork over at least half their income

Desmond: How we can fix the housing crisis

the Federal Government should provide support for first time home owners by expanding the 502 Direct Loan Program

502 Direct Loan Program

Mortgage for home through the federal government (Dept. of Agriculture). Low interest rates and may not need a down payment depending on their income. Families can also apply for low interest loans or grants to help with repairs

United Renters for Justice- Minnesoda

Found their landlord to be neglectful- convinced the city to revoke his license, raised money through local foundations to create a cooperative- all tenants were owners of the building

Empowering the poor: Limiting Payday loan services- Desmond Important Concept

Rein in payday lending institutions through stricter regulations- require lenders to make it clear how much the loan will ultimately cost

Make credit more easily available to low income families: have the federal reserve issue small dollar loans with low interest rates (Federal Level)

To end exploitation- giving women more reproductive choice- Desmond Important Concept

We should make contraception more easily available to low income women

Women with access stay in school longer, and participate in the job market at higher rates than women who don’t

Complicated history of birth control in the US

Eugenics movement: stop “socially delinquent” from reproducing- sterilization of those who seem mentally or physically unfit legal until 2014

States coerced women on probation into accepting long acting contraception and even subjecting some women to forced sterilization

May make low income, people of color less likely to trust government provided birth control methods

Ending Exploitation: Control over Family Planning

When women have control over family planning- including access to abortion- they expand their educational and economic possibilities

When reproductive choice is constricted- women and children are often cast into poverty

Medicaid

health insurance for the poor

Traditional: low income parents and their children, low income individuals fund to be disabled by social security, low income individuals over the age of 65

federal prom administered by the states (funding split depending on per capita incomes

Hyde Amendment

Federal medicaid dollars cannot be used in abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or women’s life is at risk

Dobbs v Jackson

The US Supreme Court Case holding that states can regulate abortion, to include making it illegal, so long as the law is reasonably regulated to a legitimate state interest

Rowe v Wade determined that abortion falls under the right of privacy protected by the 14th amendment’s due process clause

Legal Reasoning in Dobbs v Jackson

1. the constitution makes no express reference to abortion

2. the right to an abortion is not deeply rooted in the nations history and traditions

   • the right to an abortion is not a fundamental liberty and therefore the states have the right to regulate it

Dobbs v Jackson Dissent

Respecting a women as an autonomous being and granting her full equality means giving her substantial choice over this most consequential of all decisions

Consequences of Dobbs v Jackson

Will have devastating consequences for poor women: they do not have money or resources to travel to other states, or take care of their child, stuck in poverty

Access to Healthcare- Desmond Important Concept

We could ensure not child in America is born into poverty- best access to healthcare and support mothers like paid parental leave and free childcare

Overall To Empower the Poor

1. Raise the federal minimum wage and end subminimum pay

2. Promote worker empowerment- unionizing through sector organizing

3. Fix the housing crisis

4. Ensure all women have access to contraception and reproductive care

Tear Down the Walls- Desmond Important Concept

Simply moving poor families to high opportuntity neighborhoods without doing anything to increase their incomes, improves their lives tremendously