Modern Age - Winter 2016 - 23

CONSERVATISM AND THE REAL PROBLEMS OF INCOME INEQUALITY

politically connected, and orient tax policy to benefit families
and the middle class, not just to penalize the rich.
Welfare programs that incentivize work have been far more
successful in boosting incomes and mobility than simple cashassistance programs. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the
Earned Income Tax Credit lifted 5.4 million people out of poverty in 2010 alone. Conservatives advocate expanding this EITC
to childless adults, reducing the marriage penalty by adding a
second-earner deduction, and reducing the disincentives to work
in other welfare programs. Conservatives also propose reforming the child-care tax credit to make it easier for single mothers
to reenter the workforce, get off welfare, and take advantage of
opportunities for upward mobility.
Unfortunately, the current welfare system largely serves the goal
of providing a social safety net, rather than that of moving people
out of poverty. Although the first goal is necessary for survival, the
second goal is vital for achieving upward mobility. However, the
overall design of the entitlement and social welfare system has
greatly decreased the motivation of recipients to find work that
would take them off those benefits. Furthermore, government
housing policies expanding home ownership have made it more
difficult for the poor and working class to move to geographic
areas where jobs are more plentiful. Because it is especially difficult to sell a house in an economically depressed area, the people
most in need of mobility become trapped in that depressed area.
Since the recession's official end in 2009, real hourly wages have
fallen by 2.6 percent. In large part, this has occurred from a hollowing out or polarization of the labor market, through which middleskill and middle-earning occupations have disappeared. A study
by the National Employment Law Project found that between
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Modern Age - Winter 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2016

Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Cover1
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Modern Age - Winter 2016 - Contents
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