The end of welfare
Subtitle: fighting poverty in the civil society
By: Michael Tanner.
Publisher: Cato Institute
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Washington, D.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
Subjects: Public welfare -- United States; Welfare recipients -- Employment -- United States; Welfare state
Description: This book traces the growth of the American welfare state from the colonial era through the latest welfare reform bill and shows that government welfare programs have been a disastrous failure for everyone involved: for taxpayers, who must pick up the bill for failed programs; for society, whose mediating institutions of community, church, and family are increasingly pushed aside; and most of all for the poor themselves, who are trapped in a system that destroys opportunity for them and hope for their children.

Tanner carefully examines the welfare reforms most often suggested by both liberals and conservatives - from job training to child care to workfare - and rejects them as unlikely to solve welfare's problems. Concluding that welfare cannot be reformed, Tanner calls for an end to government welfare and a return to the civil society's tradition of self-help and private charity. Tanner uses both "real-world" examples and the latest academic data to show that the civil society offers a far better way to fight poverty. As the debate over welfare reform moves into its next phase, Tanner offers a provocative alternative that is neither liberal nor conservative and is based on true compassion.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.