Public Policy

The environmental movement is relatively recent. Knowledge of climate change, or recognizing the existence of climate change, is as much a political choice as it is about "knowing the facts," which of course 99 per cent of scientists regard climate change as a man-made phenomenon. Globalization definitely has a big impact on climate change and global warming. Since economic growth has always been a cause of urbanization, as people leave the rural country and migrate to cities looking for work, globalization has brought with it a tremendous growth of urbanization worldwide, especially in countries like China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, and many other cities worldwide. If you look at a list of  cities  by population, NYC does not even make the top 25. At least, according to the limits of the city proper, the "metropolitan area" is much larger, the metro area being defined by both the city area and surrounding areas linked to the urban core by industry, infr

Education is another important area of public policy. People have long argued the education system is a crucial component of maintaining a class system. Simply put, the elites get educated the poor do not, for the most part. The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu coined the term "cultural capital" to speak of how education is used as a form of power. Cultural capital can be defined as: " the collection of symbolic elements such as skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc. that one acquires through being part of a particular social class." From this point of view, schools and  universities then serve to instill this collection of symbolic elements in students. Again, those who do not possess, learn, or appropriate these elements are at a significant  disadvantage in society. Cultural capital instills a certain kind of "habitus" (another of Bourdieu's terms), or basically certain kinds of social habits. Acquiring and

As mentioned in previous classes, the mandatory spending of the federal government is far more than discretionary spending in the annual budget, making up almost 2/3 of all federal spending. Mandatory spending refers to spending on programs that are set at pre-determined levels that are, to some extent, outside the control of members of Congress and the executive branch. Since the budget is highly politicized, I think it is clear, mandatory spending is meant to protect these programs from the political maneuverings so common in government. When talking about mandatory spending the most important programs are Social Security which was established back in 1935, and Medicare and Medicaid, both created in 1965. Given the shift in priorities in government since the 1980s, it is also quite clear that all these programs would have been defunded a long time ago had they been subject to the normal budget process.  We already covered Medicare and Medicaid somewhat last class, so this clas

One of the most controversial issues in the U.S. today is the debate over healthcare. Should the U.S. adopt some system of public healthcare, like a single payer system, where the government pays for healthcare costs, or maintain a private system of healthcare made up of insurance companies and other industries like pharmaceuticals and hospitals?  Honestly, I do not think the debate is as complex as people act like it is, the main challenge is sorting through the disinformation surrounding this issue. Many argue that a single payer, or even a fully nationalized system, where the government actually pays doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, is too expensive. Yet, these critics have a hard time explaining why every other rich nation (and some not so rich or middle income nations) in the world has created at least a single payer system, some have gone even further in nationalizing all health care services. Frankly, the burden of proof is on these critics to explain why the

In this part of the class we will look more closely at specific areas of public policy, beginning with the budget.   There is a famous saying that "all budgets are moral documents," meaning they reflect the values of society, or the government which is supposed to represent the people.  The federal budget refers to the expenses of the government every year on various programs and activities. The "power over the purse", or the power to control spending, and the power to tax, is given to the Congress in the U.S. Constitution, and does not specify a role for the President.  However,  the budget process is overseen by the President and the Congress, with special agencies like the Office of Management and Budget, the Government  Accountability Office, and the Congressional Budget Office that provide oversight and research assistance for the budget.  According to the National Priorities Project, the process of making the federal budget can be broken down into five steps: