While a certain level of criminalisation has gradually been imposed, ie it is a crime to smoke in certain places, tobacco is still a legal, albeit highly addictive, substance.
McBLOG: What is a woman, man?
30 minutes ago
The welfare state is unsustainable economically, socially and morally.
Act leader David Seymour said he raised the issue of such travel soon after entering Parliament, and "I've never seen politicians who are normally so opposed to each other close ranks so rapidly".
"I was basically told that I was having sour grapes because as a very small party I would be unlikely to qualify for one of these junkets.
"These guys are paid three times the average salary. Air travel has never been cheaper and, frankly, if the rest of the world is a mystery to these guys, maybe they shouldn't be in Parliament."
Welfare Reform's Relation to Upward Mobility
April 6, 2015
The early 1990s saw the expansion of sweeping welfare reforms that increased class mobility through programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation (PRWOR) Act. Welfare reform targeted parental income, which conservatives often see as a way to increase long-term opportunity available to children.
Studies attest to the effectiveness of such a strategy:
The success of the 1990s welfare reform is credited to its emphasis on poor, young and low-educated women who were seen by both the Bush and Clinton administration as serving vital economic and social roles in society. Still, many policy solutions can undergo significant innovation and improvement since past reforms did not target the skills of poor children, which is also believed to be a significant factor in easing economic mobility.
- Columbia University found the rate of children living in poverty declined by 10 percent between 1990 and 2006.
- The number of employed single mothers rose by 66 percent since the introduction of welfare reform.
- A fall in the birth rate among unmarried African American women by 32 percent.
- Reforms were effective at mitigating what could have been a child poverty peak during the Great Recession, with only a meager rise of 2 percent.
Source: Scott Winship, "Will Welfare Reform Increase Upward Mobility?" Economics21, April 3, 2015.