Liwei Liu

Political Science Online

Safety Net Programs
Safety Net Programs plays an important role in fight poverty in U.S. To better
understanding the types of Safety Net Programs, the two basic kind should be
mentioned. The first one is social insurance which included social security and
Medicare. Individual contributes to an insurance by paying payroll tax on their
earnings and receive benefits based on lifetime contributions. The second one is
means-tested, which meaning the benefits are distributed to the people who can
prove their income is low enough to qualify. The funding would be came from the
income tax revenues. The example for the means-tested would be food stamp
program. Although we are spending one-third of federal budget on social insurance,
it actually shortened the gap between the high-income families and poverty in U.S.
The 20% of Americans with the highest incomes captured an even larger share of
the earnings in 2011, while the rest collected the same share or less. Without such
safety net programs as unemployment benefits and food stamps, millions more
families would have fallen into poverty. According to the article A snapshot of
poverty in the U.S, the social insurance and means-tested helps a large portion of
poverty to survive from hunger and able to see a doctor. By spending huge amount
of budget as benefits for poverty, the U.S economy are boosting by increasing the
demand for goods. During the 2009 depression, congress had implemented and
expended Safety Net Programs as stimulus package to recover the economy. The
economy would be returning full employment by lessening the poverty.

Citation:
Los Angeles Times, A snapshot of poverty in the U.S, Sep 19, 2012, accessed Oct
2, 2015, Online.

The security issues after the Post-Cold War World

In December 1991, the Soviet Union had come to an end, yet the threat to
the security of United States remains. For example, September 11, 2001 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were a threat from terrorism. The most
controversial question is should the Defense Spending be increased or reduced.
Most republicans insist in increasing the spending on military, while the democrats
insist in decreasing the spending. The increasing of Defense Spending would
provide us safety, and less terrorism. I think the Defend Spending should be
increased because there are many terrorist in Iraq, which known as ISIS, that
threatening the security of U.S. ISIS has plunged the region back into widespread
armed conflict and turmoil, affecting millions of lives. Large areas of Syria and Iraq
are now under ISIS control, while Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan are facing a refugee
crisis. According to the article A Proposal for the FY 2016 Defense Budget the
Defense Spending were decreasing over years after 911 attack, and the budget for
military should be increased due to the terrorism. The author mentioned the
invasion and annexation of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, on Crimean peninsula.
Those issues are threatening Americans life. The congress should tighten the

Liwei Liu
Political Science Online
border entrance, and invest in developing of advance radar scanning to prevent the
air attacks from terrorists.

Citations:
The Heritage Foundation, A Proposal for the FY 2016 Defense Budget, Diem
Nguyen Salmon, Jan 30, 2015, accessed Oct 3, 2015. Online.