Discussion of Chapter 14 from POSC 101 at Lake Michigan College.

1. Domestic Policy
POSC 101 – Professor Wallace

2. Policymaking
• Five Basic Steps
– Agenda Building
– Policy Forming
– Policy Adoption
– Policy
Implementation
– Policy Evaluation
The Public Policy Institute

3. Policymaking
• Domestic Policy - All
government laws, planning, and
actions, that concern internal
issues of national
importance, such as poverty, the
economy, crime, and the
environment.
• Agenda building may occur as
the result of a
crisis, technological change, or
mass media campaign, as well as
through the efforts of strong
political personalities and
effective lobbying groups.

4. Policymaking
• Congress must be aware of a
problem that requires action.
• 2008 Financial Crisis
• The Bush administration feared
that bailing out major financial
institution was establishing a
dangerous moral hazard (the
danger that protecting an
individual or institution from the
consequences of failure will
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak encourage excessively risky
Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson behavior.

5. Policymaking

6. Policymaking
• Policy Formulation
– Various policy proposals
are discussed among
government officials and
the public.
– This may take place in
the halls of Congress, in
board rooms, over
meals, in the printed
media, on
television, radio and the
internet.

7. Policymaking
• Bush-appointed Secretary of
Treasury Henry Paulson
proposed via three-page
memo a $700 billion bill to
buy toxic mortgage-related
assets. Congress created a
110-page bill filled with pork
and oversight provisions.
The bill was put to the vote
nine days later but both sides
supported its failure in the
house.
CNN Bailout Tracker

8. Policymaking
• After the House refused
to pass the bank bailout
bill, Senate leaders
decided to amend an
existing bill already
passed by the House
• The Troubled Assets
Relief Program (TARP)
was 451 pages filled with
earmarks to attract votes.
http://subsidyscope.org/bailout/tarp/disbursements/#recipients

9. Policymaking
• Officials soon realized that
TARP could be spent on
preferred stock in
banks, rather than buy toxic
banks, which would not
resolve the financial
crisis, eventually returning
TARP funds to the
government. The preferred $700 Billion Down The Drain
stock would pay interest and
banks could buy back the
preferred stock.

10. Policymaking
• Initially, the public didn’t
mind the switch to
preferred stock, rather they
were concerned with
employee compensation
and future lending
practices.
• Soon the TARP program
was viewed as a Wall Street
bailout for special interests.
• Some banks paid it back.
TARP Will Cost Less Than Once Thought

11. Policymaking
• Policy Implementation
involves the implementation
of the policy alternative
chosen by Congress.
• Policy Evaluation - After a
policy has been
implemented, it is evaluated. http://thisnation.com/textbook/processes-policyprocess.html
– Groups inside and outside
government conduct studies
to determine what actually
happens after a policy has
been in place for a given
period of time

12. Health Care
• The U.S. spends
more money on
health care than
any other nation on
either a per person
or as a percentage
of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
http://topforeignstocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/comparing-
us-healthcare-other-countries.jpg

13. Health Care

14. Health Care

15. Health Care
• Universal Health
Insurance
– President Obama signed
into law on March 23,
2010, the Patient
Protection and Affordable
Care Act (commonly
referred to as Obamacare).
The Health Care and
Education Reconciliation
Act of 2010, was a series
of adjustments to the http://www.carlsontoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/partsC.jpg
Senate package prepared
by the House and agreed
to by the Senate.

16. Health Care
• Largest expansion of
government services since
Lyndon B. Johnson
• An opt-out provision if an
individual rejects the
coverage
• Illegal immigrants will not
be covered.

17. Health Care
• Building an Agenda
– Over 45 million
Americans are uninsured.
Preexisting conditions
prevent individuals from
qualifying for coverage. USA Today
Many uninsured are
young, entry-level workers
without health benefits
– New technology and
lifesaving measures are a
costly burden on the
system.
– The Medicare trust fund
was projected to run out of
funds in 2017.
USA Today

18. Health Care • Policy Adoption
– Universal Health Insurance -
The central government does not
necessarily provide the
insurance itself, but may
subsidize the purchase of
insurance for private insurance
companies.
– Personal Mandate - Requirement
that all citizens obtain health-
care insurance coverage from
some source, public or private.
– Public Opinion - A government-
run program that would compete
with private-sector health-
insurance companies.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150692/Employer-Based-Health-
Insurance-Continues-Trend-Down.aspx

19. Health Care
• Policy Implementation
• Most of the provisions do
not go into effect until
2014 and the last
provision is not
scheduled until 2018.
• Voters will not receive
benefits for at least two
election cycles.
• Currently before the http://www.gallup.com/poll/150122/Americans-
Access-Basic-Necessities-Recession-Level.aspx
Supreme Court.

20. Immigration • Unauthorized Immigration
• Approx. 12 million
undocumented aliens
• Hispanic populations have
grown dramatically in the
southwestern states.
– Studies show unauthorized
immigrants return home to
retire. Many send money home
to relatives . Most live in mixed
households with lawful family
members.
– Concerns: Laws, coyotes, &
drugs.
http://www.progressivestates.org/news/dispatch/new-psn-report-the-
anti-immigrant-movement-failed

21. Immigration
• Reform Attempts & Public
Opinion
– 1/5 favor immediate
deportation.
– Though a serious
problem, most don’t believe it
should be a priority issue.
• Immigration and the Obama
Administration
– Administration instituted http://www.gallup.com/poll/148154/Americans-Views-
Immigration-Holding-Steady.aspx
harsh crackdowns on
employers of undocumented
workers.
– Immigration reform was
tabled for Health Care.

22. Immigration
• The Arizona Immigration
Controversy
– In April 2010, Arizona’s
governor signed legislation
that would make it a crime to
not carry immigration
documentation.
– Russell Pearce, The author of
that law was recalled this year
in a special election.
http://www.progressivestates.org/news/dispatch/new-psn-report-the-
anti-immigrant-movement-failed

23. Crime
• Industrialization and
bureaucratic institutions like
factories and schools
socialized citizens into
patterns of conformity and
rules.
• In the 20s and
30s, organized crime
flourished during
http://www.benespen.com/journal/tag/crime
prohibition.
• Crime rates began to rise in
the 50s and grew
substantially in the 1960s.
• Since 1995, violent crime

24. Crime
• Many Americans believe the
best solution to curbing
crime is to impose stiff
prison sentences.
• In 2008, 2.3 million people
were imprisoned in jails.
• Men are ten times more
likely to be incarcerated
than women.
• Prisoners are also
disproportionately African
America.

25. Crime

26. Crime

27. Crime

28. Crime

29. Crime

30. Energy
• America’s reliance on
foreign oil
• Potential global warning
caused by increased
emissions of CO2
• The BP Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill
• Alternative energy
development of solar, wind
(job creation)

31. Economics
• Recession - Two or more
successive quarters in which
the economy shrinks instead
of grows.
• Unemployment – inability to
find a job; the number of
those in the labor force
actively looking for a job, but
unable to find one.
• Inflation—a sustained rise in
the general price level of
goods and services.
http://www.economicsjunkie.com/us-poverty-rate-rises-to-15-1-percent/
http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf

32. Economics
• Keynesian Economics - Supply &
demand of consumer spending
drives GDP. Government
spending and taxation to help
stabilize the economy in recession
is needed.
– It is essential that the spending be
financed by borrowing, and not by
taxes. http://apgovernment2010.yolasite.com/ch7.php
– Government should run a budget
deficit.
• Beginning with President
Kennedy, policymakers have
attempted to use Keynesian
methods to fine-tune the economy.

33. Economics
• Monetary Policy (Federal
Reserve & Treasury Dept.)
• Loose Monetary Policy -
Makes credit inexpensive
and abundant, possibly
leading to inflation (higher
prices for goods and
services).
• Tight Monetary Policy -
Makes credit expensive in
an effort to slow the
economy.

34. Economics

35. Economics

36. Economics

37. Economics
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/us-tax-rates-for-the-rich-then-
and-now/

38. Economics
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/76563/how-fight-the-tax-cut-wars

39. Economics
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-05-28-GDP2a.jpg

40. Economics
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/10/08/its-official-more-private-sector-jobs-created-
in-2010-than-during-entire-bush-years/

41. Economics
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/10/08/its-official-more-private-sector-jobs-created-
in-2010-than-during-entire-bush-years/