November 20, 2013
In this Sunday’s NYT, Nick Kristof calls readers to the barricades to fight against proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). As he puts it, “slashing food stamp benefits—overwhelmingly for children, the disabled and the elderly—wouldn’t be a sign of prudent fiscal management … it would be a mark of shortsighted cruelty.”
He’s right, of course, but I’m having trouble squaring this year’s Kristof with last year’s model, who used his privileged perch to urge readers to the barricades to fight for massive cuts to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for families caring for children with severe disabilities. Reading the two pieces side by side, perhaps the oddest thing is the consistency of Kristof’s style and tone: this year’s Kristof is as outraged and passionate in his opposition to Congress’ attempts to slash SNAP as last year’s Kristof was about Congress’ failure to slash Supplemental Security for families caring for children with severe disabilities.
It may be that this year’s Kristof was chastened by the public woodshedding he got from the terrific NYT public editor Margaret Sullivan as well as the outpouring of criticism from disability advocacy groups and real parents of children with disabilities.We’ll see, but I’m not particularly hopeful. Even this year’s Kristof continues to be stuck on the simple-minded trope that social insurance is “more about treating symptoms of poverty than causes, and we may get more bank for the buck when we chip away at long-term poverty” with various social services.
In a county where people living below the poverty line are better educated than ever, reducing poverty and inequality will require a combination of at least three types of policies: social insurance, education and social services, and economic and labor market regulation. If Nick Kristof doesn’t agree, he may want to get the opinion of a young person with a severe disability who was able to get post-secondary education with the help of Supplemental Security and other financial aid, while also benefitting from labor market regulations like the minimum wage, collective bargaining protections, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
