Bad to Worse

Welfare reform is up for reauthorization, but it's only going to get meaner

By Neil deMause

What a difference a year makes. Last winter, hopes were running high that “welfare reform” was itself ripe for reform. The plunging economy was revealing the shallowness of the much-ballyhooed success of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act—after being slashed by 60 percent, [RETURN TO ARTICLE]