One thing which seems to be missing from the SSI discussions is the history that SSI was originally part of larger programs which were supposed to take care of dependent persons in general. Even before the programs passed Congress in the 1930s, welfare was separated off from SSI and made subject to more stringent policies. While welfare benefits have waxed and waned over the years, racist and sexist attitudes have shallowly underlay the political debates on welfare, while the debates on SSI always take on more reverence, as referring to a sacred cow. (don't get me wrong, I think SSI is good, and absolutely necessary to the well being of elderly people -- and I ain't so young myself) What we call welfare today, was part of the support proposals which became SSI (Linda Gordon (Pitied but not entitled) and Nancy Folbre (Who pays for the kids?) both talk about this). I've always thought that SSI remained sacrosanct for two reasons. One, because there was always the buffer of welfare to keep the politicians occupied. If they wanted a red herring to blame for all the ills of society -- welfare has always seemed ready made. There has also always been the convenient press-fed public perception that all welfare recipients are non-whites, leading to a sort of self-righteous justification for attacking welfare ( the majority of welfare recipients are white). The second reason SSI was always sacrosanct was because it represented primarily a male stipend. Even those women who worked all their lives generally received smaller SSI stipends than men, sexism was built into the system. Further, racism was also built into the system because non-whites tended to hold those types of service jobs which did not pay into SSI (temporary work like manpower, agricultural jobs, maids, servants, ...) Now, welfare is clearly being greatly reduced. This has decreased the buffer which has always protected SSI. Once welfare disappears, it seems to me that politicians looking for another red herring might begin attacking one of the last bastions of the fdr era. Further, women and minorities in greater numbers are going to be entitled to collect full SSI at retirement. The lesser stipend for working women has been eradicated, and, there has been a strong increase of minorities in civil service jobs and in corporate america. Both of these groups will be collecting more SSI in the next two decades than ever before. To me, this will open up SSI to greater and greater attack by those same politicians using openly racist and sexist policies to attack welfare today. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
