Politics Of Food Stamps

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Summary and Analysis of “Budgeting Entitlements: The Politics of Food Stamps” By Ronald F. King Summary and Analysis By Emily E. Abernathy Summary In “Budgeting Entitlements: The Politics of Food Stamps” author Ronald King examines conflict between protecting entitlements and budgetary concerns. This book focuses on food stamps because the program has operated under several different funding structures. King illustrates how these different funding structures have affected the food stamp program over time. King contends that institutional rules of the budget process shape the strategies of stakeholders and the outcomes of collective decisions. King spends extensive time investigating how the food stamp program operated under budgetary caps. After much consideration King concludes that budget caps didn’t limit the costs of the program. The argument is not only conscious to the politics that precipitated each change, but the reaction to various stakeholders to the changes as well. King also proposes various models to support his hypotheses. While all of the models are completely different from one another, there are commonalities among them. First, the models are simple, there is no need for a degree in mathematics to understand them. Second, they were formulated specifically with the food stamp program in mind. Third, they allow for outcomes that are not based in logical thought or even consensus. One central feature of “Budgeting Entitlements: The Politics of Food Stamps” is its particular focus on “symbolic stances.” These stances are extreme and very partisan. Symbolic stances are often times purely ideological and not aimed at a specific topic or legislation. King speculates, based on which party is in control of the various branches of government, as well as the funding structure of the food stamp program at

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