ABSTRACT
Critics on the right argue that aging policies have been both costly and inefficient, managing to consume twenty-five cents out of every federal dollar while leaving significant numbers of individuals underprotected. To conservatives, solutions lie in two directions. First, federal benefits should be specifically designed for demonstrably needy populations, thereby heightening efficiency and cutting costs simultaneously. Second, older persons and others must rely more on themselves, their families, and other nongovernmental sources of support rather than increasingly relying on government. An alternative response to shortcomings in federal programs, again affecting both the old and non-old, would renew and expand the role of the federal government in assuring citizen well-being. Beginning in the 1930s, the federal government assumed a role and responsibility unprecedented in American social welfare, most notably through the Social Security Act and later amendments to it. Apart from differences about appropriate federal and nonfederal roles in social welfare, the question of feasibility remains.
