The idea that the government should intervene to lift people up from poverty and starvation is relatively new in America, where until the early twentieth century the misery of workhouses and poorhouses were all some people could count on. Since the Great Depression and the beginning of Social Security, the social safety net has expanded to cover more people and try to help them with more problems including poverty, starvation, homelessness, and lack of health care. With this book, readers will analyze difficult queries; Whom does the safety net catch? Whom should it catch? Is it enough, or is it too much? These are questions being hotly debated in the government at all levels now, and the answers will decide the future of millions of people in America.