Welfare, also referred to as public charity, is educational, medical, and financial assistance to people identified as needy. In the United States, welfare includes a variety of programs benefiting senior citizens, low-INCOME families, and people with disabilities. In western society, welfare began with the Greeks and Romans, who provided assistance to people who qualified as citizens. In early times, most welfare was associated with church activities rather than government programs. The Elizabeth poor law (1601) was the first major European government welfare program. The poor law attempted to provide assistance through local parishes. With the Industrial Revolution, business leaders claimed welfare programs impeded on market forces, discouraging productive efforts. Renowned social reformer Robert Owen challenged industrial practices, arguing welfare was essential in a capitalist system but should be administered jointly by private and public programs. In the United States, poor houses and religious charities were the major welfare activities from the 1700s until the 1930s. The Social Security Act (1935) was the first federally funded assistance program. SOCIAL SECURITY was a response to the GREAT DEPRESSION, during which millions of Americans lost their jobs and had few resources to fall back on. In arguing for the act, President Franklin Roosevelt stated, “Security was attained in the earlier days through the interdependence of members of families upon each other and of the families within a small community upon each other. The complexities of great communities and of organized industry make less real these simple means of security.” Initially Social Security included only retirement benefits. Social Security taxes were first collected in 1937, and the first recipient, Ernest Ackerman, received a lump-sum payment of 17 cents that year. Social Security was intended to be a modest income INSURANCE program for retiring workers. In 1939 survivor benefits were added, and in 1940 the Social Security Administration (SSA) began paying monthly benefits. In 1956 disability benefits and in 1965 Medicaid health benefits for poorer Americans were added to the Social Security program. Most Americans do not consider Social Security— specifically Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)—as a welfare program. Some consider it is a “social compact,” a promise to successive generations that they will be supported in their old age. To others Social Security is an intergenerational income-transfer program or a welfare program for the elderly. Social Security recipients will deny that they are getting welfare, saying, “I paid into the system, and now I am getting back what I deserve.” Assuming OASDI is a welfare program, the second largest cash-assistance program in the United States is SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME (SSI). SSI is a federally financed and administered program created in 1974. It is managed by the Social Security Administration but funded through general tax revenues. Designed to assist needy Americans, SSI provides monthly cash payments to Americans with limited income and resources who are 65 and older, blind, or disabled. Unlike the Old Age and Survivors Income (OASI), SSI is not based on prior work or contributions into the Social Security system. Supplemental Security Income is available to U.S. citizens and “certain qualified aliens.” In 2002, 7.2 million Americans received SSI benefits. SSI rules regarding income and resources are quite severe, limiting eligibility to the program to only the most needy people. Federal spending on SSI has grown from $8 billion in 1974 to $35 billion in 2000. AID FOR FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN (AFDC) is the third largest cash-assistance program in the United States and the one most associated with the term welfare. Title IV of the Social Security Act, originally titled “Aid to Dependent Children,” was enacted to provide financial assistance for disadvantaged dependent children and did not provide assistance for parents or guardians involved in the raising of the children. In 1950 the federal government expanded the provision to provide funds to aid in the care of the adults responsible for the children. Critics of the AFDC argue that the program created a set of incentives that were harmful to the nation’s “social fabric.” The welfare system was allegedly dehumanizing; encouraged dependency; supported female-headed families, divorce, and unmarried childbearing; and encouraged low levels of work effort among recipients. Supporters argue that AFDC has helped to reduce poverty, provided work and skill training, and succeeded in keeping intact poor female-headed families with young children. On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (Public Law 104- 193), replacing the AFDC program. PRWORA gave states a lump sum to fund their own welfare programs, with the stipulation that recipients work or receive training as a condition of welfare assistance. The law also limited benefits to two years at a time and lifetime benefits to five years. Welfare rolls subsequently dropped as recipients reached term limits. Supporters of the reforms claimed success, while critics argued removing poor people from the welfare rolls did not reduce poverty. (Economists also noted that during the period 1998–99, the economy grew rapidly, creating many new job opportunities.) In most states SSI and AFDC recipients also receive Medicaid, a joint federal-state health-payment program. Medicaid is the largest in-kind welfare program. Food stamps are the second largest in-kind welfare program, providing low-income households with coupons redeemable for specific categories of food items at grocery stores. Other in-kind welfare programs include public housing, Head Start educational assistance, college LOANS and grants, vocational rehabilitation training programs, and TRADE-ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE. Government also provides aid to CORPORATIONs. CORPORATE WELFARE includes a wide variety of technical assistance, export promotion, low- or no-interest loans, free personnel training, tax holidays, and other measures subsidizing the COSTS of businesses.