On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. The crash sent a shock-wave throughout the economy. Banks failed. Businesses closed. Millions found themselves out of work. The Great Depression, which would last through the 1930s, had begun. [Bill of Rights in Action, "Welfare," 1998 pg. 1 paragraph 1] When the Great Depression began, about 18 million elderly, disabled, and single mothers with children already lived at a bare existent level in the United States. State and local governments together with private …showed first 75 words of 1667 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1667 total…Welfare reform has been a huge success in the short term. The U.S Labor Department credits the influx of former welfare recipients into the nation’s workplace with extending the country’s economic boom, and the percentage of Americans on public assistance is the lowest it has been in more than three decades. Between January 1993 and September 1998, the number of welfare recipients in New Jersey dropped by 46%."["Fine-Tuning Welfare Reform" The Bergen Record August 29, 1999]