Poverty industrial complex
The poverty industrial complex refers to private corporations taking over social services functions that were formerly provided by government agencies. These private corporations have a vested interest in profit and it is thus debated whether the practice of privatizing social services is hurtful to society, in particular for the poor and vulnerable people that such agencies are supposed to provide services for. History It is believed that the widespread outsourcing of human services formerly provided by government agencies to for-profit companies began with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, signed by president Bill Clinton in 1996. The reform changed a system that formerly provided large sums of direct cash transfers to those in need into taking that federal aid in providing services for vulnerable citizens with it. Those services include child care assistance or work-related activities and refundable tax credits that are essentially a different form of cash transfer. According to the Institute for Research on Poverty, the largest sum is going to a spending category designated as "other", covering a broad range of services such as child welfare, parenting training, substance abuse treatment, domestic violence services and early education. Author Daniel Hatcher criticized that a poverty iron triangle