Did Bill Clinton's welfare reforms make the Great Recession worse?

Pledging to "end welfare as we know it," President Bill Clinton in 1996 put his signature to landmark legislation that fundamentally reformed the American welfare system. The law has long been praised for ending excessive dependency on government largesse, and Republicans in particular have pointed to the law as a model for reforming other ballooning entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. But in truth, argues Jason DeParle at The New York Times, it was only in the light of the 1990s' booming economy that welfare reform appeared successful. Once the the Great Recession hit in...

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