Why Government Doesn't Work: on Welfare & Poverty

Community-based welfare ensured oversight & honesty

Welfare perverts natural incentives & hence destroys lives

Welfare costs us plenty. But it also destroys lives. It perverts the natural incentives of everyone who is touched by it. Here are some examples:
• AFDS pays money to Mom only if there’s no Dad at home, so-surprise!-Dad goes away.
• A teenage girl can become independent of her parents by getting pregnant; otherwise, she must live off her parents and obey their rules. Which life is more attractive to most teenagers?
• Federal job-training for welfare recipients circumvents the need for a teenager to stay in school and learn how to make a living.
• The income test for welfare makes a low-paying job seem pointless.
• The availability of welfare reduces the incentive to save for emergencies. And once people don’t have savings, what else can they do but go on welfare when trouble strikes?

8-month transition, then end all welfare checks

If I have my way, your federal welfare payments will end in eight months. So you have eight months to turn your life around, to find a job, to learn to take care of yourself.
We expect to pay you for those eight months. So if you get a job tomorrow morning, you can get two checks each month for those eight months. Or you can wait until the last moment to change things. But even if you haven’t found a job in eight months, your checks from the federal government will end.
So what are you going to do?