An Idea For Welfare

Hello Hello,

So in my last post I mentioned the issue of welfare, and conservatives' distrust for it. According to them, welfare is a waste of taxpayer money that keeps the poor dependent, giving them fish rather than teaching them to fish, as the saying goes. I've never been convinced of this. The right seems to rely heavily on anecdotal evidence when painting its picture of people coasting on welfare for years, "leeching off the system." However, let's say that they're right.

Well, I have an idea to combat this problem, that would also help the poor get back on their feet. If you're on any means-tested program, and then you make enough money that you're no longer eligible for it, you get to keep your benefits for a while. Maybe for the first three months you get the full amount, and then you get weaned off for the rest of the year. Maybe less. I can't give an exact number, leave that to the real policy wonks! All I can say is that allowing the poor to keep their benefits while they move up the economic ladder is a great way to help them up. Cutting off their benefits cold turkey is harder for them to adjust to. And it also gives them an incentive to improve their situation: new income to supplement their already existing benefits. Conservatives say that the welfare state disincentivizes work? Well, no more. Of course, conservatives still may complain that allowing recipients to keep their benefits for longer is expensive. However, could this proposal drop the amount of poor and needy people by so much as to make it more cost effective for the taxpayer? I won't say for sure, but I somehow have a hunch.

Hell, I'm not even the first person to come up with this idea. I don't remember where, but I've heard it around. It may have even been proposed in Congress. If not, then it damn well should be. You agree? Then write to your representatives and make it so!

-Jack