As she says, this is Milton Friedman's Negative Income Tax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_income_tax

It's good for those in poverty. It's also good for people whose jobs are being eliminated, maybe never to return. See Jeremy Rifkin's End of Work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Work

This idea's such crap I can't believe it. Do you remember sitting in algebra class and wondering, "When am I ever going to use this?"
Well, the time is now. When you give the same thing to everyone, no one gets ahead. Nobody.
The same principle applies here because does with minimum wage. When a government agency declares that "an hour of work" is equivalent to some amount of money, that sets the value of the dollar.
The failure of this policy can be seen in the state of George's school system. When the "Hope scholarship" was established, which puts state money into tuition, every university in the state simply raise their tuition by that amount, because that much money was "free".

If we're going to guarantee something for the poor. . .then make it uniform, sufficient to support life, but not terribly comfortable.

I envision a small efficiency apartment, with a rudimentary kitchen and bathroom.

Food issued at day at a time.

Issued jumpsuits and undies.

You want space ? Comfort ? Style ? Entertainment ?

Earn 'em . . .

Yes, and welfare programs will always be designed to create as much bureaucracy as possible,

That is how politicians buy votes. Not only from the poor, but from the public sector employes who administer the programs.

So saying that this is a "better way" is really beside the point. Until we elect people that are willing to "starve the beast" of government, no change is possible.

Because giving away lots of free money always works so well...

Let's see: huge costs, mass disincentive to work, mass illegal entry to the country to take advantage of the minimum income, fraud, the birthrate in ghettos would soar, etc.

I can't really think what would go wrong. Who would have thought that we could eliminate poverty by printing money and giving it away?

I accidentally stumbled into a local welfare office close to my house in Japan. It was attached to a very small and run down grocery store.

They had a list of people eligible for free rice, and that is all they had there, bags of rice.

Snoopy, it's certainly the case that if you do this, you have to have tight borders.

Even Paul Krugman has said you can't have open borders and a strong social safety net.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/the-curious-politics-of-immigration/

Amy, are you famailiar with Ron Unz?

http://www.ronunz.org/2014/02/03/the-conservative-case-for-a-higher-minimum-wage/

Mr. Rugy is not alone in thinking this way.

Beware of any government program designed to reduce government bureaucracy.

I love this stuff.

Makes people turn purple with rage.

Until we elect people that are willing to "starve the beast" of government, no change is possible."

Excuse me, but that's not enough. State and federal governments are full of"civil servants" who are simply not elected. Their offices are established by legislation that outlasts any particular officeholder, and they are largely unfireable.

Until we elect people that are willing to "starve the beast" of government, no change is possible."

Excuse me, but that's not enough. State and federal governments are full of"civil servants" who are simply not elected. Their offices are established by legislation that outlasts any particular officeholder, and they are largely unfireable.

Posted by: Radwaste at February 14, 2014 8:52 PM

Legislatures created all those unaccountable bureaucracies, and short of revolution, they are the only ones that can "undo" all that delegated power.

You cut the civil service by cutting the funding or freezing it, and letting useless agencies wither on the vine.

. Their offices are established by legislation that outlasts any particular officeholder, and they are largely unfireable.

Posted by: Radwaste at February 14, 2014 8:52 PM

Apparently you have never experienced a RIF. Ive seen several in DOD.

Actually, I have experienced a RIF.

Now, explain to me how the Old Executive Office Building in DC is emptied by these RIFs.

Civil servants are employed by the state or Federal governments, not contractors. I'm guessing the DOD has a setup like the DOE does at Savannah River Site. We are manifestly NOT government employees.

Also - a RIF is quite a bit different from "firing". When have you seen a government employee fired for poor performance that was not criminal?

Also - a RIF is quite a bit different from "firing". When have you seen a government employee fired for poor performance that was not criminal?

Posted by: Radwaste at February 15, 2014 6:09 AM

DOD employes a few contractors, but most of the civilian side of DOD are GS employees.

Ive seen a few let go for poor performance but the easiest way to do it is just to eliminate their position.
Of RIF them, and then when the agency they applied to after losing the job with yours, calls for a recommendation, you don't give them one.

You can't fire everyone all at once like some kind of Stalinist purge. You have to shrink the bureaucracy the same way it grew, with hiring freezes, transfers retirements, and limited funding.

We had a totally unqualified contracting specialist working in our office once, but she was the same color as the boss, so she got hired as a GS11 in spite of no qualifications.

When her husband transferred to another base, she had to go to work for a contractor because she wasn't even qualified for a 7 as a Federal employee.
Like dieting, you just aren't going to lose fifty pounds overnight.

I actually like this idea better than what we have now. Is it perfect? No. But it is less paternalistic & bureaucratic than our current programs. Frankly, I think if we had this program we could do away with the minimum wage as well.