>> Why give free money to everyone? Clearly a rich person doesn’t need a monthly check from government... > The answer is that it's much simpler to send everyo

>> Why give free money to everyone? Clearly a rich person doesn’t need a monthly check from government... > The answer is that it's much simpler to send everyone a check. The rich person will pay more in taxes than the amount of their check, so it doesn't matter. There's a more subtle reason: if everyone gets a check, the program is more politically popular, making it harder for the rich to build a political coalition to kill it. That means the people who really need it will continue to get it. IIRC, FDR opposed mean-testing social security for this reason. Almost everyone gets it, and the middle class gets enough to make some kind of difference in their lives, even if they could get by without it. Compared to other welfare programs, it's been unkillable.