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I love the fact that people still unironically use the term "welfare trap", while we can see massive numbers of homeless and home insecure people all over Ameri

I love the fact that people still unironically use the term "welfare trap", while we can see massive numbers of homeless and home insecure people all over America. People actually believing the bad faith constructed arguments of those with massive amounts of wealth and power actually make me believe America deserves to keep licking the boots of the 1% like dogs until we all die.

dinosaurdynasty 4y ago
Welfare traps are most definitely a thing, but removing welfare is not the solution. The solution is to remove restrictions like "we will only give you disability/medicare if you have less than $2000 in 'non-acceptable' assets", or "you can only get food stamps if you make less than $20k/yr" or any number of horribly terrible things we do that effectively give very poor people, in an economic sense, marginal tax rates much much greater than 100%. Punishing people for making more money is never the solution. Honestly this is one reason why UBI is so enticing... any benefit that is abruptly taken away at any point creates these horrible incentives.
- motohagiography 4y ago
  See how long UBI lasts when someone uses it to support unpopular activities. Public arts funding was a great example, where the results can be best described as democratic. Even though I like some ideas around UBI, if it is conditional or otherwise not absolutely guaranteed, it's just dominion.
  - dinosaurdynasty 4y ago
    Same thing can be said of welfare in general. There are way too many people who would rather let everyone die than give "the wrong people" help.
- IX-103 4y ago
  Yep. This is one of the big reasons in favor it UBI. It flattens the curve so people can try to get back on their feet without severe consequences of they fail. I know someone who is on social security disability. They can't even save money to buy a car without losing their benefits. For medical reasons, they are unable to work a full-time job, but they could possibly work virtually part time. But if they even apply to a job they lose their benefits. And the amount they get from social security isn't even enough to pay housing and medical expenses, nevermind food. If they didn't have external support they'd be SOL.

dinosaurdynasty 4y ago

Welfare traps are most definitely a thing, but removing welfare is not the solution. The solution is to remove restrictions like "we will only give you disability/medicare if you have less than $2000 in 'non-acceptable' assets", or "you can only get food stamps if you make less than $20k/yr" or any number of horribly terrible things we do that effectively give very poor people, in an economic sense, marginal tax rates much much greater than 100%. Punishing people for making more money is never the solution. Honestly this is one reason why UBI is so enticing... any benefit that is abruptly taken away at any point creates these horrible incentives.

motohagiography 4y ago
See how long UBI lasts when someone uses it to support unpopular activities. Public arts funding was a great example, where the results can be best described as democratic. Even though I like some ideas around UBI, if it is conditional or otherwise not absolutely guaranteed, it's just dominion.
- dinosaurdynasty 4y ago
  Same thing can be said of welfare in general. There are way too many people who would rather let everyone die than give "the wrong people" help.
IX-103 4y ago
Yep. This is one of the big reasons in favor it UBI. It flattens the curve so people can try to get back on their feet without severe consequences of they fail. I know someone who is on social security disability. They can't even save money to buy a car without losing their benefits. For medical reasons, they are unable to work a full-time job, but they could possibly work virtually part time. But if they even apply to a job they lose their benefits. And the amount they get from social security isn't even enough to pay housing and medical expenses, nevermind food. If they didn't have external support they'd be SOL.