> Every city has loads of work that needs doing, picking up litter, emptying public trash bins, park beautification, cleaning up graffiti, repainting bridges, f

> Every city has loads of work that needs doing, picking up litter, emptying public trash bins, park beautification, cleaning up graffiti, repainting bridges, filling in potholes, etc. There's a large problem with the "filling in potholes" part. Road construction is a skilled trade (no, it's not just digging ditches). I've heard this "ditch-digging" argument on HN before (the other commenter wanted welfare recipients to dig a ditch on the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out...). Using public funds to effectively put tradesmen (some of whom are unionized) out of work to provide busywork to welfare recipients is not a good idea from a free-market point of view.