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Have to chastise you for one example, giving them money so they can buy a cell phone? Why? To be further in debt with monthly fees? There are programs for poor

Have to chastise you for one example, giving them money so they can buy a cell phone? Why? To be further in debt with monthly fees? There are programs for poor people to get a limited cell plan for free and government offices keyed to assisting the poor do direct them there. I would never give them cash. While you certainly cited all sorts of needs; this is not hard and runs along the lines of "for the children, no one is against children are they?" it doesn't solve the problem. There are two categories than need help and both can be helped the same way. First are the truly poor, they just cannot get past Go. Second are those whose decisions are making or keeping them poor. This usually involves getting tied in revolving credit, auto loans, lottery, and monthlies. Catastrophic causes that lead to the poor house need to be treated wholly separately; medical and death. So give them money the same way food stamps are administered. They are provided an allowance for specific expenditures. This cannot be converted to cash. No system is too complex to implement, the government already manages thousands of assistance programs and sends out tens if not hundreds of millions of checks for such each month. Basically the idea is to create purchasing groups which have similar expenses. Within these an amount is contributed monthly upto a maximum held for paying such expenses at approved retailers, service providers, etc. This covers the need side as well as hopefully teaches management of funds. Cash cannot be tracked, it can also be easily stolen, meaning its near impossible to verify it used as intended nor determining if the assistance is the proper type.

Retric 11y ago
If you hand someone a pound of rice they can convert it to money. So, in the end it's both cheaper and more Efficent to just hand them meant in the first place. PS: If you look a little deeper your advocating for a communist style demand economy which as we have seen just does not work long term.
roel_v 11y ago
"Have to chastise you for one example, giving them money so they can buy a cell phone? Why? To be further in debt with monthly fees?" I feel what you're saying, but in 2015, one needs a phone to get (and usually to hold) a job. Especially low-wage jobs. E.g. a temp agency might start calling at 7h30 because they're looking for someone to fill in. Don't pick up your phone? We'll just give the job to someone else, oh and we won't call tomorrow, because you don't pick up anyway.
- analog31 11y ago
  Anecdote: I meet quite a few people from lower income levels in my side job as a musician. Once, we were chatting about our cell phone plans, and I cracked a lame joke, like "the cell phone will truly liberate the homeless." One of the other musicians said, in all seriousness: "Hey, my cell phone is my lifeline when I'm homeless." Another guy chipped in: "Me too." It used to be cited that lack of a mailing address was a real impediment to the homeless getting back into a normal economic life, and the cell phone may play a similar role today.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> Cash cannot be tracked, it can also be easily stolen, meaning its near impossible to verify it used as intended One of the major motivations cited by many proponents of Basic Income is that a lot of the cost of existing poverty aid programs -- which they see BI replacing -- is tied up in administrative overhead verifying that aid is "used as intended", which does a lot to support a bunch of administrative government (and government-contracting) professional jobs -- which I guess is a kind of anti-poverty program for the college educated -- but really reduces the efficiency of actually getting the money where it is intended, as well as paternalistically assuming that the government knows how people should spend money to improve their situation better than they do.

Retric 11y ago

If you hand someone a pound of rice they can convert it to money. So, in the end it's both cheaper and more Efficent to just hand them meant in the first place. PS: If you look a little deeper your advocating for a communist style demand economy which as we have seen just does not work long term.

roel_v 11y ago

"Have to chastise you for one example, giving them money so they can buy a cell phone? Why? To be further in debt with monthly fees?" I feel what you're saying, but in 2015, one needs a phone to get (and usually to hold) a job. Especially low-wage jobs. E.g. a temp agency might start calling at 7h30 because they're looking for someone to fill in. Don't pick up your phone? We'll just give the job to someone else, oh and we won't call tomorrow, because you don't pick up anyway.

analog31 11y ago
Anecdote: I meet quite a few people from lower income levels in my side job as a musician. Once, we were chatting about our cell phone plans, and I cracked a lame joke, like "the cell phone will truly liberate the homeless." One of the other musicians said, in all seriousness: "Hey, my cell phone is my lifeline when I'm homeless." Another guy chipped in: "Me too." It used to be cited that lack of a mailing address was a real impediment to the homeless getting back into a normal economic life, and the cell phone may play a similar role today.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Cash cannot be tracked, it can also be easily stolen, meaning its near impossible to verify it used as intended One of the major motivations cited by many proponents of Basic Income is that a lot of the cost of existing poverty aid programs -- which they see BI replacing -- is tied up in administrative overhead verifying that aid is "used as intended", which does a lot to support a bunch of administrative government (and government-contracting) professional jobs -- which I guess is a kind of anti-poverty program for the college educated -- but really reduces the efficiency of actually getting the money where it is intended, as well as paternalistically assuming that the government knows how people should spend money to improve their situation better than they do.