In my discussions about Universal Basic Income one theme seems to comes up time and time again. It's a theme that people like President Barack Obama and his ilk talk about all the time: Wealth Redistribution.
People like the President want to take wealth from the very successful and give it to less successful people. So if you are rich, worked hard and are successful, people like President Obama want to punish you for being rich and successful.
Taking money from the rich who worked hard to get their wealth (yes, I know about trust fund babies but someone had to work hard to make that money) and give it to people who are lazy and don't want to apply themselves and feel that they are owed a handout by the government is just wrong and immoral.
Many of these people may be out of work or are underemployed because they didn't get the education they needed or joked around in school thinking that having a good time was more imporant than getting an educatiaon.
And now they are paying the price for it and in turn, we are paying the price for their laziness. I hear about companies that are looking for people to hire, many of the jobs don't require much or any skill but they can't fill the positions. The problem is that many of the people out there who are unemployed feel that certain jobs like working at McDonald's or working as a janitor is beneath them.
These people need a reality check and we need an overhaul to the system
The government needs to put in place a job counseling service that helps place people on welfare into jobs, even jobs they may think they are above. If you can work then you get a job and get off the system, companies in local areas can work with the service to post job and get people for open positions.
In short, we stop giving people the option of not working and living off of everyone else if they are fully able to work. Welfare should only be for the people who cannot work, and people shouldn't be rewarded for having more children and using the government welfare system as a lottery.
Instead of UBI and wealth redistribution, lets make people self sufficient once again.
I encourage you to look into the (tons!) of available data on this issue, rather than speaking strictly from the premise of "free market = good; government = bad." The economy is much more complicated than you seem to recognize.
ReplyDeleteIt is incorrect to conflate poverty with laziness. Most poor people are employed. However, even full-time, a minimum wage job does not provide a living wage.
Forcing the poor to take jobs that do not pay a living wage -- so they still depend on government benefits -- is called corporate welfare. It drives down the cost of labor, forcing the government to pick up the slack.
Children born into poverty often perform poorly in school, in part because their parents are unable to support them. They often drop out early to help provide for their families. This has a lifelong impact on their earning potential, and their children are born into poverty in turn.
Many people cannot work. Those with physical or mental disabilities but without insurance often wind up in poverty. Veterans with PTSD are a common example. The elderly almost all lived below the poverty line before the introduction of Social Security.
First off I am going cover your post point by point.
ReplyDeleteGovernment is bad. They currently cannot competently handle the functions they currently server. IRS? All kinds of scandals and problems. The VA? Problems galore (I am sure you saw all of the news articles on that).
Secondly, people are not entitled to a living wage. People who work at McDonald's are not worth $15 because they have an unskilled job that anyone can learn in a half an hour. If they want to be paid $15 an hour then learn a skill that makes you worth being paid $15/hour.
What you are suggesting is again about the US giving handouts to people who want to make more money but don't want to do anything to make themselves worth being $15/hour They are programs available for people to learn skills and there are even good paying jobs that require little to no skill.
As for children being born into poverty, perhaps if the parents are living in poverty they should think about the fact they cannot afford to have a child and refrain until such a time as they can afford to do so.
As for the people with physical or mental disabilities, those are the people I was talking about who should have access to the these programs, the people who actually need it. We need to stop letting people who can work game the system and be lazy
It looks like you don't understand privilege. It's an idea that you should take seriously, even though it will clash with your conception of self-sufficiency. (Particularly in political science, the ability to confront cognitive dissonance is what will allow you to understand new ideas, rather than ignoring facts that contradict your beliefs!)
ReplyDeleteWhen you were growing up, did your parents take an interest in your performance at school? Did you have enough money to participate in extracurricular activities? Were you informed about career options? Have you ever received sex education, from school or a family member? Did your family have a car? Did you have a home, or did you move between homeless shelters? Did you have enough money to eat dinner every night? Was your childhood free of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse?
Millions of Americans answer "no" to one or more of these questions.
Adverse childhood experiences (like being homeless, or sexually abused, or malnourished) have measurable, lifelong consequences. For many Americans in poverty, it's not a matter of trying harder. They are developmentally crippled -- physically, intellectually, or socially -- by the experiences that the privileged never even have to contemplate.
People in this situation cannot provide for themselves, much less their families. You said it yourself: unskilled labor isn't worth a livable wage. That means that their children will in turn be born into adverse circumstances. This is called the cycle of poverty.
You may say that the poor shouldn't have kids. If they had the same education that you've received, they would probably agree with you. Then again, if they had your level of education, they would be qualified for a job with a livable wage.
In the meantime, the cycle of poverty continues, and 15 million children depend on the government for food.
As always I will cover your points point by point:
ReplyDeleteI do listen to new ideas, however I know how to separate ideas which are presented in a way that backs as persons agenda and one that backs actual facts. In my last post I presented the numbers and UBI would be over 5 trillion dollars a year to maintain. Closing a few wasteful government agencies is not going to be enough. Taxes will have to be raised and people are already suffering through high taxes as it is and will not tolerate even higher taxes.
You said: For many Americans in poverty, it's not a matter of trying harder. They are developmentally crippled -- physically, intellectually, or socially -- by the experiences that the privileged never even have to contemplate." and again, I have said those are the people who SHOULD be getting access to the programs in question. You keep bringing them up yet we are in agreement about this point.
Correct, no one is OWED a livable wage. There are, however programs out there where people can get further education and job skills where they can then be worth being paid a livable wage. Many are free and low cost.
What I have a problem is when people who bring nothing to the table demand to be paid $15/hour. They want to sit back and get a handout instead of making themselves worth $15/hour.
And of course there are problems with certain businesses paying $15/hour. But I will cover that in my next article.
However you part about the poor would know better than to have kids they can't afford if they had my education? It's not education, it's common sense. I know not everyone has common sense, but common sense exists regardless of education. Hell, I know people who were educated at colleges (people I have met who have already graduated from college) with no common sense. So what does that tell you?