Unemployment

[--Pete]

Hi,

The US has been trying to legislate away poverty for over a hundred years. It hasn't worked. We have just as many poor people today as when we started.

Is the situation better or worse than if we'd done nothing?

They aren't as desperately poor, but they are still poor.

What is poverty? Starvation? Inadequate clothing? Lack of shelter? Because I suspect those are rare and would be even rarer if people knew and took advantage of available programs.

We'd have been far better off putting that money into better birth control for poor families, and better education for poor children. You know... "Teach a man to fish..."

Birth control? There's a strong negative correlation between affluence and fertility. So, unless you propose forcing birth control on the poor, it will not work. Education? Mostly it doesn't work because of the stresses of the milieu of the poor. It's a catch 22: for education to work, they need to not be poor, and for them to not be poor, education needs to work. You could take them out of their milieu -- say, round them up and put them in ranches in Arizona. I'm not sure how well compulsory sterilization or mandatory state run boarding schools fit into the libertarian idea, but I'd guess not too well.

Besides, who pays for it all?

Our billions and billions of tax money has taken the edge off of poverty, and it has also created multi-generational dependencies. It's this dependency that the progressives have used for political advantage to remain in power. Government run health care is just another step in locking in that dependency.

Yeah, in my lifetime the progressives have been in continuous power. Except, of course, the Eisenhower, Nixon, Regan, Bush, and Shrub years. Oh, wait, that's 36 of the last 58 years -- I guess the progressive conspiracy still needs a bit of work.

So again. If government rationing works for health care, then why not government distribution of food, clothing, and housing?

"Rationing"? Whatever. I'll answer your question if you answer mine: how much money will you need next year for food, clothing, housing? How about for medical expenses? A couple of bottles of generic aspirin? A week's stay in the hospital? A major procedure?

You think there should be laws that force people to do the right thing, and I think people should choose for themselves what is right, and suffer the consequences for their mistakes.

While I agree with you in principle, I don't think that our society will accept that. So, in looking for a solution, you are either constrained to what is doable or your solution is just a worthless pipe dream.

--Pete