Social Service Safety Nets

We often talk about safety net programs.

What happens when a person falls into a net? They are caught, trapped and unable to get free. We should be building safety ladders not safety nets. Our government programs should provide a cushion at the foot of the ladder to allow for a soft landing while the individual recovers and gets up and continues climbing.

We have built a culture of dependency.

Programs today such as endless extensions of unemployment, public health care expansions and all manner of government assistance, rob people of their ability and desire to get back up on the ladder and continue climbing.

Incentives are everything!

The other day I heard a man on the radio lamenting his moral dilemma. What was it? Should he go to work or continue to receive public insurance for his child, unemployment for him, and other assistance to his family including tax refunds of taxes he had not paid, while he continued to live in his large, paid for home in Pennsylvania.

By his calculations, the salary he would need to offset his benefits was substantial. Therefore, it was more beneficial to him to remain unemployed. Remember the rest of us work and pay him to stay home...in relative luxury!

Shame on him...and shame on us for being a society that has taught people to do the math prior to looking for work or insurance or income or...

Shame on us for not creating a society where pride and self reliance have a value in that equation. A society where work has value!

Why? We have become so good at keeping people trapped in the net.