Sunday, August 07, 2016

Human Nature, Again

I have long advised that policies and philosophies that ignore human nature are bound to fail. If your goal is to persuade those with a surfeit of the laziness component of human nature to become productive members of society, removing work requirements from welfare programs is not going to help you achieve your goal.

This fact, proven many times over, has been ignored by liberal policy makers many times over.

This article is just the latest in an endless supply of examples of the immutability of human nature. Add a work requirement to a welfare program and watch two things happen.

First, participation plummets.

"Maine, one of the most proactive states in reinstating work requirements for food stamps, saw its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents decrease by 80 percent within just a few months after re-establishing the work requirement."

 Second, those forced to work or starve find work and end up much better off than they were while accepting the unrestricted handouts.

"The Foundation for Government Accountability identified that nearly 60 percent of Kansans who left the food stamp rolls following the establishment of food stamp work requirements found employment within 12 months and, “their incomes rose by an average of 127 percent per year.”"

Once more with feeling:

"One nice thing about being a liberal is, no one expects you to learn from experience."
 http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/06/what-happens-when-liberal-heroines-crumble.php

No comments:

Post a Comment