Quote:
Originally Posted by songkrai
This is a spoof, right?
No one believes these old myths anymore.
|
Well, the government reports the labor force participation numbers and they are significantly down so I wouldn't classify them as a myth. Although with the state of government these days, who knows for sure.
As to people not bothering to find work if they have government payments coming in that compensate them as much as a low level paycheck would, it has been proven. Under Clinton, when welfare was cut, economic disaster was predicted when people lost welfare payments. Instead, most people went out and got jobs and did fine. They hadn't bothered to do so before because they didn't have to because their welfare paid them as much as a job would. Also, once in the workforce for a while they found themselves with chances for advancement, getting raises, and ended up better off. No myth there either.
I'm not claiming that this applies to every situation and every person but overall there is a significant negative effect of paying people not to work.
The side benefit was the economy grew because more people were participating and government support costs dropped.