:nice: That's the real problem with our welfare system.

I can't tell if you are joking.

I'm being serious. That's the largest problem with our system. Severely perverse incentives. They're also present in the overbearing welfare surveillance system: it aims to find out if recipients are making any money to take them off welfare rolls if they make a little extra money to get by.

Is there an alternative? There is no math (well, no math that people outside of the USSR and Paul Krugman's house understand) that can set what a 'fair' amount of benefits is for each individual. Nor does adjusting the minimum wage achieve the desired balance because of the economic contraction is causes at levels that would motivate people to get off of social support.

instead of myriad overlapping programs creating a convoluted system, you set it up the whole system to be similar to the earned income tax credit, where benefits decline as you make more money, but whenever your earned income increases, your disposable income actually increases (even though it won't be one for one)

i don't post in this thread anymore

one down, two to go

I'm still care but am less interested in day to day..I'm back in the housing market

keep at it. you'll get your big break any day now.

I may dip my foot into the classicly designed mid-century modern Palm Springs home with a bean shaped pool

what kind of bean?

OK, but doesn't this still imply some minimum threshold that would provide 'just enough'? I may be too poisoned by Drudge-ish websites, but the idea that greater earned income means greater disposable income will likely appeal only to those who are already working to better their situations, not to motivate people to take that first step off the couch to the business.

one down, two to go