wealth and property rights

[Clay Olbon II]

At 10:54 AM 11/27/96 -0800, Dave Kinchlea wrote:
>On Wed, 27 Nov 1996, Clay Olbon II wrote:
>> 
>> This is provably bullshit.  Look at the HUGE numbers of people in this
>> country who make the economic decision to do nothing and go on welfare vs.
>> going to work.  Examine carefully the economic performance of the US vs the
>
>I don't know how much people get on welfare in your country but I
>suspect that it is even less than in this country (Canada). Anyone who
>truly believes that people make the `economic decision to do nothing and
>go on welfare vs. going to work' has, in my opinion, no &^%* idea what
>they are talking about. Just try to *live* on a welfare wage for a few
>months to see how silly this thought is. While there may well be a few
>`welfare-moms' (which is not necessarily a bad thing, taking care of
>children is an investment for society), the vast majority of people on
>welfare (at least here)  would *much* rather get a decent job and work
>for their money. There are, perhaps, a few people who would rather not
>work for minimum wage (who find it impossible to feed their family on
>that) but I suspect that those folks are few and far between. 

The average welfare benefit (including food stamps, medicaid, and all the
other myriad programs) is $10/hr.  Compare to a minimum wage of $5/hr.
Offer most welfare recipients a minimum wage job and they will laugh in your
face.  (In fact, here in Michigan most employers are already paying several
$$ above minimum wage, and often these jobs are unfilled).

>> More bullshit.  You don't know what anyones motives are.  To ascribe your
>> motivations to Bill Gates is unrealistic.  
>
>But you claim to know the motives of those on welfare: pot->kettle->black

I don't claim to know the motives.  I am examining empirical evidence.  As
the welfare benefit increases, more go on welfare, as it decreases, less go
on welfare.  Someone is making economic decisions, consciously or
unconsciously.  

        Clay


*******************************************************
Clay Olbon			    olbon at ix.netcom.com
engineer, programmer, statistitian, etc.
**********************************************tanstaafl