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Part 160: Loose Ends Two:
Jun 27, 2005:
It is time to take a hard look at the welfare situation in America. We have been saying for decades that we need to do something about the welfare situation. We need to create better solutions for the dependent welfare people, the ones who live on the fringe of our culture and depend on us for sustenance. We keep saying we have to do more, but what we always end up doing is giving them more. This is not making them stronger. This is not helping them. We make them more and more dependent. We do not help people by making them dependent. We make people stronger and better by demanding performance. Performance is what we should reward, not dependancy.
We need not let people be exposed to the elements or let them starve. However, we also need not reward people for failure. Food is a real necessity. Nonsense about dignity is just that, nonsense. We cannot give dignity to a person who does not have it. Dignity comes from within. Respect comes from the self, not some external authority. We can give people training and jobs, wherein they will achieve their own dignity through effort. Out of that will come self respect which is the essence of dignity. Public respect will grow out of that.
As to necessities, people need three things; food, clothing, and shelter. Three meals a day, serviceable clothing, and a warm place to sleep, That's basic. It would be nice if we could also afford to provide some minimum of health care. I insist that anything more must be earned. In that, I believe food stamps are an error. I have seen them being spent for too many other things. What we need is food that is so common and inexpensive that it cannot be resold. Army style field rations are one possibility. They are good enough for our magnificent soldiers. They sure as heck should be good enough for our welfare people.
Here are the basics and the way we should implement them. People who need welfare must be brought together. It should be a communal thing, not a handout and "go where you will" deal. To control cost we cannot give people money or even vouchers. We cannot pay their rent or utilities, or give them transportation wherever they wish. In a communal building or buildings, we can give the recipients a place to sleep and bathe in reasonable comfort and privacy. We can give them common adequate food at a common table. We can give them serviceable clothing and that is all. The do-gooders may say whatever they will, but they have had their day and failed. Rewarding failure has proven disastrous. It's time to turn that around.
In a common setting those who can must work to contribute to the community of recipients. In this communal situation, we can also offer programs of job training. We can offer all kinds of basic educational opportunities that allow people to improve themselves. We cannot make people more marketable. They must do that. All we can do is offer the training. When we do, we will soon discover the difference between the ones who are just down on their luck and the dead last losers.
As to children, we must give them first class education so as to break the cycle of welfare dependants producing more welfare dependants. This is the most important thing, to break that dependency generation to generation cycle. This means we cannot let the welfare family operate independently. They must be in a controlled situation where we can assure the education of the children. I'll say again, the do-gooders have had their day.
Now let's look at pensions for working people. It is time to address the theft of pensions by dishonest companies. It is becoming absolutely necessary to take pension plans away from the control of the individual companies and set them up a separately administered public trusts organizations. Individual worker's pensions must be made portable. They must be set up so that companies cannot raid them or take them back.
This does not mean that the companies cannot use pension plans in their recruiting. They can offer to contribute to a person's plan however they wish, but the pension must be owned by the person not the company and it must be administered by a trust. We must realize this is a federal issue because it affects all workers. States cannot resolve it, so the federal government must pass new legislation that puts pensions under the control of the workers.
As to the recent thefts of pension funds, people who did that, like the managers of Enron, should be brought to the bar. They should never be allowed to enjoy their own pensions. They stole them from the workers. These people must be made to repay every cent they pilfered from the pensions of their workers, regardless of how the plans were set up. If that means attaching their accounts and stripping them of all assets, so be it. Don't tell me about their children's rights until you are prepared to tell me about the rights of their victim's children.
I have already addressed this, but I must make it clear that women's rights, minority rights, and affirmative action are nonsense issues These so called issues will disappear if we get the child welfare and education right. Then some people will make it and some won't. It will not depend on sex, race, or age. To make that happen, we must get our act together and get our basic training right.
Another nonsense question is how do we fix the economy? The fact is, when we begin to take care of national security and child welfare, the economy will begin to grow. It will never stop growing because it will be driven by creative young people in a safe environment. We will grow as a people when we produce goods and services that are really useful and stop marketing gimmick products and poorly made junk. A healthy populace will take greed out of the equation. This is not some fantasy. There exists a large body of data to support the idea that healthy people are not greedy. Currently this seems a contradiction because we have no leadership and no real education for our kids. Ignorant people are fearful and, as a consequence, greedy.
About past attempts at reform, reformers often fail in their
purpose even when they are sincere. The reason is most attempts
at reform are too focused to do any good. They do not take a broad
enough view. Reformers simply do not seem to realize the tiny
piece they are trying to change is an interdependent part of a
enormously larger entity. This huge entity is our socioeconomic
machine which resists all change. Education is a classic example
of this problem of reformers. It takes enormous energy to cause
any movement at all. Then, as soon as the pressure lets up, the
machine restores itself. Business as usual resumes. To prevent
this, it is necessary to change or replace the entire machine.
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