Ask HN: How to fix social welfare | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to fix social welfare

4 pointsmatt_the_bass3 comments

I'm very fortunate in life. I've worked hard for what I have and I've been given opportunities I deserve. But there are a lot of people who work hard who haven't had the opportunities they deserve.

Maybe it's the time of the year. Maybe it's recent posts like [1]. But I'm wondering what ideas people here have on how to fix the social welfare systems of the world (and particularly the US)

Note, I believe strongly in having social welfare. I also believe in free markets most of the time. But we have lots of problems with abuse and waste and ineffectiveness in our social welfare systems. And sometimes the motivation of free markets are at odds with the well being of our society as a whole.

I'd love to hear your ideas.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15999322

The very purpose of corporations - to take money from people and give it to their already rich shareholders - is at odds with the wellbeing of society as a whole. 'Free markets' is something that corporations want only when they know they will win the competition; otherwise they don't want it. The commonly-heard praise of free markets, level playing fields etc is pure cant and hypocrisy. Big companies get bailed out if they ever get in trouble; anyway, their managers can just go to the next management position. Ruthless competition with actual failure is reserved for the average person, the worker, the small business etc.

Believe it or not, the current system works for a lot of people. The number of federal and state services available in the US is quite large. The thing is that you just have to look for them. I myself am not disadvantaged in life, and I work and make a good living. But even I have used welfare programs at certain times of need. I think the biggest inefficiency is just people not knowing there are programs that could help them, or perhaps, being too proud to consider the idea.

No, it's really not. It's things like asking a homeless old man for identification paperwork to enrol him into a housing program, or kicking people out of programs because they are addicts who can't quit without help, and making people visit an office in person during a weekday with all their children to get certain aid, when it would be better for them to be at work and the kids at school.

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