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Comment by treeman79 | Hacker News Reader

My grandmother was on welfare. My mother was on welfare, my sister was on welfare.

Sister wanted off welfare, but if she got a job she lost much more from welfare. So no reason to work. Then welfare got limited to 5 years or something. So she got a job as a bus driver. Been doing that for 20 years now. My dad got my mom off welfare and working.

Welfare definitely was just keeping people in poverty and dependent on the government, and not being productive.

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The great thing about California’s welfare program as mentioned in the article is that the amount of welfare received is not dependent on income so it does not disincentivize employment.

The article is satire. Perhaps a little too well executed.

I hope my comment was well executed.

Yep, another reason any welfare should be replaced with a UBI which isn't dependent on any circumstances.

That's unrealistic -- some people, by their circumstances, have a more expensive life.

Eg. If you need a wheelchair, that's another set of maintenance, with needed changes to all kinds of your living infrastructure, custom vs what somebody without a wheelchair needs.

Healthcare or disability welfare could be separate, perhaps, but for financial welfare we should never be giving cash handouts dependent on inevitably perverse incentives (staying impoverished).

Or just a sublinear reduction in welfare compared to income.

That would be better, but I prefer the simpler solution. It also ensures there is no incentive to stop working.

In some cases. In some cases the folks on welfare cannot be bus drivers, etc.

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