If you give poor people money and they still had problems, then what? More money? There lies the problem.
Children should not be poor, but how can you ensure accountability on the part of the parents?
Children should not be poor, but how can you ensure accountability on the part of the parents?
Why do you feel that poverty-relief is different to these other types of government spending? Why should it be held to a higher standard? What are your values?
Right there is where you suggest that accountability MUST be 'ensured'. This is a very high accounting standard to set, much higher than normal for any federal programs that I'm aware of. I don't understand why you feel that a program that relieves a core ill of society (poverty) should waste no money. Anything that reduces poverty makes the rest of government services cheaper, as it so closely relates to crime. Is it that you don't trust the decision making of the individuals just because they're poor? If not, then what is it you expect?
What the TFA shows is that when you give parents money unconditionally they do overwhelmingly spend it on their children. Once that is understood, you must evaluate any system for measuring accountability against the cost of that very low rate of abuse.
If the means testing costs more than it saves and/or wrongly rejects too many people then whats the point of having it?
Nobody should be poor. It always baffles me why care and sympathy for other humans tends to disappear when they happen to reach an arbitrary age.
But perhaps you'll start caring again when they get even older? Should 80 year olds be poor? What is the appropriate age range to be poor?
Even if it doesn't solve the problem for all, it solves the problem for many. Which makes the rest of us better of.
You should give them enough money every month to fully cover basic food, basic shelter, and basic expenses.
I can try to make it simpler for you.
"Every Month" means monthly. So, twelve times per year.
"Basic Food" means things like rice, bread, carrot, celery, onion, potato or raw meat. Obviously this can vary slightly per person but in general enough for a month will mean five to ten pounds of each of those, so called, "staple" foods.
"Basic Shelter" means walls and roof that contain a bed, bathroom, kitchen, and heating. In practice, this is just called "rent". Like with the food, what this specifically looks like in any given place will vary.
Finally, "Basic Expenses". This means things like clothes, phone & electric bills (though, it's not too unreasonable to consider electric as part of your 'shelter' as well), travel expenses (gas, train tickets, bus fare), simple repairs, batteries, light bulbs, etc.
I'm sorry this has been so confusing for you but it does get just a little bit more complicated. You see, the actual cost of these things may vary depending on what they are and where they are from. For example, in New Mexico we may consider cornmeal and green chili peppers to be necessary inclusions as staple foods. Air conditioning may also be considered a housing necessity. Compare this to, for example, Maine, where air conditioning may not be considered a necessity and cornmeal and green chili peppers would likely not be considered a staple food and other foods would be considered instead.