To end poverty, guarantee everyone $20,000 a year. Would you trust the poor?

[jeffrey]

Nicole Gray, a 24-year-old single mother living in Victoria, feels like a “beggar” every time she has to go into a government office and ask for help to pay her bills.

She has finished her diploma to be an office medical assistant despite having gotten pregnant as a teenager. But job losses and the difficulty of raising her son, now 7, on her own have made her income unpredictable. Meanwhile, she says, the system is suspicious of every request and doubts every word...

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor? - The Globe and Mail

[disneysteve]

I'd probably have some problems with that approach but it depends exactly what is meant by "no strings." The one study from Britain mentions recipients working with counselors, so they weren't just given money and sent on their way.

“Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of cash. It's not about stupidity,”

I don't think I'd agree with that as a generalization. Just giving somebody money doesn't give them the knowledge of how to shop for and prepare healthy meals. Just giving somebody money doesn't make them supervise their children better and make sure they do better in school. Just giving somebody money doesn't make them stop abusing drugs and alcohol - in fact, it could very well worsen that problem. Just giving somebody money doesn't address mental health issues suffered by a significant percentage of the homeless population.

I also don't think you can compare what happens in a 3rd world country to what happens in a developed country. Poverty in Africa looks very different than poverty in Canada or the US.

So just handing over 20K and sending them on their way - I'd oppose that. But giving them 20K and getting them into counseling and a support system to make sure they are getting the care they need and know how to access appropriate resources and educational opportunities, that would be fine.

[nick__45]

a $20k dollars equate to someone working for $10/hr full time. Let's look at the math, shall we.

1) There are 52.143 weeks per year so we'll call that 52 weeks.

2) There are 40 hrs of work per week, which most people have. Most people don't get to work all 52 weeks as they don't get paid holiday or vacation.

3) $10 * 40 hrs/wk * 52 wks = 20800 dollars. This is what a person would get if they work every week day and never take leave.

How many regular people make $10/hr when they on the downturn of the financial ladder. Many people get minimum wage on a part time basis even when they do hold respectable jobs in retail. Why here is why there are lazy people living off the rest of the hard working class when they figure it is better to sleep in, party more, do more drug, sleep around more, eat more, and just skip the school or study all together and make more than $30k from government welfare programs. And it is much worse in Europe.

[GREENBACK]

Does the 20k mean that they are totally off the goverment nipple? Might be a good deal if that's the case but I suspect it isn't.

[Money Gal]

Greenback - the $20K is from the government.

I guess I would wonder why the gal can't hold onto a job. Is she unable to make it to work consistently due to the demands of single parenting? Like sick child & no other family resources to assist? Is it really the economic downturn, or does she get affected first due to limited flexibiity that all single parents are faced with?

I don't think there should be a working wage subsidy offered to people. Housing & Food subsidies okay, but not for everything. Where is the motivation for an able bodied person to work if they can get the same income by not working?

[YourLifeSolution]

This isn't even socialism, it's practically communism, and no I am not a Republican or even Democrat. Guaranteeing any income automatically leads to problems, this is about economics not politics.

As far as if she had problems in her younger years... YEAH! She had a 7 year-old at her age!

What about people working for $19,000, are they going to keep jobs? Many will not.


PS I live in Chicago, Cabrini Green was supposed to end homelessness. If you don't know how that worked out I'd be glad to explain

[Frugal]

You have to change peoples' spending habits, before you can change a country's financial situation. People's hearts and minds are involved in how they spend money. Some people win the lottery, and if they are not financially responsible in the first place, they will blow through that money like a whirlwind, and I have heard stories of how some people seem to end up deeper in debt, the more money they win/inherit/fill in the blank. I have noticed that the more money I make, the more I spend. Change someone's spending habits and educate them financially, and giving them 20,000 might work...

[Frugal]

Also, is this lady mentioned in the original post in Victoria, CANADA? At least they get free gov't health care there...it will be many years until the gov't healthcare messed is worked out here in the U.S...

[YourLifeSolution]

Also, is this lady mentioned in the original post in Victoria, CANADA? At least they get free gov't health care there...it will be many years until the gov't healthcare messed is worked out here in the U.S...

There is no such thing as FREE healthcare. If you want to make an argument for govt healthcare, mult-tier health care like what they have in Sweden or Switzerland it would be a better argument.