Who deserves what and how can we achieve the highest good for the most people?

[Birdjaguar]

I was following you until...


...because that seems to be what they did in the post-war period.

Thinking about it some more, I don't really know if a government program like the GI Bill writ large would work today, but it's not strictly about whether the program itself would be a good idea or not. I'm just not convinced that our government today is capable of implementing such a program. I think the party not in power would try to frustrate the efforts of the party in power, regardless of the merit of the idea. One of the real outcomes of conservative skepticism about government is that it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The people who insist government can't help people actively work to prevent government from helping people. Something like what happened with the Affordable Care Act might be a 'best case' scenario these days.

One could also point out that the GI benefits of the 1950s isn't a good model to use because it systematically excluded more than half of the country - women and people of color - and a similar program that didn't have such a narrow target would cost multiple trillions. A non-discriminatory, non-arbitrary method of targeting aid would be more complex and thus more prone to error and fraud, as we've seen with the PPP going to companies like the L.A. Lakers.

By "...throw money..." I meant send a check. The GI bill was a program. Welfare was a program.

 

[Gorbles]

How do you ensure that everyone receives their check and isn't possibly prevented from cashing it without a program of some kind?

 

[EgonSpengler]

By "...throw money..." I meant send a check. The GI bill was a program. Welfare was a program.

Oh, I see. Like the $600 'stimulus' payments?

EDIT: I'm thinking now of Andrew Yang's idea to provide everyone $1,000 a month. To be honest, I never looked closely at this idea. Yang was one of the people I didn't take incredibly seriously as a candidate, for better or worse.

How do you ensure that everyone receives their check and isn't possibly prevented from cashing it without a program of some kind?

Right, wasn't there some problem with people getting the stimulus payments? I got mine automatically when I filed my tax returns, but I seem to recall there were 'issues.' I can't remember the details. (Or I never paid attention to the details. Both are equally possible. )

 

[Birdjaguar]

Oh, I see. Like the $600 'stimulus' payments?

EDIT: I'm thinking now of Andrew Yang's idea to provide everyone $1,000 a month. To be honest, I never looked closely at this idea. Yang was one of the people I didn't take incredibly seriously as a candidate, for better or worse.


Right, wasn't there some problem with people getting the stimulus payments? I got mine automatically when I filed my tax returns, but I seem to recall there were 'issues.' I can't remember the details. (Or I never paid attention to the details. Both are equally possible. )

Yes, exactly. All our "checks" came as auto payments into our bank account.

 

[Gorbles]

The stimulus checks are a good example of what I mean, because people found themselves ineligible for a number of reasons. It also comes with a built-in number of checks on availability / eligibility, meaning it is at its core a program and not simply a giveaway.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Well, this city-slicker saw a YouTube video of a woman driving a tractor - yes, that was the entire video, 45 minutes of a pretty girl operating machinery - and for a second thought, "Hey, wow, they have computers and GPS in tractors. Cool."

Oh jeez. Yeah. Pretty girls that can handle a throttle stick? Wai...

You guys are reminding me of the Benny Benassi "Satisfaction" video. I won't link it because... well... you'll see when you look it up, but all this talk of lovely ladies operating power machinery...

 

[Farm Boy]

Sudden urge to check on my masonry bits with the Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers.

 

[EgonSpengler]

You guys are reminding me of the Benny Benassi "Satisfaction" video. I won't link it because... well... you'll see when you look it up, but all this talk of lovely ladies operating power machinery...

Never seen it. I'm at work. Should I wait 'til I get home?

 

[tjs282]

Never seen it. I'm at work. Should I wait 'til I get home?

Based on the YT thumbnail(s), then yeah, probably...

 

[Farm Boy]

I hadn't either and, yup, you should wait.

 

[Yeekim]

You deserve everything you're left with after you've paid your taxes.

 

[Sommerswerd]

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."
-- Clint Eastwood as William Muney in Unforgiven

 

[Farm Boy]

So say killers, I suppose.

 

[Sommerswerd]

And god. And both are right... or rather, correct... or better still, accurate.

May we all get everything we need, some of what we want, and none of what we deserve.