Lee Corbin wrote :
Everyone surely has to admit that for many people who are hovering
on the edge of hard choices, the advent of a GI would enable them
to keep postponing the taking of some difficult action. But likewise,
so would the proposal of 1500 calories of free food and free shelter,
no strings attached. Just so, all welfare that is *guaranteed* to
individuals has the same debilitating effect. All of it.
#### Actually, for the sake of brevity I omitted some crucial elements in my
plan: the food and shelter would not be provided "no strings attached" but
rather anybody enrolling in the program (which in Dickensian England was
called the "poorhouse") would be staying in an institution (free to leave at
any time) and would be required to do useful work (maintaining the premises,
handicrafts, etc.), as much as physically and mentally possible
(quadriplegics and MR's would be largely exempted). In addition, after work
the inmates would be encouraged to study vocational skills (Web design?) to
make their voluntary transition to the real world easier.
Rafal Smigrodzki MD-PhD
Dept Neurology University of Pittsburgh
smigrodzkir@msx.upmc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:56 MDT