cheque in the mail

bob - Everyone, everywhere should collect welfare (or if that term is too derogatory, let's call it a negative tax and henceforth be left to his own devices. He should be free to accept or reject employment at whatever wage the entrepreneur is willing/able to pay. From those lucky enough to secure employment over a certain wage level those "welfare" payments would be, incrementally, taxed back.

A system like this would eliminate all manner of buraucratic waste, supply innovative entrepreneurs with a steady supply of affordable labour while at the same time protecting workers from the threat of total impoverishment and helping to prevent another economic depression by ensuring a constant consumer base.

Hobbes - That is what I would like to see also, bob. (And it's almost exactly what Nobel laureate Milton Friedman proposed in 1962 as well.)

belgian pie - That's about the Belgian system, not exactly but close ...

TainanCowboy - "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money." -- Margaret Thatcher


jdsmith - And what makes you think anyone would prefer work over poverty??