Social Safety Net
The topic of social safety net has been heavily politicized. Anytime I am talking to a friend about libertarian ideals, they ask, "But, who is going to take care of people who cannot take care of themselves?"
This is a valid question, and concern. I cannot argue that every person alive today is fully capable of taking care of themselves. I often like to ask people that are older, "What existed in the days before government social safety nets?"
The answers are:
Charities/Churches
This is a valid question, and concern. I cannot argue that every person alive today is fully capable of taking care of themselves. I often like to ask people that are older, "What existed in the days before government social safety nets?"
The answers are:
Charities/Churches
Back in the good ole days people used to actually give money to charitable causes. I know, who would have thought of this one! Those barbarians, but lets continue to understand why this worked, and might offer benefits over the governments social programs.
The charities were generally instituted on a more local level, and they could help the people in need in more specific and direct ways. These needs could be extensive, covering things like job loss, homelessness, house fire, old age, etc. This local system keeps the people in need from abusing the system, because the charity would police the recipients to make sure the money was being used beneficially as opposed to buying soda pop and cigarettes.
Our current system has very little accountability once someone is on the system. Everyone needs help at some point in their life, and it is important to have access to this help. It is also important that this help is a cure instead of a crutch, helping those people who are capable to move onward. This would include people who have been injured, and were not able to work for an extended period.
Real Money
Now we are talking. I want that gold and silver! Not that fiat be-not.
Money that is real does not inflate (lose value through the expansion of dollars outstanding). If anything it is deflationary to have gold and silver as the basis of money. This is because as a society produces more goods and services, the amount of gold and silver cannot expand as quickly through mining operations.
As these goods and services expand in comparison to the specie, prices will generally fall. This has the effect of leading people to be less consumption oriented, and more oriented towards saving money.
No Laws Limiting Hiring and Firing
Money that is real does not inflate (lose value through the expansion of dollars outstanding). If anything it is deflationary to have gold and silver as the basis of money. This is because as a society produces more goods and services, the amount of gold and silver cannot expand as quickly through mining operations.
As these goods and services expand in comparison to the specie, prices will generally fall. This has the effect of leading people to be less consumption oriented, and more oriented towards saving money.
No Laws Limiting Hiring and Firing
The reason why it is so hard to hire people now days is because of how hard it is to fire them if things do not work out. The entitlement attitude has grown into the workplace and replaced much of the meritocracy with workplace pandering and politics. If you could fire the people who were not working, then hiring replacements would not be so scary, knowing that you could give them a trial time and get to know them.
Families
Families
Families,
this may be taboo to mention since the family unit has been on a generation over generation path of destruction since the 1930s, but families used to take care of each other. Whether
the 'other' was an elderly relative, or someone younger, or perhaps with
some sort of disability. Now days, these people are all
institutionalized if they act up... "Stay inline, or your going to the home!", is a very real threat children can make to their elders.
Friends
The beauty about all of these social safety nets is that they have accountability built in. The most stressful of all of these is asking a friend for money in order to get by. If you lend your friend money, and they do not pay you back, it may strain or destroy the relationship. I don't think that you find out who your friends are by asking for help. But lend a friend some money, and if they pay you back, you have a friend who values your friendship more than the money lent.
Government
Here is a surprise, but please note that this should not be the crutch that it has become. It should be a last resort, and definitely should not be instituted on the federal level. These programs should be implemented on the state and local levels so that they can provide the pin point service needed for their community and also have the accountability that keeps these systems from becoming abused.
Friends
The beauty about all of these social safety nets is that they have accountability built in. The most stressful of all of these is asking a friend for money in order to get by. If you lend your friend money, and they do not pay you back, it may strain or destroy the relationship. I don't think that you find out who your friends are by asking for help. But lend a friend some money, and if they pay you back, you have a friend who values your friendship more than the money lent.
Government
Here is a surprise, but please note that this should not be the crutch that it has become. It should be a last resort, and definitely should not be instituted on the federal level. These programs should be implemented on the state and local levels so that they can provide the pin point service needed for their community and also have the accountability that keeps these systems from becoming abused.
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It would be an interesting economics study to see the number of dependent people from 1900 to present. Of course the numbers in the early 20th century would be rough, but the present numbers could be broken into different categories to see the needs that we currently face on the societal level.
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