ah yes, money, in the long run, you save on taxes.
problem is government thinks in the short term (until next election cycle)
basically government works the way those people who can't afford downpayments in chicago work. they pay more now, because they don't want to make the initial investment, that will save them money in someone elses term.

the subliminal message of bribery though.

maybe we make it an overt message instead, and thereby drown out the subliminal one.



state clearly.

you work hard, you study, you meet XYZ requirements (i dunno, make sure your kid attends class, go to Parent-Teacher meetings, volunteer in community cleanup, and hold down a job working at least 30 hours a week ( 3 seperate ways to confirm, school, community, employer, or whatever variation each community decides is best)
so some might think "we need more bakers" so you can say
hold down a job 30 hours a week, and go to baking school. and we will pay you to cover what the other 20 hous a week would have brought in so that the money you would have made is sill coming in, evn as you work to better your lot (140 dollars in welfaare a week (assuming 7 /hour sounds like a lot, but again an economist may be able to work out if this is worth it or not)
other wise, if you are averse to giving money (although most other countries cover educaiton after high school, and provide money for day care for children, and cover health care (but we "care" about families in the US) you can offer their children free daycare, and free meals while the parent goes to the school, and also cover their medical needs while they are at it,
which. put us on par with what england does, or what spain does, or what france does anyway.

people don't have to participate, but for those that have an interest in whatever program, this may be a godsend. and it would be thier way out of poverty.

subliminal bribery (stay off the streets and we give you 4 dollars and hour)? maybe.
but you can say directly.

we want to help, if you are going to work and go to school, you should be making enough to live on.
if someone is working 50 hours weeks, and living frugally and still barely making it (or not making it at all) than that is an injustice that we as a society refuse to accept.



there are numerous papers on how housing costs, inflations and cost of living increases are squeezing the hell outa the working poor. for more accessible reading though, nickel and dimes, by.... barbara something.
goes into her own annecdotal story about it. it is very very accesible, a quick, and interesting read, and give you a lot to think about.

i totally recomend it.

who will pay for it? my dear madam, it will pay for itself.

this i'll admit this is a biased view of the situation, but it's the one people who work in prevention and intervention tend to take.

including physicians.

basically, one has to figure out, "how much does an avarage high school dropout cost the government?"

you take into account neccesary food subsidese (if they are necessary) cost of crime and crime prevention, welfare, lost tax revenue if the person was employed, increased medical expenses that come about if you don't have health insurance


(studies show that people without coverage wait longer than most, thereby increasing cost of care, - true story, we had a person come in with a huge (HUGE) submandibular abbcess, he came in feverish, and ill, he'd been having jaw pain for about 2 weeks before he came in, and the abcess started small, but grew to about the size of a lime, he needed surgical excision of it, and surgical debrement of the underlying bone, if he'd come in early. he woulda needed ampicillen, or a Z-pac, if he'd come in when the abcess was still small, it woulda needed draining, maybe via excision, maybe needle, but nothing requiring generalized anesthesia and surgery, as it is, it cost us, in taxpayer money, over 3 K, instead of no more than 300, or possibly less than 30 if we could wrangle free meds outa the drug company, anyway, point of the story, had we supplied good prevention, it would have Saved taxpayers enough to pay off my car. which is surely a better use of the money.)

that example aside, it is much cheaper to pay for TB prophylaxes than it is to pay for TB isolation and TB treatment, and it's cheaper to give away condoms and clean needles than to deal with HIV and all the other stuff one gets from not using condoms and clean needles.

prevention is your friend.

anyway, other expenses? welfare fro when the person is unemployed, which he/she will be in todays high turnover rate of minimal wage workers, governmental and charitable costs of food suplements, energy vouchers, housing subsidies, prison upkeep whatever else,... etc etc.


so, taking a long view, this may (again, may, not surely, economists are needed) save us more money.

but assuming it doesn't, the main purpose of this would be to end cycles of poverty.
if you live hand to mouth, any minor disturbance in the budget will set you off course.
say you need new glasses cause the last pair broke, if you are barely making it by week to week $130 will plunge you into debt.

thing is, on minimum wage, even working 50 hours a week, you have no economic safety net to avoid these situations. especially now that housing is so expensive (i have 5 roomates, and am still paying 400 a month. Boston is now the most expensive city to live in, in chicago it's cheaper to buy than to rent, but to buy requires a huge downpayment, which, if you are barely making it, is impossible to save up the cash needed. instead you get stuck paying 550 a month in rent, instead of 500 for mortage, difference being, you can't scrape together 5000 for a downpayment on a house.)


emmm.... where was i going with this?

what i'm thinking, is if you can get kids perhaps to work in a job and maintain school grades above whatever level. say 2.3's or something.
then you bump up their pay scale, basically subsidizing their work.

so that they make a wage that will be worth more to them than what they could be making on the streets.
i'm not saying pay drug dealer salaries. but working part time in a restaurant for 4.00 and hour (or less) plus tips leaves alot to be desired.

bump that up to 7 + tips. with governemtn covering the other 3 dollars.
may keep kids off the street economy, and give them some sort of marketable skills... although i don't know if beinga waiter is a marketable skill or not...
maybe data entry or filing or something.

i think it could work. it would of course, depend on the community you want to implement it in...

cost benefit and all that.

we need an economist!