Some Things on Welfare

In our discussions the question of whether welfare is solving the problem, or is the problem has frequently come up. Welfare dates all the way back to the Roman Empire when Marcus Cocceius Nerva instituted programs that gave land to Rome's most needy residents, made loans to wealthy Romans whose interest was paid to impoverished families and he outlawed a 5% inheritance tax. In short...his plans wrecked the economy. Nerva was attempting to regain public support for the office of emperor which lost public confidence due to previous tyrannical emperorships , however his plans spent more than was coming in. Debts amounted to the point where chariot races and other fantastic games (hallmarks of the Roman society) had to be suspended. This is the problem many see today with our system. People are afraid of continuous aid without anything in return. In the U.S. our welfare system is set up so that people who are truly in need do receive aid, however they must contribute something for that aid and must eventually be weaned from it. Obviously our system has its problems with hundreds of fraudulent cases occuring. If these people will go so far as to cheat a system which has a goal of at the very least suppressing one of society's ills, than it tells a lot about the human character. Throughout human history there have always been the "haves" and the "have nots," however that is not necessarily an argument for ending welfare. I do not believe that with these programs we will cure poverty but we can at least alleviate it. I believe that when giving out welfare, you cannot give too much or too little. In government we discussed supply-side economics with an optimum marginal tax rate where the population would be taxed just low enough for it to have an incentive to work and spend money thus stimulating the economy while still having rates that could cover the U.S. budget. I believe that welfare can and should be modeled after this. The rate cannot be so low as to make it unaffective, but not high enough for it to be taken advantage of. btw this is victor