Incentivized Liberation: Why Work, Government Pays You More to Not Work

By Rob Janicki

Conservatives and Republicans continually complain that the liberal welfare state literally pays

people not to work.  Of course, the standard liberal reply is that's nonsense, no one wants to stay on welfare when they can work.

Well, we conservatives know that simply is not a true statement and the facts bear out conservatives beliefs that the welfare state has gotten so far out of kilter that government welfare programs actually do pay people not to work.  It's all a matter of incentives.  When welfare pays more than working at a low paying job, the incentive is to collect the welfare, rather than work.

In 1995, a Cato Institute study found that welfare benefits in all 50 states and DC exceeded the poverty level and, because welfare benefits are tax-free, their dollar value was greater than the amount of take-home pay a worker received in an entry-level job.

Welfare programs have undergone significant changes since and Cato decided to research the current state of affairs.

They found that the welfare system today “provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work.”

Welfare pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states and, in 13 states, it pays more than $15 per hour.  Read more Independent Sentinel 

Human nature, such that it is, leads to the inescapable conclusion that when presented with the most advantageous opportunity, a person will choose the opportunity with the highest return.  And the facts of welfare prove that point.  Look at the welfare chart below and be prepared to be stunned by the welfare payment incentives for not working.

    

Looking at the numbers above, why would anyone want to work at a low paying job when they can rake in far more money on welfare.

Liberals have raised generations of Americans to believe that government owes them something.  Even worse is that liberals have raised generations to believe that welfare is preferable to work.  With welfare payments as high as they are, human nature kicks in and the result becomes obvious in the simplest of terms.  

Why work when government will essentially pay you not to work.  Our idiot president, along with his sycophants, has preached the false narrative that this will allow a person to seek their dreams.  If their dream is sitting on their ass and doing nothing constructive while collecting welfare benefits, then liberals have fulfilled that dream for far too many people.