Why Marry?
December 1, 2012
IN PENNSYLVANIA, a “single mother” who earns $29,000 a year takes home a total of $57,326, counting welfare subsidies and benefits, according to a state official quoted in The Delaware County Times. A single mother who earns $69,000 takes home $57,045.
Imagine if the same level of support were given instead to couples who had been married for a minimum of four years and had two or more children. There would be a rise in fertility and an explosion in the numbers of women who could stay home. I’m not advocating that kind of state support, but just illustrating how much the government encourages family breakdown and how we all pay for it.
Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge goes into these numbers and their effect on motivation in detail.
— Comments —
Terry Morris writes:
Why marry? Why work? The ratio’s 1.25 to 1, eh? That’s actually better than I would have thought. Then again, I’m not sure that Tyler Durden (Fight Club? ha, ha.) is factoring into welfare benefits Social Srcurity, Medicaid, Medicare, and health care benefits provided at the State level. But perhaps he is.
I’m reminded of an op-ed piece I read some months back in the Tulsa World. The author – a “businessman” who’d started his business only three years ago – devoted the entire article to extolling the economic virtues of the welfare state. Over the course of merely three years, bragged he, his business had grown from employing only three people to ninety-nine people. That is ninety-nine people working full time, making a good wage, paying taxes, buying groceries, paying mortgages, etc., etc., according to him. And, of course, “stimulating” the local (Tulsa) economy. The punch line, which he also bragged about in the article, was that 98 percent of his business’ money comes from charges to Medicaid. His business? Counseling “troubled teens” and their families, which, of course, we’re supposed to believe without question will bring in net revenue gains over the long haul. All that is required is for us to trust and be patient. Meanwhile the more troubled teens and troubled families we can find and/or create, the better for the economy all around, according to this moron.
I wrote him a letter refuting his stupid claims point by point, and sent it directly to his office. While I’m sure it didn’t do him any good, it did me a world of good to write and send it.
