Only people who work at least 30 hours a week, file taxes, and are gainfully employed should get to vote. If you meet those criteria, you shouldn’t pay any taxes and should qualify for government benefits—call it a worker’s stipend. Everyone else? No entitlements, no exceptions. This riffs on Milton Friedman’s negative income tax, a twist on universal basic income. Instead of mailing every breathing soul a check, you target it: only employed folks below a set income threshold get it. Step one, though—scrap the minimum wage.
The stipend would guarantee a baseline—say, $20 an hour equivalent for your time. In struggling, underdeveloped areas, it could scale up to $25 or $30 an hour. Here’s the kicker: employers in those places might even charge workers to take jobs—think apprenticeships or training gigs—because the government check more than covers it. People would still come out ahead.
Minimum wage sounds noble, but it’s a hidden tax on the poor. It jacks up costs, kills entry-level jobs, and locks low-skill workers out of the market. Ditch it, replace it with this stipend, and watch people flood into “undesirable” jobs—janitors, farmhands, whatever—because the pay’s effectively sorted. In dead-end towns, you’d spark work instead of welfare. Friedman saw it: don’t hand out fish, rig the system so people can fish and eat.
So...people who are disabled shouldn't be allowed to vote? Or mothers who stay home with their children? I think this is a slippery slope- remember, not that long ago, only male landowners could vote. I'd hate to end up back there.
You were the one who said it, with no example or evidence. I simply asked you to defend what you stated, but you resorted to a personal attack instead.
I DO understand what you said, but I considered it to be an indefensible position. As you have just proved.
Look at the state of the world today in every Western Style Democracy where universal suffrage has been implemented. It's all the evidence you'll ever need.
Only people who work at least 30 hours a week, file taxes, and are gainfully employed should get to vote. If you meet those criteria, you shouldn’t pay any taxes and should qualify for government benefits—call it a worker’s stipend. Everyone else? No entitlements, no exceptions. This riffs on Milton Friedman’s negative income tax, a twist on universal basic income. Instead of mailing every breathing soul a check, you target it: only employed folks below a set income threshold get it. Step one, though—scrap the minimum wage.
The stipend would guarantee a baseline—say, $20 an hour equivalent for your time. In struggling, underdeveloped areas, it could scale up to $25 or $30 an hour. Here’s the kicker: employers in those places might even charge workers to take jobs—think apprenticeships or training gigs—because the government check more than covers it. People would still come out ahead.
Minimum wage sounds noble, but it’s a hidden tax on the poor. It jacks up costs, kills entry-level jobs, and locks low-skill workers out of the market. Ditch it, replace it with this stipend, and watch people flood into “undesirable” jobs—janitors, farmhands, whatever—because the pay’s effectively sorted. In dead-end towns, you’d spark work instead of welfare. Friedman saw it: don’t hand out fish, rig the system so people can fish and eat.
So...people who are disabled shouldn't be allowed to vote? Or mothers who stay home with their children? I think this is a slippery slope- remember, not that long ago, only male landowners could vote. I'd hate to end up back there.
Universal suffrage was the biggest mistake the world ever made.
Please explain...
If you don't understand what I said you shouldn't be voting.
You were the one who said it, with no example or evidence. I simply asked you to defend what you stated, but you resorted to a personal attack instead.
I DO understand what you said, but I considered it to be an indefensible position. As you have just proved.
Look at the state of the world today in every Western Style Democracy where universal suffrage has been implemented. It's all the evidence you'll ever need.