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Republicans reject own funding bill, US government shutdown imminent (www.reuters.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

welfare checks barely exist anymore, thanks to both democrats and republicans in the 90s and their "welfare reform". Are you talking about disability, unemployment, pensions, social security, EBT or medicaid/medicare? Many of these are not even "welfare" but essentially insurance payouts on things that those people paid the premiums/contributions for and are entitled to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Wouldn't all government welfare be "insurance" since they're funded with tax dollars? Even if you're not a net tax payer, you're still paying your fair share as defined by the tax code.

So I really don't understand that line of discussion. Whether you're getting Social Security or food assistance, it's welfare. I don't care if you need it or not, if you're getting a benefit from the government, I consider it all the same thing.

Imo, we should combine most of the various government benefits into a single check you get based on your income. Here's my plan:

if you make nothing, you are brought up to the poverty line
if you make under a living wage (say, 2x the poverty line), you get a benefit on a sliding scale based on income
if you make over a living wage, you get no benefit

This would replace the EITC, Social Security, food assistance programs, etc, though probably not Medicare/Medicaid.