Thursday, September 23, 2010

Welfare withdrawal causes pain to New Mexico families

Welfare withdrawal causes pain to New Mexico families

Parents who have become addicted to one form of welfare are finding themselves suffering withdrawal- or at least have been put on notice that they will be suffering it soon. The state is sending out letters to thousands of families to inform them that their child care assistance is being cut off due to "budget problems" (not enough stolen loot to go around, due to government killing the economy).

That's sad, but that's what happens when you allow government intervention to lead you a long ways down a dead end path. When government suddenly says "This is where we part ways" you will discover just where you have been led. It is a place you would have never gone on your own, but only with the "help" and encouragement of The State holding your hand. The State even actively seeks out people to participate, since "numbers" means money, that is until reality rears its ugly head like it is doing now.

Government intervention in the market, and that is what this is, has stifled or crushed innovative solutions to "child care". No one has an incentive to find new solutions when government is using stolen money to pay parents' child care expenses for them. Plus people make choices, economic and otherwise, based on the assumption that they will not be paying the consequences because of the "safety net" [sic].

This will actually affect only about 28% of the kids in the program- the other 18,000 will still be getting your money. One "development center" in Albuquerque claims they will "lose" 43 children, and may have to cut staff. Yet no one seems to notice that had government not distorted the market, those families, and the threatened employees, would have made other arrangements and would not now be in a bind.

I got into a situation once where I quit my job due to an increase in the cost of child care when my kids' day care center was bought out by a competitor. It would have cost almost exactly what I was earning to keep sending them, and I decided I wasn't going to go to a job and pay someone else to watch my kids for me. Yes, there were "sacrifices" involved but the benefits outweighed them by more than I can express. It was a great decision.

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