Would Hizzonner Run His Business this Way?
20 June 2007
Editor, New York Post
Dear Editor:
With the creativity of a drunk sailor, Mayor Bloomberg proposes that poor people be paid to care for themselves - given cash rewards to do things such as stay in school, go to the dentist, and hold steady jobs ("... And Paying the Poor," June 20).
Your criticisms of his plan are on target.
I ask the Mayor if in running his private business he would seriously consider hiring anyone so unmindful of his or her future that that person will go through the motions of self-responsibility only if bribed to do so? Surely the answer is no.
Paying someone to playact at self-responsibility no more creates a self-responsible person than paying someone to playact as a lawyer creates a skilled attorney.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, New York Post
Dear Editor:
With the creativity of a drunk sailor, Mayor Bloomberg proposes that poor people be paid to care for themselves - given cash rewards to do things such as stay in school, go to the dentist, and hold steady jobs ("... And Paying the Poor," June 20).
Your criticisms of his plan are on target.
I ask the Mayor if in running his private business he would seriously consider hiring anyone so unmindful of his or her future that that person will go through the motions of self-responsibility only if bribed to do so? Surely the answer is no.
Paying someone to playact at self-responsibility no more creates a self-responsible person than paying someone to playact as a lawyer creates a skilled attorney.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday January 29, 2008 at 2:52pm