The Paradox of Entitlements

Mmmm...government cheese!


Here is my deep dark confession: I believe that the government has a role in taking care of the downtrodden. Section-8, food-stamps, medicaid etc. all serve important purposes. But, I have extreme reservations about these programs because of the paradox of entitlements:

An entitlement system only functions when the majority of people feel that they are not entitled to entitlements.

In the various documentaries on the Great Depression that I viewed there interviews with the children of men who lost their jobs. In virtually every interviews they stated how much shame unemployment and especially being "on the dole" caused for their fathers. Because of the stigma of welfare use, for most people it was the last resort and those who used it sought to minimize the time and amount of their use. On a macroeconomic level, this stigma served to minimize the use and cost of welfare, which ensured that more funds were available for people who truly needed assistance.

But, in my rental business, I have clearly seen that in many communities welfare use and idleness no longer carries a stigma. For example, an able bodied single woman who some how inherited her mother's 2 bedroom voucher applied for a 2 bed / 2 bath luxury condo. If this woman's had any reservations about usurping the labor and tax dollars of hard working Americans, she would have rented a clean, basic studio apartment for less than half the cost of this luxury condo, for the minimum amount of time. But, someone she felt no shame living in luxury at the tax payers expense and utilizing limited resources that could have been directed towards the many physically or psychologically ill individuals that were in dire need of social services. If this individual were an isolated case, this would not be a significant issue. But, with millions of people possessing such a shameless sense of entitlement, the cost of misdirected social services runs in the billions. And perhaps more importantly, most good willed citizens hold deep reservations about supporting social welfare programs, knowing how much money is wasted on those who feel that they are entitled to entitlements.