[David]

I had an old economics professor (who worked in the Kennedy admin) who had a pretty simple plan for welfare. He said the current system did not encourage working since if you earned even a little income you lost all your welfare benefits. His plan was to have a set minimum government paid income, say $10K. If you earned $1000, you only received $9.5K from the govt. If you earned $5K, you only received $7.5K from the govt. Once you earned $20K a year, you received no more welfare money. This would encourage folks to get out and work, but still provide a minimum welfare for the folks that just won't or can't work.