By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    stress management for healthcare workers
    3 Tips For Healthcare Professionals: How To Stay Beautiful, Healthy, and Happy
    November 2, 2021
    importance of relaxing on the weekend for your health
    Importance of Relaxing During the Weekend for Optimal Health
    March 25, 2022
    LASIK Eye Surgery
    What Is LASIK Eye Surgery?
    May 16, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    All That You Need to Know About Clenbuterol
    November 22, 2019
    Top 5 Facts About CPPA Accreditation
    April 9, 2015
    mental health benefits school
    Mental Health & Practical Benefits of Continuing Education After 30
    June 30, 2024
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Let’s Privatize the Welfare State
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Public Health > Let’s Privatize the Welfare State
Policy & LawPublic Health

Let’s Privatize the Welfare State

JohnCGoodman
JohnCGoodman
Share
9 Min Read
food stamps
SHARE

food stampsHave you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has?

food stampsHave you ever given money to the food stamp program? Do you know anyone who has?

Actually, some people do occasionally make gifts to federal entitlement programs. But gifts to the entire federal government were a paltry $241 million in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. By contrast, Americans donated almost $300 billion last year to private sector charities in addition to volunteer time valued at $158 billion.

The money we spend on food stamps (technically called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) almost all comes from coercive taxation, rather than charitable contributions. For example, the United Way of Dallas donated $50 millionto 90 private charities last year. The food stamp program was not among them. Even the government’s charitable giving program for federal employees ($270 million to 20,000 non-profit groups) does not list the food stamp program as an option.

More Read

Tobacco Taxes: A Win-Win for the Asia Pacific Region
Bad Blood: Orthopedic Surgeons vs. Hospitals
Gun Law Reform Should Not Require Medical Records
HIPAA Not an Excuse for Lack of Innovation in Hospitals and Clinics
Doctors 2.0 & You: Interview with @pharmaguy

What brings this to mind is Paul Krugman’s column the other day in which he claimed that:

The food stamp program…tries to provide modest but crucial aid to families in need. And the evidence is crystal clear both that the overwhelming majority of food stamp recipients really need the help, and that the program is highly successful at reducing “food insecurity,” in which families go hungry at least some of the time.

But if Krugman is right, why aren’t all the private givers, including federal workers, giving to it? Why are they instead choosing soup kitchens, Meals on Wheels and hundreds of other ways of caring for people who need help?

The answer, I believe, is obvious. See, for example, FreedomWorks’ case against food stamps. And in case it isn’t obvious, I propose a market test: Let the food stamp program compete on a level playing field against every other anti-poverty program, private or public.

But first things first. There are about 47.8 million people on food stamps. And even though the economy is improving, jobs are more plentiful and wages are increasing, the number of food stamp recipients is rising, not falling — now reaching one in every five households in the country.

Clearly this is not a program that is designed to reach a few people who happen to be down on their luck. And food stamps are only the beginning.

On an average day in the United States, 18.7 million children are getting a free lunch in our nation’s public schools. Another 2.7 million children are getting reduced price lunches. All told, more than two thirds of all the children attending public schools are getting subsidized lunches — which accumulate to about 5.2 trillion lunches every year.

And the problem doesn’t end there. Children who need a free lunch, it turns out, also need a free breakfast, and almost half the children are in this program as well. In fact on an average day, 11.7 million children are getting a free or reduced price breakfast, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayers.

Then there is dinner — available in areas where at least half the children qualify for a subsidized lunch. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that there will be 21 million children charging their dinner to Uncle Sam by 2015, rising to 29 million in 2020.

Have you ever stopped to consider how much of modern life is conditioned by the fact that millions of young women are having children they cannot support? Turns out that the same parents who can’t afford to feed their children also can’t afford to house them or pay for their medical care. They also fail to provide a home environment that is conducive to learning. That’s why there is now a big push for government funded preschool. Is government-funded day care next?

Since the taxpayers are picking up the whole tab anyway, maybe we would be better off removing all these children and raising them in an Israeli-like kibbutz.

I am one of the few writers who seems to be appalled by the immorality of bringing children into the world that you cannot support. [See “Bad Parents, Poor Kids.”] But even if you are not moved by moral concerns, consider the dollars and cents at stake.

Years ago, George Gilder and Charles Murray did pioneering work showing that the welfare state was not benignly helping people in temporary need. It was subsidizing a lifestyle. With the passage of time the case for that position has gotten stronger and stronger.

By way of anecdotal evidence, take the case of Orlando Shaw. He has fathered 22 children by 14 different women and pays not a dime of child support. As a result, Tennessee taxpayers are forking over more than $7,500 a month. Food stamps and welfare make his lifestyle possible.

On the academic front, University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan estimates that half the excess unemployment we are experiencing can be directly tied to the incentive effects of entitlement programs. In other words, half the people who should have a job don’t have one because we are paying people not to work.

How could things be different? In Privatizing the Welfare State (study, book), Michael Stroup and I wrote:

There is mounting evidence that the private sector does a better job at getting aid first to those who need it most, at encouraging self-sufficiency and self-reliance, at encouraging the family unit, and at using resources efficiently. Currently, the federal government has a monopoly on welfare tax dollars. It istime to end this monopoly by allowing private citizens to make decisions on how theirwelfare tax dollars should be spent.

For the food stamp program, the proposal would work like this. Each taxpayer would be able to allocate up to $2,000 of taxes owed to any qualified charity providing assistance to indigent people. Taxpayers could make their gifts at any time during the year and claim a credit on their April 15th tax return. [BTW, this is all back of the envelope, but I think a credit of up to $2,000 is roughly budget neutral.]

I’m even willing to let the food stamp program have all the default money. That is, if a taxpayer doesn’t claim a private charity credit, the food stamp program gets to keep his $2,000. But every dollar that taxpayers give to a private charity is a dollar the food stamp program must forgo.

Of course, our more general proposal was not confined to food stamps. We would subject all welfare programs to this kind of public/private agency competition.

Thoughtful readers will no doubt think of possible objections and I would love to hear about them in the comments section. Stroup and I considered 21 possible objections and you may want to consult those as well.

(privatizing food stamps / shutterstock)

TAGGED:food stampsSNAP
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

NHS Nurses Wear “Do Not Disturb” Uniforms

August 30, 2011

Social Media, Diet and Cancer

October 25, 2011
Credit: Tim Gee
BusinessNewsPolicy & LawPublic Health

4 Ways Health Care Is Different from Other Industries

February 25, 2016
personal injury lawsuit
Health carePolicy & LawPublic HealthUncategorized

How Personal Injury Lawsuits Can Affect Your Relationship

August 30, 2020
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?