So just pay them and get it over with!
NEW YORK (AP) — Poor residents will get cash rewards for good behavior — like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor — under an experimental anti-poverty program detailed on Monday by city officials.
These healthy lifestyle payments, also known as conditional cash transfers, have been used in other countries including Brazil and Mexico, drawing widespread praise for their success in changing behavior among the poor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Mexico this spring to study it there.
In New York, the two-year pilot program with about 14,000 participants will use private funds Bloomberg has raised because he did not want to spend government money on something that is highly experimental. More than $43 million has been raised toward the $53 million goal, Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs said.
The theory behind cash rewards is that poor people are trapped in a cycle of repeated setbacks that keep them from climbing out of poverty. A person who doesn’t keep up with his vaccinations and doctor’s visits, for example, may get sick more often and struggle to stay employed.
Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican, said he believes paying people in such circumstances to make good decisions could help break those patterns.
The program “gives New Yorkers in poverty a financial incentive to look ahead and make decisions that will improve their prospects for the future,” he said in a statement. (more…)
Future payments may include: $20 for wiping your behind, $30 for brushing your teeth, $25 for cleaning your room, and my personal favorite, $25 for attending a parent-teacher conference—WAIT! That one is for real!
Among the possible rewards in New York’s program are $25 for attending parent-teacher conferences, $25 per month for a child who maintains a 95 percent school attendance record, $400 for graduating high school, $100 for each family member who sees the dentist every six months and $150 a month for adults who work full time.
My anger quota has been maxed out for the week over this article. I am tired of folks dumbing us down while many of us beg for more.
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June 20th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Not too much of a step from this to flat out paying for votes. Some might even view this as that sort of thing.
Of course I believe that these politicians “truly care”, so I would never believe their motives to be less than 100% pure ;->
June 20th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Not too much of a step from this to flat out paying for votes.
You know, I’m laughing at this, but it is not far-fetched. I can see it now, fried chicken dinners with a plasma television if you vote for a certain party.
June 20th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
when i first read this, i thought about an article i read recently about geoffrey canada’s (and maybe others; he’s the guy behind the harlem children’s zone) tactic to motivate certain kids to build good student ways of being (i.e. coming to school regularly, being on time, completing homework, etc): he offers kids something akin to a ‘paycheck’ for doing such things.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am
I guess maybe I am a little slow. But what is the problem with this. I think some people are motivated by money and maybe this will cause people to get off their behinds and do the right thing. The fact is we are knocking people off the welfare roles and cutting all types of social programs. They are no using tax payer money so what is the big deal and where do I sign up.