I have a hunch I'll be re-using this photo a lot...
The program works like this: poor families in places like Brazil and Mexico are given cash payments if they do things like go to the doctor and keep their kids in school. If you graduate high school on time, you get a one time payment of a few hundred dollars.
This obviously has the advantage of putting money in the hands of the desperately poor people in places like Brazil and Mexico. It's not a TON of money, a few hundred bucks a month, but it can often double the income of a family. (And interestingly, the money is given to Mom, not Dad, to make sure it goes to the family. I guess Angela's Ashes was translated in Portuguese.)
The second advantage is that it promotes the health and education of its citizenry. A few simple vaccinations can make a HUGE difference in a place like Rio or Oaxaca. But the effect of education is even more profound.
This type of program has been tried in 40 countries around the world. The program in Mexico is described in the article as the most studied social program in the world.
And it works. Money goes to whom it's supposed to go to and the people's lives improve. The state benefits.
Sadly, because Ronald Reagan was genial, we live in a country where the state trying to do ANYTHING creates a right wing freak out.
I'll be writing soon about the GOP's efforts to repeal HCR, but imagine the shitstorm that would hit if Obama proposed a program to pay families a little extra cash if their kids did well in school? As it is, they are going to spend the next two years engaged in stupid human tricks to repeal the first chance in our nation's history to insure that every American can go see a doctor.
As I said in the previous post, one of the parties actively wants government to fail and will go to great lengths to prove it.
Even if it means human suffering and national decline.
No comments:
Post a Comment