* I wanted to go to the doctor, but couldn’t get a ride. I should get the money anyway.

* I tried to hold down a job, but I couldn’t come to work and my boss fired me. I should get the money anyway.

* I tried to do well on the test, but it was culturally biased, so I should get the money anyway.

Here’s the issue:

““It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that’s not reflected in the facts,” said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.”

Not reflected in the facts? Indeed it is. It’s the poor choices that many people make – over and over – that condemn them to a life behind the eight ball. When you smoke, have HBO, a cell phone, DSL, and $100 sneakers, but not enough money for rent, that’s a poor choice. When you get pregnant in high school and drop out, that’s a poor choice. When you drink like a fish on a weeknight and call in sick the next day, that’s a poor choice.

I could go on and on. Sorry.

You make good points. I agree: There is the danger that taxpayer money could be used if this succeeds, and I don’t believe in throwing more money at education.

But: this is nothing like previous attempts. Here, people are being rewarded for specific goals rather than simply having it doled out to them as “entitlements.”

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Thanks for your thoughts.

It won’t stay just private funds. Democrats have been trying to do this kind of thing starting with the New Deal.

Go through the maze, get food. Study for the test, get money.

Ding!

I hope the mayor succeeds, but I have my doubts.