Welfare reform

At Friday's Cabinet meeting, ministers decided their reaction to a scathing parliamentary report issued last month, titled "Unprecedented Injustice," that said the tax office policies violated "fundamental principles of the rule of law." The report also criticized the government for the way it provided information to parliament about the scandal. … [Read more...] about Dutch government resigns over child welfare scandal

Welter said the bill was filed at 3:51 a.m., and many lawmakers have yet to read all 764 pages. He said portions that remain, like cash bail, are concerning. Cash bail allows a person to go free at a judge’s discretion if they are not a danger to a specific person. … [Read more...] about Police Reform Bill Goes To Pritzker’s Desk Despite Law Enforcement Backlash

“We had a moment to speak with Jacob Blake’s family. We met with leaders here in Kenosha, and I had a couple of phone calls yesterday with an organizer friend of mine. We also witnessed a few businesses, and it was important to do so. In the wake of it all, you see a community actually being built,” Barnes said. “It is out of some of the most devastating sets of circumstances that we often see communities being built more holistically, in a way that has not traditionally happened before.” … [Read more...] about Wisconsin Gov. Evers, Lt. Gov. Barnes Look Forward Toward Rebuilding Of Kenosha, Reform Of Broken Systems

“When you hear [England’s Chief Medical Offier] Chris Whitty and people like this saying, ‘Actually, into next winter, we may face lockdowns, mask-wearing,’ I just have this feeling that economically and socially, we are doing greater harm to the country than anybody in government actually realises. And I’m pretty fearful where this is going to take us,” Mr Farage said. … [Read more...] about Farage: It Would Be an Outrage to Suspend Democratic Process for COVID

As a political matter, meanwhile, traditional tax credits are much less visible to their beneficiaries than direct cash aid. The COVID relief checks were technically advance tax credits. But they were not administered through tiny reductions in tax withholding on paychecks. Rather, they appeared as a noticeably large payout, courtesy of Uncle Sam. There’s no reason Democrats couldn’t apply this model to other forms of social welfare. For example, they could do as Bruenig proposes, and have the Social Security Administration directly send monthly cash payments to every child in the country, or, failing that, all those below the existing income thresholds. Even if one kept the fiscal value of Biden’s child-aid proposal constant, dispensing aid through this mechanism would make benefits easier to access and harder to miss. … [Read more...] about The Good, the Bad, and the Odd in Biden’s Stimulus Plan