Afternoon Must-Read: Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig: The Economist Magazine Is Wrong About Welfare and the Family

…about family values and welfare, visit this [Will Wilkinson Economist post… [that] argues that the problem isn’t a paucity of empathy for poor people who rely on welfare, but perhaps an excess of it; furthermore, the piece goes on to suggest that poor people who rely on disability benefits should, in order to get off of welfare, pack up and move away from family and friends in search of jobs…. The quandary the author refers to is the problem of preferring to rely on disability income and to stay among family and friends rather than moving to an entirely new place alone in order to relinquish benefits. There are multiple problems with this view…. There most certainly is an empathy gap when it comes to well-off individuals’ view of the poor…. The articleinadvertently admits a reality about poverty and welfare that few on the right are willing to: that poverty, rather than welfare, breaks up families…. Disability payment… allows people with disabilities to remain in places where their families live rather than chasing after work in far-flung places… resist[s] the massive social dislocation brought on by free-market capitalism…. The demands of capital and the obligations of family are often at cross-purposes…. [Will Wilkinson of] the Economist makes a good conservative case for a more expansive welfare regime: one that would really shore up family life.