[quote=briansd1]Why not improve the baseline? That’s what progress is all about.

Standards today are not the same as those of 50 years ago.[/quote]

Brian, I totally agree we should improve the baseline. Any caring person should try to improve the baseline. But those improvements need to be self-sustaining.

I can’t help but think about those people, who were not ready for easy access to credit. Giving people money to live like the middle class does not equate to giving them the Financial acumen to sustain living in the middle class. That is not a problem solved with easy solutions. I think if we incentivize people to not work, we will get less work. Anecdotally, I’ve seen this happen amongst my friends who have gone through long spats of unemployment. If I’m honest about myself, I too would fall prey to the incentives, with how little I enjoy my job and how much I enjoy recreating, but this would be disastrous for my family just like it’s disastrous for every other family.