welfare spending and investment

["MONGIOVI, GARY V" <YCMGECO%SJUMUSIC.BITNET@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A word of clarification.  Of course I agree with Doug Henwood that
humane and sensible social and environmental policies should be
endorsed IN THE FIRST INSTANCE because they are humane and sensible:
the hallmarks of a decent society.  But such policies are often
criticized as wasteful because they are perceived as ineffective,
i.e. as NOT helping people to lead fulfilled and productive lives.
For that reason such programs are underfunded, or are administered
in a way that undermines the dignity of the beneficiaries - which
in turn sabotages their effectiveness.  I wanted to suggest that this
sort of Catch-22 can perhaps be breached if the programs are viewed
(sold?) differently.

  And in fact there IS a payoff to such expenditures.  The quanti-
fiable payoff consists in reduced crime rates, greater productivity,
and so forth.  But there is also a nonquantifiable payoff, which is
arguably more important than the quantifiable one: that is the
payoff in plain old human wellbeing that comes from being a valued
and contributing member of the community, and from having a good
shot at realizing one's human potential.  I don't want to get all
touchy-feely about this;  but even a neoclassical economist, when
pressed, will concede that happiness (or, in the standard jargon,
"utility") is the name of the game.  If properly administered and
adequately funded social welfare (and environmental) programs can
be shown to have such payoffs, then why not point this out when
defending such programs?  This would not be "buying into the language
of capital",  but only showing that not only is it inhumane and
uncivilized not to ensure every member of society decent housing,
nutrition and education, but that it is foolish AND WASTEFUL as
well.

  If, as the beer commercial says, life were perfect we wouldn't
have to defend such programs: their justness and sense would be
evident to everyone.  But since we do have to defend them we ought
to make use of every relevant argument. It would indeed make a big
difference to the sort of social programs we get if an Administra-
tion came to office who regarded such programs as having a genuine
payoff in terms of human (but not merely monetary) wellbeing.  But
don't hold your breath.


Ciao!

Gary Mongiovi