April 24, 2007
NEW LEVELS OF GOV'T PATERNALISM
Mayor Bloomberg seems to be looking abroad for his policy proposal ideas recently. His big Earth Day initiative was to timidly raise the concept, and then come out full-bore in favor of congestion pricing in Manhattan. It would involve charging drivers $8 to use Manhattan's busier streets from 6am to 6pm. London started a similar program just two months ago.
Now Bloomberg is down in Mexico studying a program dubbed Conditional Cash, but called Opportunidades south of the border. It involves the government paying poor people for attaining certain goals, like seeing a doctor regularly, making sure your kids attend school, and following proper nutritional guidelines. Actually, only women can receive the money. It's assumed Mexican men will just blow the cash on tequila and cockfights.
If this sounds like government paternalism taken to an extreme, that's because it is paternalism--literally. This amounts to the Mexican government giving its citizens an allowance as long as they've done their chores and eaten all their vegetables. Why is Bloomberg looking for good governance ideas in Mexico, anyway. He's the Mayor of New York City, for chrissakes.
Tagged: allowance, bloomberg, mexicoPosted by Lexiphane at April 24, 2007 3:01 PM
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