webshells.com/nwuco Forum
webshells.com/nwuco Forum
| Author | Jim Devine |
| Date | 05/03/09/23:56 |
| Hit Count | 714 |
| Now that it's almost inevitable that the U.S. bankruptcy law will be
revised to involve means testing of who can and who cannot avoid debt by going bankrupt, another issue comes to the fore. The country already has means testing for such programs as so-called "welfare" (TANF) and will eventually have them for social security benefits and unemployment insurance benefits. This means that there will be unnecessary duplication of bureaucratic rules and red tape between different government programs. It should thus be a major priority to standardize the rules and to centralize the bureaucracy, to rationalize programs and to cut administrative costs. One cost-cutting move would be to issue a special ID card to those eligible for bankruptcy, social security benefits, etc., so that the processing of benefit distribution can be simplified and accelerated. This has the clear advantage of unifying the eligible class, allowing the rationalization of the combined effects of the various programs that they benefit from. Obviously, the ID card should use the anti-counterfeiting technology that is currently used for the so-called "Green Card" and the like. This system should be merged or harmonized with the existing system of immigration control under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security. Further, to make it easier for ordinary merchants and businesspeople to make decisions about who they should or should not issue credit to, the issuance of a special arm-band to the eligible classes should be studied by a blue ribbon committee appointed by the President with the advice of the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. One of the major benefits of this program is that it would discourage the counterfeiting of the ID cards by attaching a social stigma to those who are taking advantage of these programs. Further, it creates a greater incentive for these individuals to pull themselves up by the bootstraps to escape the eligible class. Mij Evined |