Analyzing the Welfare System THE EXCESSIVE INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT

T HANKS for the kind introduction. Much as I hate to begin on a quarrelsome note, I have one reservation with regard to the remarks of the master of ceremonies. She has stated that capitalism creates a group of people who are poor. My reaction is, poor compared to what? As I see things, the poor under capitalism are usually richer than the middle class or even some of the very rich people in alternative systems. Further, it is not capitalism that creates the poor. It is, rather, the vestiges of socialism we still have in the society that create poverty, not the capitalist system itself. Now to my prepared remarks. I have been asked to address the question of the welfare state. In my view, the ideal situation would be one where we had no welfare state at all. Welfare is demeaning to recipients, it creates dependency, and it reduces self-reliance. Further, it is morally suspect because the money used is derived through force, through the compulsory tax system. A large part of the perceived need for the welfare state is created by the excessive influence of government itself. For example, minimum wage laws create poverty by creating unemployment , especially for teenagers and unskilled workers. Rent control promotes homelessness, by reducing incentive to supply low cost rental housing. Tariffs, quotas, international and interprovincial barriers to trade all make consumer purchases more expensive. But these are only the tip of the iceberg. Other unwise government interferences with the market that create poverty include: occupational licensure; taxi medallions ; central planning and control of the economy; government ownership of industry, such as the post office, Air Can-ada, ferries, Petrocan, CBC; the Agricultural Land Reserve; marketing boards; regional "development" policies. In all of these cases, government creates or exacerbates poverty in the first place. People of good will then expect government to come riding in on a white horse to rescue the poor created by its own policies. Surely it is more sensible to ask government to stop creating the poverty in the first place. Then, we would have little or no need for its "solution:" the welfare system. However, even if government wasn't out there busily creating poverty, there would still be unfortunate people such as the mentally handicapped, the halt, the lame, the blind, the sick, quadriplegics, mothers with infant children, etc. A caring compassionate society would still have …