Nathan writes: >>By any reasonable analysis, it appears that cutting welfare over the last twenty years has not cut illegitmacy but, if anything, has contributed to it by denying women the funds for day care and other needs that would allow them to work.<< we have to do better: the Newtsters in Congress don't care about the size of welfare checks except in terms of simply cutting government spending on anything worthwhile. Instead, their emphasis concerning the issue of "welfare and illegitimacy" is on instituting more bureaucratic and paternalistic controls over welfare recipients in order to punish those who have out-of-wedlock births. More importantly, the last phrase ignores that mothers with children are almost always working very hard taking care of those children. We have to consider being a mother _a job_ that's just as valid as one that's paid. Maybe it's the most important job. I would think seriously of replacing welfare with family allowances as in France, as Frank Ackerman proposed years ago in his books on Reaganomics. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
