Sorry, but welfare "reform" is a failure

This is as much a story about the media's manipulation of public opinion as it is about the meanness and utter failure of the 1996 welfare "reform" law.

An op-ed by Peter Cove and Lee Bowes appeared in the far-right New York Post today complaining that America is headed back to the "bad old days" (in the subheader's words) before welfare "reform" passed. The piece says that it's "unthinkable that we should roll back welfare reform."

"Unthinkable"? I've been thinking of it for the past 13 years! We should roll it back, as it didn't increase employment - or improve jobs' quality, safety, or pay.

Repealing the welfare "reform" act would be one of my first efforts if I was elected to Congress. This is one position I've never backed down from, because the chronic recession of the New Economy has proven me right.

What's really the "bad old days"? Before 1996, or after?

Bowes and Cove are actually stage-managing public opinion by saying the dissenting view is "unthinkable" and acting as if legislators are going too far towards rolling back the 1996 law.

The writers complain about too much being done for poor families - but they don't raise a peep about handouts for big banks and other corrupt organizations that are already swimming in dough.

The government policy in recent years towards big corporations has been, "Here's more money. Buy your CEO another jet." But if you're an individual who was born poor and never had the opportunities or clout that others had, you're on your own.

The Republicans are wondering why they don't win any Nobel Prizes for peace - but they certainly don't deserve any for economics either.