Liberal Talk Radio

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to incentivize good behavior among the poor vis a vis cash handouts finds a surprising proponent in Newt Gingrich (!):

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday endorsed Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to try to change the behavior of poor New Yorkers through cash handouts, saying the experiment was “worth doing.”

“When you look at the depth of failure we’ve had in reaching people who are out of productive society, we need to be prepared to try new approaches,” Gingrich told The Post.

Hmm . . . is Newt perhaps running for President?

The plan is interesting:

In an effort to reduce the city’s high poverty rate, the Bloomberg administration plans to offer tax credits to impoverished families to offset child care costs and cash rewards to encourage poor people to stay in school and receive preventive medical care.

. . .

The payments could range anywhere from $50 to $1,500, officials said, and could be used to reward a range of actions, from scoring well on standardized tests to enrollment in service learning programs, which would funnel high school students into community service work. Officials are also weighing using the approach to spur enrollment in the Nurse-Family Partnership, a home visitation program that focuses on low-income first-time parents.

City officials said that they did not know of another such cash incentive program in the United States, but that the approach has had success in Mexico and has been used in several other countries. Still, it is in keeping with Mr. Bloomberg’s approach of engaging the private sector to encourage certain behavior with financial rewards, as he did with a program that offered shopping and dining discounts to protesters who remained peaceful during the Republican National Convention.

When my brother and I were younger, Mama Contrarian paid both of us to babysit each other. We got the cash at the end of the night provided that there were no fights and/or trouble, which incentivized us keeping our mouths shut. In short, she bought us off.

In the end, it may yield results and cost-benefit goals, but isn’t it a little perverse to pay people to do things that they should be doing anyway?