Will Programmable Money Help The Welfare State?

Hey Jessocialists

In our current so-called civilised world, we see millions of people being marginalised by the system. They are stuck in poverty without access to jobs and the ability or the will to lift themselves out of their current plight. Governments around the world allocate billions of their tax revenue to social grants to provide some sort of income to these people, creating a welfare state.

A section of the population that lives on these handouts. We often see two extreme sides to this story with some saying welfare makes people lazy and gives them a reason to leach off of others as the middle class supports their lifestyle. The claim is that this discourages people from showing ambition to become contributing members of society.

While others say without it we would descend into chaos as these people become more desperate and disillusioned they become more radicalised and will look to crime or civil war as a solution.

welfare state

Image source: - universiteitleiden.nl

Money not making it to the right avenues

The problem with handing out cash is that of fungibility since welfare handouts the same cash that others work for, people feel that their hard-earned money is being given away. While some work for it others wait for their weekly and monthly hand out.

Since the cash can be used in any means necessary we see people misusing the money. Instead of paying for their kids, their food, their rent they paying for alcohol, drugs or other unnecessary consumer goods. Much of the state funds do not go to places that assist these people to move out of their situation.

Making a case for money with strings attached

Now that we have programmable money it provides a unique solution to this program where the money handed out by the state is forcibly programmed to only be accepted by certain vendors and cannot be exchanged peer to peer. This money can only be used for basic services and certain living expenses or transactions will be rejected.

This means funds are then moved to the right avenues and the need for any other goods and services would require you to find standard fungible cash to try and purchase those goods and services. This programmable money can now provide the safety net these people need while they go out and look for work to buy things that they would additionally want to improve their lives.