This article from Fox about a pilot program in New York City caught my eye. It sounds like an excellent idea to me (the only good idea Mayor Bloomberg has had IMHO, but hey).

It descibes a pilot program to pay poor people for actions taken to lift themselves out of poverty - read the article for details. Payments for going to doctors for routine checkups, for kids getting good (95%-level) grades, etc

 But the thing that caught my eye was this quote from an opponent of the plan:

"But some critics have raised questions about cash reward programs, saying they promote the misguided idea that poor people could be successful if they just made better choices.

"It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts," said Margy Waller, co-founder of Inclusion, a research and policy group in Washington.

Waller, who served as a domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration, said it would be more effective to focus on labor issues, such as making sure wage laws are enforced and improving benefits for working people."

I was gobsmacked by this; and I rather suspect our host will get his blood pressure raised. Everyone I know who was poor (and are no longer), and everything I've read on the subject says, in effect, that poor people can in fact be successful if they make better choices. Lord knows if I had made better choices I would be in a much better position than I am now - in fact, if I hadn't had more "cushion" in my life and finances I would be poor now - I'm just now learning how to really manage my finances.

So what are you going to do, Margy, when the program shows that it's working?