Feed on
Posts
Comments

In 1910, it is estimated that there were 13 million Americans in Mutual Aid Societies (things like Life Insurance societies, fraternal organizations, etc.). That year, the US census estimated that there were 92 million Americans. Therefore about 14% of Americans were members of these voluntary aid societies. This was at a time when America was about 6 to 7 times poorer in per capita terms than we are today, and when the money required to provide the “basic necessities” of life made up a huge portion of a typical family’s budget.

I would not claim that private, voluntary, mutual aid would be able to provide relief to 100% of people in need today, but I would strongly argue it would provide a safety net nearly as wide as today’s public one, and with far better incentives for good behavior by the recipients and far lesser chance for them to be abused and taken advantage of by the providers (imagine the political backlash of closing down all of the government welfare offices). One thing mutual aid societies generally did was require the aid to be formally requested from the organization, rather than handed out as a rule-based entitlement. While some people view that as humiliating, I view it as humanizing. I’d sure support that reform of our current entitlement programs – even for the rich. Imagine a rich homeowner having to publicly declare to his neighbors why he “needs” the mortgage interest deducation.

10 Responses to “Fun Facts to Know and Tell: Nah, Private Charity Cannot Work Edition”

  1. 373556 692757When I came over to this post I can only look at part of it, is this my net browser or the internet website? Should I reboot? 470907

  2. 797530 309371Couldn?t be created any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this report to him. Pretty certain he will possess a very good read. Thanks for sharing! 377819

  3. 781170 786337thaibaccarat dot com is the finest internet site to study casino games : like baccarat, poker, blackjack and roulette casino 368738

  4. 293049 55795Great blog here! Additionally your website a lot up very fast! 875302

  5. 100245 464943I believe other site owners should take this internet site as an model, extremely clean and great user pleasant pattern . 223126

  6. pgslot says:

    372498 40088Just wanna remark that you have a extremely nice web web site , I like the layout it really stands out. 44082

  7. aviator game says:

    888010 325391 Its hard to find knowledgeable people on this subject, but you sound like you know what you are talking about! Thanks 368576

  8. Maria says:

    362055 598046Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with SEO? Im trying to get my weblog to rank for some targeted keywords but Im not seeing quite excellent results. Should you know of any please share. Thanks! 15801

  9. 613834 128301There is noticeably a bundle to discover out about this. I assume you produced certain good factors in options also. 736720

  10. 309332 982535Thanks for all your efforts which you have put in this. quite intriguing information. 531231

Leave a Reply