Bevista:
Great opinion, but I think you are comparing apples with oranges. The Conditional Cash Transfer Program (CCTP) is not an equivalent of Unemployment Claims, but rather an equivalent of Food Stamps Program, which pays about $125 monthly to over 45million Americans. In 2014, the US govt spent about $74billion on this program alone. There has to be some merits to it. The target of such programs is not necessarily the unemployed, but rather the poorest and most vulnerable in the society.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with your alternatives, but it can run concurrently with the CCTP - It must not be either or. Keynesian economics gave birth to Fiscal expansion by governments, because he believed that "in the long run we are all dead". What's the essence of having great plans for the future when people are dying today. There has to be balance in planning.

greggles:


That's because only 1,500 were to benefit annually, the scope was limited. However, this is quite different, it benefits up to 100,000 and its not a grant but non-interest loans, it comes with better security and qualification process, not when someone else is writing a business plan for beneficiaries who know nothing about business.