Planet Money #698

Planet Money #698: The Long Way Home

This episode focused on the subsidies the federal, state, and local governments give to poor people.  However, poor people usually have to enter a lottery, and you are lucky if you get the benefits.  It is a decent program and raises some good points.

Yes, this is a tremendously inefficient way to distribute aid, but it is emblematic of the larger problem of how we "help" poor people with aid.  It's a patchwork of a million programs, some of which incentive work, some of which don't, and all of which take an army of people to administer.  There has got to be a better way to help the less fortunate.  I believe the answer does not lie in government, but rather in civil institutions - churches, charitable organizations, etc.  As Dale Renlund said at the last general conference:

“The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement.”

 When the federal government comes up with these well-intentioned but usually misguided programs, it makes everyone worse off.

Planet Money #699

Planet Money 699: Why Did the Job Cross the Road?

This episode details the competition in Kansas City between Missouri and Kansas to lure companies back and forth across the border.  Great episode.  I knew cities and states did this - compete for businesses by offering tax incentives.  But these companies are just moving across the street dividing Kansas City!  Ridiculous.

The world would be more way more efficient if states and cities did not negotiate - they just set their rates and companies could come and go as they wish.  So much time and resources are wasted negotiating sweet deals and moving headquarters for better deals.