[yummyfajitas]

I attributed to you a common left wing position on welfare recipients. It appears I misunderstood you - apparently you don't believe welfare recipients are just regular people.

If a person chooses to be toxic to those around them, why is that a behavior that should result in us giving them money?

Lets make this concrete. Consider a racist who chooses to be an asshole to every non-white person around them, and who also lives in a very diverse area such as Silicon Valley or NYC (and refuses to move to a very white area). They are also sexist to all the women who choose to work outside the home as well. Their voluntarily chosen behavior patterns leave them unemployable.

Why is this person deserving of free money taken from productive people of color who choose to pleasantly work for the benefit of others?

(I have of course chosen this person to be as offensive to left wing sensibilities as possible.)

In regards to your first sentence. Surely you don't believe that every person who can be employed can find work.

I do actually believe vastly more people could be working than currently are, because I used to live in India and I saw vastly higher labor utilization. There are a huge number of jobs that simply don't get done in the US.

E.g., I have a maid clean my flat twice a month, but I'd like it done twice a week (or daily, like most Indian professionals do). However, labor is simply too scarce in the US for that to be reasonable. Perhaps some of those welfare recipients who are "great to be around" can find me and help me out, should we implement the author's proposal.

However, if such a proposal only puts half the people on welfare back to work, that's still a good outcome.

[yequalsx]

Now you are being deliberately inflammatory. Clearly I indicated that one finds all types of personalities amongst poor people. I explicitly state this in my third paragraph. What then is your goal with your first sentence? It is evident you are not interested in an intellectually honest discussion. Your tactic belongs on an extremist political blog where the goal is to demonize and distort contrary opinions.

In your sixth paragraph you again deliberately distort what I wrote. It is not reasonable to believe that number of potential workers < number of available jobs at all times. Nowhere is it implied that more people can't be employed than currently are. There is a difference between more and all.

You are not rich enough to afford someone to clean for you as frequently as you like so you conclude labor is way too scarce? A solution you endorse is to force people to service your needs in exchange for welfare benefits. In essence to perform labor at substandard prices. Perhaps you should just make more money so that you can afford the market rate for the labor you want. Just get a better paying job or create more utility for society. As it currently stands the market doesn't think you provide enough value to justify compensating you enough to sustain the lifestyle you want.

Creating a system of forced labor does not make for a reasonable solution and would lead to the country being a worse place to live.

[yummyfajitas]

Clearly I indicated that one finds all types of personalities amongst poor people. I explicitly state this in my third paragraph.

I acknowledged that I misunderstood you in the very comment you replied to. I explicitly acknowledged both your belief in the existence of toxic welfare recipients (in paragraphs 2,3 and 4) and those that are "great to be around" in paragraph 8.

Apart from explicitly acknowledging and responding to your points, what else can I do to make you believe I'm not "demonize[ing] and distort[ing]" your opinions?

There is a difference between more and all.

I explicitly acknowledge and address this point in my last sentence.

You are not rich enough to afford someone to clean for you as frequently as you like so you conclude labor is way too scarce?

Scarcity is when we don't have as much of something as we want. So yes - labor is scarce.

A solution you endorse is to force people to service your needs in exchange for welfare benefits.

On the contrary, I'm proposing forcing fewer people to service the needs of others. Currently I'm forced to service welfare people's needs; but if a welfare person has a toxic personality and is unwilling to work, I'd like to end that use of force.

Also, as far as paying market rates for labor, this article (and me, in agreeing with it) is explicitly advocating that we bring wages closer to market. Again, did you read it? It proposes making information more available (by helping welfare recipients access the gig economy) and reducing subsidies that shrink the labor force (via workfare requirements).

[yequalsx]

<i>...apparently you don't believe welfare recipients are just regular people.</i>

I explicitly stated that one finds all types of people amongst welfare recipients as it is a sufficiently large set of people. The statement that I apparently don't believe welfare recipients are regular people is inflammatory. The wording you used seeks to paint me as someone who doesn't think poor people are "regular folks". (Using the colloquial definition of this phrase.)

Yes labor is scare in the strict meaning of the phrase. Labor is way too scarce? Hardly can this be concluded because you can't afford to pay people enough to do the work you want.