Is President Frank Underwood, fictitious character played by Kevin Spacey in the hit Netflix series House of Cards, an innovator offering a path out of our economic status quo and ongoing political stalemate? In this third season’s release one of the dominant plot lines (SPOILER ALERT) is his administration’s development of the government program America Works, or AmWorks, for full employment.
America Works is not your grandfather’s Works Projects Administration, or WPA (renamed from the Work Progress Administration in 1939) that made jobs and work for Americans during the great depression of the 1930’s and 1940’s. President Underwood’s program goes beyond liberal ideas to those that his party would reject wholeheartedly. In Frank’s undetailed program AmWorks would reduce entitlements, including Social Security and welfare, and focus on putting Americans into full time work through government jobs in infrastructure repair and in the military. It would offer up to $45,000 to the private sector to support the salaries of the newly employed. The program would cost $500 billion and employ 10 million unemployed.
What is implied, and what is innovation in the public sector, is that the money would come from reductions in dependency creating programs – social security, disability and welfare (no offense aimed at the beneficiaries of these programs) – and go to creating productive, tax-paying, wealth-creating members of society. Instead of giving citizens a fish, AmWorks teaches citizens to fish through jobs and employment.
Consolidating money from other programs and putting the savings to more productive use to grow the economy is innovative in government, especially from a Democratic administration. Policy recommendations from Republicans and right leaning think tanks (e.g. The Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute or American Enterprise Institute) regularly recommend the elimination of duplicate government programs into centralized transfer payments (e.g. vouchers, block grants) to individuals or groups removing the government bureaucratic surcharge. How much does government pay to support the unemployed? Taking unemployment compensation, Social Security disability payments, food stamps, housing assistance and other support payments and that likely adds up to at least $45,000 per person per year. Add a layer of administrative cost for case workers and systems in the separate government agencies and you are talking about real money that could help pay the salaries of AmWorkers. Frank is on to something here.
A similar policy, and probable father of AmWorks, is the Universal Credit welfare benefit “launched in the United Kingdom in 2013 to replace six means-tested benefits and tax credits: Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support.” Universal Credit consolidates payments from the six programs into one monthly automated payment that is easier and less costly to administer. The program tapers benefits over time with employment and wage growth giving incentive, and a gentle push, to greater employment.
I believe a better idea is to lower taxes to promote private sector innovation and growth so the gentle hand of the market guides employment, not the hard fist of government. I agree that consolidation and elimination of duplicate government programs that target similar populations is a good idea to increase efficiency, affordability and accountability. Government jobs programs always cost more and are very often subject to waste, fraud and abuse. Remember the high cost and fiction of “shovel ready” jobs of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act todayof 2009?
AmWorks is not new thinking, and not under serious consideration in public policy circles. It is a plot line in a popular internet streaming series featuring a ruthless politician. House of Cards is great TV. Maybe AmWorks, or a more thoughtful version, would make good public policy. We need a leader like Frank Underwood to get it done.
John Joaquin 