Mother’s Day made me think how my mom warned me, as a young teen: “Work hard! Or you’ll freeze in the dark!”

Sometimes, the warning ended, “Or you’ll starve in the
cold.”

She grew up during the depression. She and her peers were
sensibly worried about freezing in the dark.

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The message scared me, and I worked hard in school.

When I got my first job, I always put some pay in a savings
account, even when (OK, it was long ago) I made only $132 a week. I feared a
bad future, and I wanted to make sure I could support myself.

This wasn’t all good. I’ve probably been too anxious all my
life. I missed out on things. I didn’t contribute to charities until I was in
my 40s.

But fear of “freezing in the dark” made me
persevere. I studied when I didn’t want to. Then I took a job that frightened
me.

I’m a stutterer. Stuttering is now among disabilities
covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I wonder, had the Americans with Disabilities Act been law
when I started in TV news, would I have struggled as hard to overcome my
stutter? Would I have had the career I’ve had? Probably not.

The TV station wouldn’t have hired me. Once the law passed,
my stutter makes me a member of a “protected class.” The station,
reasonably, would have viewed me as potential poison.

That’s because if they fired me because I didn’t work out, I
might sue. I could have accused them of failing to “accommodate the
disabled,” as the law requires. Even if I didn’t win, the lawsuit would be
expensive. It’s safer for employers to avoid members of “protected
classes.”

Far-fetched? Look at the stats:

Before the law passed, 59% of disabled men had jobs. After
it passed, the number fell to 48%. Today, fewer than 30% have jobs.

Once again, a law that was supposed to help people did the
opposite of what politicians intended.

I think about that when I read about today’s $600/week
federal unemployment check subsidies for the coronavirus. Added to average $378
state payments, unemployment now often pays better than working.

Incentives matter.

“We have not seen an application in weeks,” says
Steve Anthony, CEO of the Anthony Timberlands sawmill in Arkansas. He’s
offering jobs that pay $800/week. But in Arkansas, federal and state
unemployment benefits reach $1,051/week.

Anthony told my TV producer Maxim Lott, “If Congress
elects to extend this $600 unemployment bonus, it will simply support a higher
level of unemployment.”

Lott also interviewed Otis Mitchell Jr., who quit his job
transporting hospital patients once he learned about the increase in
unemployment benefits.

“My little girl is loving it,” said Mitchell,
because he has more time to spend with her.

But it’s bad for hospital patients who need transportation.

Shame on the U.S. government for making unemployment pay
better than work.

People who lose jobs because government won’t let them work
do deserve help. I’m giving more to charities because of that. Charities are
able to discriminate–to discern who really needs help while ignoring
freeloaders.

But government is a blunt instrument. Its checks go to
people whether or not they try to find work or overcome disabilities.

Over time, as people depend on handouts, they often feel
that their lives are no longer within their control. They become passive. They
don’t push through obstacles. They wait for government help.

Social scientists call this “learned
helplessness.”

It’s the struggle to overcome obstacles that that brings
fulfillment.

When government programs “take care of us,” they
kill off some of the best of life and make us much less productive. They don’t
even make people happy.

If we keep giving the state more power over our lives, we will freeze in the dark.

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