>The thesis behind these programs is explicitly that the government shouldn’t waste timing being paternalistic about the recipient’s spending, l
When government is getting that money by taking it from other people it has responsibility to see that the money is spent in a manner that's beneficial. If that's blackjack and hookers then fine but if it turns out that the money is spend on blackjack and hookers and doing so doesn't benefit society then we can't in good faith keep taking people's money for that use.
I'm all for outcome based evaluation, but we need to have the balls to say "ok, well no blackjack and hookers then" if that's what the numbers support.
When government is getting that money by taking it from other people it has responsibility to see that the money is spent in a manner that's beneficial. If that's blackjack and hookers then fine but if it turns out that the money is spend on blackjack and hookers and doing so doesn't benefit society then we can't in good faith keep taking people's money for that use.
I'm all for outcome based evaluation, but we need to have the balls to say "ok, well no blackjack and hookers then" if that's what the numbers support.