On the recordJuly 19, 2000
In many respects what we have done since 1994 was to reverse sort of the unwritten rule of Washington, which had become almost an epidemic; and the unwritten rule was that no good deed goes unpunished. If families stayed together, as the gentleman said, they got punished. If people worked, they got punished. If they invested, they got punished. If they saved, they got punished. If they created jobs, they got punished. If one thinks about that, that was a perverse incentive. It should be no surprise that the welfare system particularly was destroying the work ethic, was destroying families, was encouraging dads to leave the household. It was the most perverse thing. The good news is we have begun to reverse those perverse incentives. As a result, I think we are not only going to save, quote, money we are going to save families; we are going to save children from one more generation of dependency and despair.
Source
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