Clarence Page, ubiquitous columnist for the Chicago Tribune, began his recent column on welfare reform with this interesting passage:
Ten years have passed since President Bill Clinton signed a tough welfare reform law in August 1996. I feared the worst. Ten years later, it feels good to be wrong.
Would that more commentators would simply admit error, particularly of the forecasting variety, rather than splitting hairs and parsing everything. Of course, Page goes on to call for a new government program, but at least he’s up-front about learning important lessons from the work requirements and time limits imbedded in the 1996 reform. For more on Welfare Reform, Mark II, AEI scholar Doug Besharov has a new piece out.