Remember back during the early Clinton years when the Left made a big push for paid family leave via a federal mandate to employers? Fortunately, that was stopped – but the idea won’t go away. Recently, two AEI scholars advanced the idea of paid family leave, but not through a mandate on employers. Their concept was to tap into Social Security. New parents could collect Social Security for twelve weeks, but to offset that, they would have to wait somewhat longer before becoming eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. Apparently, that idea has found some favor in Republican circles.
In my latest article for Forbes, I argue that this is still a bad idea.
Why? In essence, it’s Obama’s “Life of Julia” stuff with a conservative pedigree, continuing to promote the notion that the purpose of government is to provide for our needs.