Ezra Klein - the Puritan work ethic

Ezra Klein has an interview with a writer whose new book is about how difficult it is to access government programs that are ideally meant to help the poor, the disabled, the sick, etc. The writer is Annie Lowrey who works at The Atlantic, and who also happens to be his wife.

As someone who has been legally deemed "disabled" since just after college and who has struggled financially ever since, I found this subject depressingly familiar.

I think the sad truth about our country is that most people, including the government ... Reoublican and Democrat ... seem to deeply believe that everyone should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, no matter what deficits they have to work with. And so even when the government does help those people, it makes sureI to punish them ... you know, to teach them a lesson and make sure they pay their pound of flesh to get that help.