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There are many places one can disagree with you on empirics. The most notable is here:
The marginal alternate use case for the resources is investment in future production, not yachts. The question whether resources should be devoted to providing an x-box for poor people or to building electric cars/installing heat pumps/building homes/etc.
Moreover, this argument just sort of assumes resources are available and their quantity isn't affected by our choices. But in reality, the poor people are both consumers of utility and producers of it. The actual choice we need to make is between:
A person refusing to work, being given resources anyway, and a marginal house is not inhabitable because no one is available to install drywall.
A person installing drywall in return for a similar quantity of resources, but now we have an extra house that someone can live in.
It is far from clear that (2) is worse than (1).
This is interesting. Possibly we should more widely publicize exactly what it means to live in poverty in the US? I.e. make sure everyone knows that "poverty" by US standards means lots of leisure time (most poor people don't work and aren't in the labor force), no danger of hunger, free medical care, a bigger house than the average Parisian or Londoner, 1-2 cars, etc.
From what I can tell, the only thing that's particularly bad about being poor in the US is that you spend time around other poor people.
Of course, knowing these facts does take a lot of wind out of the sails of the typical leftist who wants moar wealth transfers.
Sure, I admit that a certain segment of the population may drop out of the workforce in a strong welfare state scenario, and that that has negative effects on everyone else. The question is whether it's worth threatening people with poverty to get them to drywall houses for less money.
I don't think you've talked to many poor people about their situations. A lot of poor people do work and are still poor, they can easily end up with huge bills for seeking medical care so they avoid it as much as possible, and not even wealthy people can afford a house in Paris or London! But yes, "poverty isn't actually that bad" is a coherent response to my argument, I just think it's blatantly inaccurate.
Yes, and this is entirely a quantitative question. You just sort of assume it away and don't engage with it.
What percentage of poor people do you believe work full time (or look for full time work) 50-52 weeks/year and are still poor?
Who cares? The medical care they avoid wouldn't make them healthier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Medicaid_health_experiment
Ok. Why do you think poverty is bad?
What specific goods or services do you believe poor Americans lack? And in what proportions? E.g. "25% of poor Americans lack a car" or "15% of poor Americans have less living space than the average computer programmer working for google."
See, what I'm giving you are just standard conservative talking points. Heritage and similar economically minded right wing outfits have been blogspamming BLS and Census stats about how good American poor people have it for decades. Romney repeated these talking points on his presidential campaign, and Newt Gingrich (maybe before your time) also did. Paul Krugman (the economist, not the angry guy in the NYT) did too, and he was talking about the 1980's.
Why not include and address the decades old standard argument under your "obvious objections"?
I don't know the percentage, but a lot of people work for Walmart or fast food or as a janitor/cleaner or as a day laborer or any number of poorly paying jobs where you are on the edge of subsistence, even working full time.
The number one problem is insecurity -- having to constantly worry about stuff other people take for granted. Another problem is stigma/low social status. And obviously it's bad not being able to get all the shit that you need to live comfortably.
Decent housing
Mental health care
Dental care
Transportation (can't afford to maintain a vehicle)
Utilities (can't afford electricity/heat/water/air conditioning)
Phones/internet
Tampons, personal hygiene products in general
Let me suggest that if you want to make a utilitarian case for something, not knowing even the most basic numbers regarding things you are concerned about kind of undermines your seriousness.
In any case, I do know the percentage. It's 11%.
Do you believe their "insecurity" is a rational or irrational response to subsisting mostly on wealth transfers? How do you expect more wealth transfers to fix this?
The low status of the poor comes from their poor behavior (refusing to work, having children out of wedlock, doing drugs, etc). How do you expect more wealth transfers to fix this?
As for the specific goods and services you imagine the poor need, I'm guessing you don't know the percentage. I'm not going to cite numbers because I don't know how you define "decent" housing, but you can easily educate yourself: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs.html
Anyway, consider the possibility that conservatives don't support your purported utilitarian proposals because they have an accurate picture of what poverty is actually like, and are not just basing their theories off journalistic narratives that have been false since the 80's.
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It is extremely rare to have a full-time job and still be in poverty. The fable of an idle rich is a powerful tale, but at least in 21st century America, upper-class people work more than middle-class people who work more than lower-class people.
Like above, "people defer basic care until it gets more expensive" is an appealing story, and it is easy to imagine it being true. But aside from very specific exceptions, there is no measurable difference in health care outcomes from being given health care.
https://qz.com/574693/americans-working-less-than-ever-before/ From 2016 but shows that the lowest income quartile works less than 30 hours a week and the highest three all more than 40.
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