𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃𝐌𝐀𝐍, 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟖, 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏: 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐍, 𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐅𝐅

Nearly 60 years later, the trap he described is still the design. - M.A. Rothman@MichaelARothman

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘩𝘺? 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧 — Milton Friedman, 1968.  

𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 — so the rational move is to not climb at all...

His fix was a gradual phase-out — let someone earn an extra $100 or $200 and come out ahead instead of falling off a cliff. 

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐱. 
• 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝.