Removing social work is vile. Nearly half of social workers are employed by the government. Their limited "earning power" comes from the fact that the government doesn't pay them enough. Their clientele is not one that pays. So, we say "no more social workers" because they don't make enough money. This is not only disgusting from a moral perspective, but it is so short sighted and moronic from a cost perspective. Less social workers means more abused children that stay in bad homes; Children who then grow up to be maladjusted adults. It means more drug addicts who never get clean. It means more women raped, beaten, and killed. Do you think these things don't have secondary costs to society? You still end up paying the money that you would to social workers, but now you're paying it to the police and private prisons, on top of removing someone who could have been a functioning and contributing member of society. We end up paying more for worse outcomes. The only way to justify it is if you take pleasure in the cruelty of it all.