Sounds like Argentina has a good thing going (from Atlantic Cities online): "Another installment of: Literary Laws that Will Never Exist in the United States. This week we turn to Buenos Aires, Argentina, home of the late Jorge Luis Borges, where aging novelists, poets and playwrights are eligible to receive government pensions. The New York Times reported Sunday that the recently-established program is now distributing pensions of up to $900 a month to over 80 writers. One of those recipients, Alberto Laiesca, told Romero that “the program is magnificent, delivering some dignity to those of us who have toiled our entire life for literature.” The requirements for the pension are strict, according to the Times and the Argentine news blog Occidentes: 15 years residence in the Argentine capital, a continuing commitment to the arts, and the publication of five works of literature, poetry, essays or theater, barring some other extended engagement with literature." full story here: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/08/retirement-day-poets-pension-buenos-aires/2935/