Our tax dollars hard at work

[Ughmahedhurtz]

EGALITARIAN WARNING!
DISTURBING IMAGES OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRAGEDY AHEAD!
ADULT SUPERVISION RECOMMENDED!



Would _you_ hire this person? If so, please explain your rationale.

[MiRai]

Would _you_ hire this person? If so, please explain your rationale.

Yes, if I needed someone to fill a spot for a Kleenex ad.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Got it? Got it? Got it?

I got it, the bailiff says.

[moosejaw]

My ears are bleeding and I am only half way through. /brain freeze

[lans83]

I couldn't even tell you how many people I've known like this growing up and still know to this day that are just like him and her.

[Owltoid]

If someone gives me free money then I take it. Judge Judy was full of BS on this one - his obligation to pay her rent has nothing to do with the money he receives from the government. Either he is responsible for paying her rent money or not. How he gets that money, whether from working, stealing, turning tricks, whatever, is moot.

I say this as a staunch libertarian. It's similar to Ron Paul opposing earmarks and voting against their use whenever possible, but still taking advantage of them for his constituents. Just because you oppose how the system works doesn't mean you ignore the system. Instead, you try to change the system while still making the most advantageous decisions based on the current rules in the meantime.

[dancook]

If someone gives me free money then I take it.

It's fraudulent to claim money for rent if you don't need to pay rent.

The landlord should probably be put in the loop to verify that rent is being paid.

[thefunk]

Makes good tv. Not sure about all the 'frothing at the mouth hysteria' that people have with social responsibility. Sure some people will take advantage, but even if 50% of handouts went to the wrong people, thats 50% distributed to the right people. You will never be able to ensure all government distribution goes to the right people.

The alternative is to stop all handouts. Welcome to bigotry.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Makes good tv. Not sure about all the 'frothing at the mouth hysteria' that people have with social responsibility. Sure some people will take advantage, but even if 50% of handouts went to the wrong people, thats 50% distributed to the right people. You will never be able to ensure all government distribution goes to the right people.

The alternative is to stop all handouts. Welcome to bigotry.

I see what you did there with the "frothing at the mouth hysteria" ad hominem. I expected better.

So you're thinking a 50% efficiency rate is good? Not only is that a pretty terrible level of economic efficiency generally, it's also short-sighted. We see time and time again where well-intentioned government programs to help the poor tend to not only fail to adequately support the original intent of the programs but also cause ripple effects that drag down other sectors of the economy, including countries other than the one that implemented these glorious programs. Pre- and Post-Mao China's growth rates. North Korea vs South Korea. Uganda vs Ivory Coast. The US housing industry during the price controlled WW2 period and after and (most rofl-worthy if it weren't so sad) the most recent housing bubble due to bad loans to poor folks who weren't responsible enough to make good _even with double-subsidies_. Rent-controlled housing in England and Wales post-WW2. Egypt's rent-controlled housing crisis over the latter half of the 20th century. The dilapidated state of subsidized housing in the US and France. India's standard of living increases pre- and post-government-controlled economy.

Ask any former soviet satellite nation how "social responsibility" enforced by inefficient government flunkies promoted by nepotism rather than ability worked out for their families. Ask people in the former Yugoslavia whether they appreciated the army taking their tractor from them, which by the way had been producing about 30% of the grain for their village for the last decade. Then using it to prematurely harvest grains to support the regional capital and then leaving it out to rot over the winter, resulting in both the failure of the seeds for the next season AND now a 30% grain shortage for that village for the forseeable future since nobody could buy tractors anymore without government permits.

Government inefficiency isn't just something you hear about in a drab BBC docudrama -- it's a very real problem with much wider implications than anyone wants to admit once they start to Feel Good again about helping the po' folks at the bottom with Rich Folks at the top's money.

Hell, dude, even Marx and Engels knew better than to fuck with price controls.

Oh, and as far as bigotry, I'll take the bigotry of a steadily improving standard of living for our poor through the hard work of free men and unfettered growth of a market economy with its many warts and bruises over the dehumanizing and insulting soft bigotry of low expectations any day of the week and twice on Sundays.


Frothingly Yours,
A Silly American

[edit] P.S. I don't really expect you to understand. I mean, my country was founded on your country's lack of understanding -- and active repression of -- our values and beliefs.

[Owltoid]

I'm not sure how stopping handouts is bigotry. Mind explaining?

If the money is purely classified as for rent then I agree it's fraudulent. I highly doubt it is by the letter of the law. It's probably something more along the lines of living expenses. However, maybe he is being fraudulent. Even if so that is an issue for another court and has no bearing on if he is responsible for owing rent.