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So let me get this straight... no social saftey net whatsoever. People should fend for themselves or die trying?
I agree with Brian that inevitably the worst examples are trotted out when welfare is brought up. There are many more examples of people who do need assistance. One of the main ones is housing. In many places there is a sorry lack of affordable houseing. It is easy to say, just move somewhere cheaper... Cheaper isn't always available and it isn't always close to employment (i.e. sure housing is cheaper 100 miles from the city but then you are 100 miles from your job with no public transit). I see no problem with geared to income houseing and have benefitted from it when I was kid --my single, hard-working mother applied for and got into a coop with some units that were geared to income - it gave us a very good leg up. I have since lived in two apartments that had this sort of arrangement (only I was paying market rate rather than geared to income).
Housing that is affordable and in the right place is often *very* hard to find.
I grew up in a very poor area and I saw both the good and the bad elements of government assistance. I saw hard-working people who just needed that little extra to be able to live with dignity and I saw people who abused the system and stayed at home laying on the couch smoking pot.
I don't what the answer is. I just know that scapping the whole system is not the answer. There are people who have need of assistance and I would rather help them and risk having a few layabouts who abuse the system than the alternative.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
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