There is no way it's less costly for (deadbeats) to purchase brand-name (unnecessary) soft drinks in order to meet their caloric requirements than to simply hand out a loaf of moldy bread and some cheese. Or, for that matter, a 50 pound bag of potatoes which were on sale for $10.99 at my local farmers market recently...That will feed a lot of people for a while.
There is no ethical problem either....If you want a free handout it should be on our terms. you have no right to 'expect' Coca Cola or the ability to sell your food stamps.
Even better: If you want to eat you have to assist with the distribution of said food items free of charge. Basically: If you want to eat the soup you need to work in the kitchen, at least occasionally.
As far as I am concerned I think it is ethically preferable to provide no public services whatsoever than to continue on the way things currently are. A good percentage of food-stamps and welfare are used to purchase drugs, rims, and flat-screen TV's....How is that ethical? I get shot at to earn my money, and I would much rather spend it on my daughters education, paying off student loan debt, etc. than on someone who is too lazy to work.
I feel much more charitable to those who live a truly spartan existence and are still struggling. However my house backs up to subsidized housing and at least in my neighborhood, every trailer has a crappy car with an expensive paint job/rims and the owners are home at all times of the (work) day watching TV, drinking, throwing bottles in the yard, selling drugs, and generally being parasites.
They can go piss up a rope if they want to claim it is unethical for me to give them food rather than what equates to money.
Lastly, if I/we (via the government) are going to take my or anyone else' earned money and give it away to a third party, it is perfectly ethical to place any restrictions on it we want to...such as don't use my money to eat your way to type 2 diabetes which I will also have to pay for.
Don't like it? Great, then don't take the handout.
It is unethical and wasteful to give away what belongs to someone else. Inexcusably so when you give away more than the bare minimum they really need.
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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence
Last edited by Slims; 10-07-2010 at 08:38 PM..
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