Why should my hard earned money go to those less fortunate?

[LadyForCamus]

But you don't understand, Iro. He saw some of them buying seafood.

How dare they?! If the welfare rats start eating fish, who will we have to complain about for being fat and unhealthy, and overtaxing the healthcare system?! Poor people aren't supposed to follow national health and wellness recommendations! What's next; government help with gym memberships? Disgusting... [emoji57]

[Pat Mustard]

One thing I never understood about the benefits system at least where I live and I'm assuming it's the same over the UK.

At first people on benefits got stuff purely for free because they couldn't find a job.  But surely there's always something to do.  If it's street sweeping cleaning, making the area look better in general.

Then it went in the other direction and people on benefits had to work for free as part of some scheme. It wasn't exactly free but I'm pretty sure it was way below minum wage. So again it goes back to, the government has the money that they're going to be paid anyway, there are jobs to be done.  Just pay them the wage and get them working.  Rather than have them work for near enough free which is close to slavery, or give them stuff for free which is just forcing other people to pay for their things.

It's like someone has skipped a really nice middle ground between giving things away free to people or put them into slavery.

I'm probably over looking some complication I'm not aware of here but that's been my thoughts on it when I worked with people at my old work place who had to be there for hours to earn their benefits which wasn't as much as I'm being paid.
Also my thoughts when I've known people who didn't mind being on benefits and wanted to claim more by pretending to be mentally depressed or whatever their scheme was.

What you're overlooking is since 78 the DSP (or whatever they call the department in charge of welfare these days) has been steadily transitioning from being a provider of social welfare to a provider of corporate welfare. Workfare schemes have two goals, to punish those who are currently unable to get a job, and depress wages and worker protections so that employers have it easier. Sanctions are there to force people into activities which are unsuitable in the long run (remember the history graduate a few years back who was forced to give up volunteering at museums to go stack shelves at Poundland in order to keep her £55 a week?) and keep the corporate welfare going.

[Tonus]

I'll never understand why people are okay with wasting money on drug screening for those one welfare.

Because of the assumption that SteelCurtain referred to-- that most people on some form of assistance are drug abusers.  It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the system is being defrauded by almost all of the recipients.  Most people who are receiving welfare of some kind are aware of the stigma and aren't going to let anyone know about it, so the ones that stand out are the ones gaming the system in some way.  It's not like the local news media is going to run stories on the people who use it as it was intended.  They're going to cover the ones that milk the system illegally.  And then there are the local drug addicts that people accuse of being on welfare even if they aren't, because they fit the stereotype.

There is waste and fraud and it's difficult to root it out, but the good that is done by welfare and similar programs is something that I wish could be quantified and also demonstrated with examples, so that people would understand how important they are.  There's fraud and waste in many industries that we're willing to accept because they provide useful services (auto insurance is a good example).  No one's demanding that we do away with auto insurance and telling people to "just drive better."

[Joods]

You guys are right. Why should I complain. 8 have everything I could ever imagine. I got a decent wage working a crappy job, a running truck, just got married 6 months ago and am planning to build a new house. Dam I got it good

You know, I'm not really impressed with your type of sarcasm. I have been on assistance for years now. First, as a single mom, raising a disabled child and then because of my own disabilities.

Since you don't seem to understand what real struggle is, let me help you out. My husband has two sons with his ex wife. She has majority physical custody. He pays child support to the tune of between $800-$1000 a month.
The kids are 12 and almost 15. She can get off her lazy ass and get a damn job. But she doesn't. She has a man who works full time. So to her household, you could probably add another $1500 a month. So right there, they have over $2300 a month.

Meanwhile, in order for our household to survive, my other half has to put in overtime, just so we can make the rent. Because of the amount of support he pays, given a straight 40 hour work week, based on what his hourly wage is, after taxes and support, he sees $309.00 A WEEK. Try living off that when you have to feed, house and clothe your family.

Oh, and let's not forget: his ex doesn't have to pay taxes on that support. He does. Yet he's not allowed to claim the kids on his taxes unless he wants to pay more child support.

So yes, I get an EBT card, which a whopping $194 in food each month is put on there. Clearly not enough to feed three teenagers and two adults so yes, I buy meat in bulk because I get several meals out of it. We don't buy chips or snacks. We make our own. But goddmamnit, were entitled to get a fucking chocolate bar or a package of snacks once in a while. Rob works his ass off. I am in school full time now so I can graduate sooner. I need back surgery afterwards so that I can get a job. I will be laid up trying to heal for 6 - 8 weeks.
I also get SSI. It's not much, but it pays the utilities and provides birthday and Christmas presents for the kids. I take my tip money from clients at school and buy things I want for my career so that I am prepared. We scrimp and save but even though we struggle, we make it work. And yes - we are your typical struggling, working class family on some form of assistance.

Stop lumping everyone in the same category. Not everyone is lazy or has a ton of kids with different baby daddies. We also aren't part of Any white privileged bs.

Damn.

[Cyberman]

See, the thing is that the moment you fork out your hard-earned money in any transaction, it ceases being your money and becomes the money of the recipient. You no longer have a say in how it's used.

[Joods]

So true. Rob and I can bitch all we want about the child support being way more than she needs, but we can't say shit about how she spends it.

[Cyberman]

It's like Tony Hancock in The Blood Donor, checking up every day that his pint of AB-negative has gone to "the right sort of person" and not "any old hobbledehoy".

[brewer]

If anything, we should be paying for people addicted to drugs to go to rehab so they can get their lives back on track.

People seem to forget that drug addiction is a real problem. Its not something many people can just give up.

The problem isn't that people are on welfare and spending their money on drugs, it's that they are addicted to drugs in the first place. If you take away their welfare you aren't going to stop them doing drugs, which means they'll be in an even worse financial situation. Get them off the drugs by actually helping them rather than punishing them.

Nice idea, however, rehab with out after care, support and monitoring has a poor success rate. 

Look at addiction the same as you would type 2 diabetes. An out of control diabetic gets a month of treatment in a hospital and then is turned loose. They received a lot of education during that month but once released they are on their own. Many will back slide into those old behaviors that worked for them for so long, that made them feel good, even if they know it will eventually kill them. How long until their diabetes is out of control again?

[Tiberius]

Then give them aftercare, support, and monitoring...

[abaris]

Just me venting and ranting. I'd like to hear some opinions about this.

Often heard before doesn't make a claim any more true by repetition. It's not you ranting, it's you using an orifice that isn't designed for talking. I get it, you're entirely comfortable with you tax money being flushed down the military shitter or for corporate welfare. But it's problematic if it's actually used to help people in need.