| The Ghost of RubangB said: I don't even care about shrinking the Gini coefficient. I just want taxes to be high enough to pay for a safety net so I don't have to see my neighbors starve to death. It's disgusting. In cold cities like New York they actually freeze to death overnight, and if you're unlucky enough to be walking home at 4 or 5 in the morning you actually have to step over frozen dead humans. I really don't care about the gap between the rich and the poor on its own. As long as the poor can eat and not die, the rich can get as rich as they want and blow all their money on their stupid $100 cheeseburgers and $1000 pizzas and food with little bits of tasteless gold sprinkles in it. |
As sad as it is... saftey nets aren't going to stop that sort of thing... they're barely going to put a dent in it.
The majority of people in need don't take advantage of what's there, even in countries with more saftey nets.
I think it's because of the nature of "Saftey nets" in that they are just that, a net where someone catches you. Most people that low are too prideful to get the help they need.
I mean, you see those kind of homeless people on the street all the time, or at least I do. The ones that try and sell you stuff, and when you give them money for free, they feel bad... they almost give it back, sometimes they try to and you have to convince them that it's ok.
A lot of people don't want a handout, they want to work for their living, or die trying unless you activly seek out and almost force them to go to a shelter or give them money.
A lot of other people are just ignorant of the options out there... afterall there is no "Citizens guidebook" you get nobody tells you where foodbanks are, how you apply for foodstamps, if you qualify, where to apply for energy vouchers... (which generally will pay for heating costs if you have a house or apartment)... where shelters are... etc.
Money isn't the problem the majority of the time. It's education of programs and locations.
