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UNHCR already give cash directly to registered refugees: "For the individual refugee, it also empowers them by giving them the choice over how to meet their mo

UNHCR already give cash directly to registered refugees: "For the individual refugee, it also empowers them by giving them the choice over how to meet their most immediate needs. Freed from having to queue or travel to receive one-size-fits-all aid, people can buy their own food, fuel, clothes, medicine or pay the rent based on their personal priorities. In this way, refugees contribute directly to local economies and foster positive relations with host communities." http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/briefing/2016/12/5853b3ed4/unhcr-programmes-direct-cash-aid-displaced-reaches-record-430m-2016.html http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/briefing/2016/12/5853b3ed4/unhc...

FussyZeus 9y ago
It's almost like if you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling.
- mistermann 9y ago
  Thank you for saying almost, which acknowledges that this isn't always the case.
  - lazyasciiart 9y ago
    I believe that was a sarcastic addition to a sentence considered obviously true. Also seen in phrases like "it's almost like refugees are people!"
    - mistermann 9y ago
      My point probably wasn't clear but is easier to make now....one of these sentences is always true, the other is not always true (but people like to pretend it is): "Refugees are people." "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling."
  - FussyZeus 9y ago
    Well yeah but I wouldn't say the rate that occurs is so awfully different from when people earn money. And both activities stimulate the economy so... Plus I'm more addressing the ingrained idea (in the USA at least) that poor people are all addicts, druggies, alcoholics, unemployable, or terrible with money. Many addicts run the course of their addiction while holding down a job (otherwise they can't feed said addiction). At the same time, the fastest route to the streets in the US is medical costs, either by way of some kind of accident or acquiring a chronic disease or condition, or hell, even breaking a leg and not being able to work for a month. Most people, and I'd say a large majority of them, if just given money not in the form of EBT stamps or some other patronizing ass "here, we'll help you out, but here's a catalog of rules you need to follow because you're obviously incompetent" method would lead to more people getting out of poverty.
    - mistermann 9y ago
      The state of discourse in society on this topic is "not great", for the reasons you correctly point out, but what is not appreciated is the impact saying feel good things that are not true has on the thinking of those in opposing camps. "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling." is not a true statement, and I assert that saying things like this can result in people on the "other side" of the political spectrum forming the opinion that you and your side is intellectually dishonest, because in fact, it is. Feel free to say this is "irrelevant", but meanwhile politics in the West continues to become more and more polarized.
      - FussyZeus 9y ago
        > "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling." is not a true statement, and I assert that saying things like this can result in people on the "other side" of the political spectrum forming the opinion that you and your side is intellectually dishonest, because in fact, it is. I really don't believe that's a fact. There have been numerous experiments over the decades about implementing basic income, with varying degrees of success, which is the closest current thing to replacing the American social welfare systems with "just giving people money." Their results are mixed, and likely will remain so as they are extremely desperate from one another to such a degree that you can't really form a consensus.

FussyZeus 9y ago

It's almost like if you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling.

mistermann 9y ago
Thank you for saying almost, which acknowledges that this isn't always the case.
- lazyasciiart 9y ago
  I believe that was a sarcastic addition to a sentence considered obviously true. Also seen in phrases like "it's almost like refugees are people!"
  - mistermann 9y ago
    My point probably wasn't clear but is easier to make now....one of these sentences is always true, the other is not always true (but people like to pretend it is): "Refugees are people." "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling."
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  Well yeah but I wouldn't say the rate that occurs is so awfully different from when people earn money. And both activities stimulate the economy so... Plus I'm more addressing the ingrained idea (in the USA at least) that poor people are all addicts, druggies, alcoholics, unemployable, or terrible with money. Many addicts run the course of their addiction while holding down a job (otherwise they can't feed said addiction). At the same time, the fastest route to the streets in the US is medical costs, either by way of some kind of accident or acquiring a chronic disease or condition, or hell, even breaking a leg and not being able to work for a month. Most people, and I'd say a large majority of them, if just given money not in the form of EBT stamps or some other patronizing ass "here, we'll help you out, but here's a catalog of rules you need to follow because you're obviously incompetent" method would lead to more people getting out of poverty.
  - mistermann 9y ago
    The state of discourse in society on this topic is "not great", for the reasons you correctly point out, but what is not appreciated is the impact saying feel good things that are not true has on the thinking of those in opposing camps. "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling." is not a true statement, and I assert that saying things like this can result in people on the "other side" of the political spectrum forming the opinion that you and your side is intellectually dishonest, because in fact, it is. Feel free to say this is "irrelevant", but meanwhile politics in the West continues to become more and more polarized.
    - FussyZeus 9y ago
      > "If you just give people money, they'll use that money to improve their current situation without guidance or meddling." is not a true statement, and I assert that saying things like this can result in people on the "other side" of the political spectrum forming the opinion that you and your side is intellectually dishonest, because in fact, it is. I really don't believe that's a fact. There have been numerous experiments over the decades about implementing basic income, with varying degrees of success, which is the closest current thing to replacing the American social welfare systems with "just giving people money." Their results are mixed, and likely will remain so as they are extremely desperate from one another to such a degree that you can't really form a consensus.