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I think its more complicated. For example, lets say you file for unemployment in Colorado. It can take 4-6 weeks for your claim to be accepted, but you must sta

I think its more complicated. For example, lets say you file for unemployment in Colorado. It can take 4-6 weeks for your claim to be accepted, but you must start (by their rules) looking for work as soon as you open your claim. So imagine, you are living paycheck to paycheck when you had a job, and falling through the cracks now that you don't. You start applying for jobs as soon as you file your claim, but need to buy clothes for interviews, money to drive to interviews, etc - but that money is not coming for another 6 weeks in worst case scenario. And there are already bills like rent, phone, car insurance, maybe a credit card to be paid. There are all these little gotchas - when there are no margins in your life - where a crack opens a little here, or there, and you fall through, and without help just becomes all the more harder to pull yourself up.

mynameishere 8y ago
Seems to me that someone who can't survive for six weeks by one mechanism or another--whether by savings, or family and friends, or credit, or charity, or existing government programs, or short term work--is doomed anyway. At some point, people have to be dealt the consequences of their actions. At some point. You can't just spell out a scenario where someone is completely irresponsible and say, "Well, because of this guy we need even more safety nets--the existing two dozen are insufficient."
- jonao 8y ago
  That is a completely unrealistic model that would be inadmissible when talking about most other things. I am not even sure it worth responding on a technical level if you can't see that yourself. Just compare this to any sort of statistical model whether it is in manufacturing, engineering or 'plain' mathematics. What is curious is that people who tend to view the US government as incompetent, which I think many people can agree with whether their opinion on the governments role, suddenly when talking about poverty seems to think that it is a role model for efficiency. Not even the Nordic model takes this stance.

mynameishere 8y ago

Seems to me that someone who can't survive for six weeks by one mechanism or another--whether by savings, or family and friends, or credit, or charity, or existing government programs, or short term work--is doomed anyway. At some point, people have to be dealt the consequences of their actions. At some point. You can't just spell out a scenario where someone is completely irresponsible and say, "Well, because of this guy we need even more safety nets--the existing two dozen are insufficient."

jonao 8y ago
That is a completely unrealistic model that would be inadmissible when talking about most other things. I am not even sure it worth responding on a technical level if you can't see that yourself. Just compare this to any sort of statistical model whether it is in manufacturing, engineering or 'plain' mathematics. What is curious is that people who tend to view the US government as incompetent, which I think many people can agree with whether their opinion on the governments role, suddenly when talking about poverty seems to think that it is a role model for efficiency. Not even the Nordic model takes this stance.