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I live in a poor area of Southern California. I'd say the majority of the town receives state benefits. There are also stands that give away free cell phones an
by oceanghost 7y ago
I live in a poor area of Southern California. I'd say the majority of the town receives state benefits. There are also stands that give away free cell phones and service (some state program). I have no idea how it works, but its there.
- fuzz4lyfe 7y agoI have similar programs near me for all the items mentioned. I wonder if this metric actually means anything, if you did a similar survey in Europe I suspect you'd find many that can't afford private health insurance but since healthcare is often provided by the state that is meaningless as a barometer of human suffering.
- oceanghost 7y agoAnecdotally, I've seen very nice cars in areas with subsidized rent-- nicer than my working-class area. There's a saying in diplomacy that, "All aid is military." Meaning, feeding a dictator's citizens only enables him to buy weapons with money he would have otherwise spent on food. This just being an expression of the fungibility of money. However, in California, at least, the various medicals, unemployment, etc., monitor your income pretty closely. If people are subsidizing their income with these programs, it would seem to imply there's an untracked (cash) economy with which to do that. All of my income comes in as 1099* I can't hide a cent.