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> Part of the problem is that if you actually just do the most efficient thing, giving people money to go find housing and food (and I understand some won't be
by Maxion 3y ago
> Part of the problem is that if you actually just do the most efficient thing, giving people money to go find housing and food (and I understand some won't be able to manage that and need help) then you end up poking a hole in the idea of how our society works.
This is a cultural thing that is harder to change - but it does not result in this.
I live in Finland and the only reason someone is actually homeless here is because they refuse to take the aid that's given to them.
I can assure you, that no one who doesn't have severe mental issues WANT to live on social wellfare.
- Workaccount2 3y agoIn the US, the homeless commonly refused aid too. Mark Laita, who runs the large yt channel where he talks to the homeless, has spoken at length about this.
- mike50 3y agoBecause of policies mandating to stop using drugs, follow a specific religion or give up their possessions and live in bunks without private spaces or storage for personal items.
- Workaccount2 3y agoMark is intimately aware of those programs and the hurdles they can create, he works directly with many of them. However he has repeatedly had people who come to him begging for help, and then they do nothing to actually realize that help. Even the most basic "Be outside your motel room I bought you at 11am to get in the car I will send that will take you to the counselor I'll pay for" and then they ghost it. At the end of the day, they would in fact rather live on the street doing dope rather than live in a (paid for) motel room (or even apartment) and work a job.
- wyager 3y agoIf you try to take Finnish cultural norms around work and apply them to the entire American population, you're going to have a bad time. There are a lot of people in America who want to live on social welfare. I don't think this is something you can change intentionally without extreme and politically unviable interventions.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoI don’t know how many people that is. Understanding the quantity would be very useful for shaping policy. I do think in the US there could be much more multi-generational trauma from our cold heartless system. Honestly some people are owed a lifetime of relaxation.
- rincebrain 3y agoA lot of Americans think they want to sit around doing nothing all day, but having done that on medical leave, and observed other people, my remark is, people hate ennui. And most people can't get enough stimulation just from social media or TV, so given infinite leisure time, a lot of them are going to go stir-crazy and want to do _something_. Look at all the elderly people who are constantly craving _some_ stimulus in their lives. People think that the natural state of others if given no challenge in their lives is indolence, but having met a number of people looking for social safety nets, most of them just want the ability to get out of the pit they're in...and even the ones who think they want to just not care forever, everyone I've ever met who ended up in situations like that, had to find _something_ to stimulate themselves, sometimes including developing crippling addictions to feel _something_ for a moment.
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- Aerbil313 3y agoThanks, this is actually very insightful. Reminds me of the hamster entertainment park/heroin experiment.