Posted by bad_luck on 2/6/2015 3:41:00 PM (view original):
Posted by burnsy483 on 2/6/2015 3:36:00 PM (view original):
Posted by MikeT23 on 2/6/2015 3:29:00 PM (view original):
I fail to understand your point. Smoking seems to be your focal point whereas, IMO, going to the movies, owning a pet, buying expensive sneakers, eating junk food, etc, etc are just as poor in the financial decision department.
So shouldn't you be able to afford movies, pets, sneakers, junk food without taxpayer money if you want those things?
If you want me to break down every scenario, fine. The overall point is that people who live on the government's money don't have the right, in my opinion, to do whatever they want with it. Welfare is supposed to be temporary.
Smoking - you have to show you're making an attempt at quitting. You need to be using nicotine gum or patches (can be provided by government) if you can't quit on your own.
Going to the movies - You can have some sort of a life. If you go to a movie every so often, ok. You're allowed to enjoy that. If you go to 4 movies a week, we have an issue.
Buying expensive sneakers - See previous comment on purchasing clothing.
Eating junk food - What did you eat, when? Are you buying 38 snickers bars a week, on top of 3 meals a day? A few every week isn't a big deal, it's a cheap food.
Owning a pet - Did you own the pet beforehand? Ok. You're getting a pet now? No, you need to give it back.
How do you see the logistics of this working out? How do we test them? Who pays for the testing? Is testing even possible considering the fact that nicotine gum is OK but cigarettes aren't?
And to what end would we be doing this? It certainly won't save us money. It probably won't stop people from smoking.
And that's before we get into the discussion of what kind of strings we have the right to attach to welfare. And to what types of welfare. Does this apply to unemployment? Food stamps? Section 8 housing?
I've said that we should invest money into this so that less people are on welfare and more people are getting their lives together and contributing to society.
You have to force people to show receipts for purchases they've made, etc. You need to see your "life adviser" every month to go over your finances and what steps you've taken to try to get out of the ****** situation you're in.
The cigarettes deal is a little tricky, I don't really see how it works out. Can we drug test for the chemicals aside from nicotine that cigarettes put in your body? Or test for gum or patches? It's a fair question, I'm not sure of the logistics. But if there are "missing receipts" for purchases month after month, it throws up red flags.