- Capitalism and Alternatives -

How would you deal with freeloading?

Posted by: Gee ( si ) on April 28, 1999 at 13:39:52:

The politicaly incorrect 'mustnt talk about' subject of freeloaders.

In every western country people know of examples of individuals and families who use the social security/welfare system to support them indefinately. I do not mean people who fall into the safety net and muster all their resource to get out of it and become self supporting as quickly as possible. I dont believe some claims that almost all recipients of benefit are vile leeches - but such people do exist and they do drain your resources. To deny it is to deny reality. Most people on this forum seem to be from Britain, so here is a British example

I mean people who choose to be dependant upon state handouts, who abuse the safety net by treating it as a permament home. Whose abuse is reinforced by the state (the message "you really oughta get a job, here is this weeks benefit payment" - sends about as contradictory message as you can get).

Ham fisted attempts to deal with this (eg welfare to work plans) end up penalizing some innocents whilst letting the guilty off the hook with the endless loopholes and delays possible.

We know how mixed economies deal with it, they spend tax money trying to save tax money and might end up with a net saving now and then, but it scratches the surface. We know how a stateless or minarchist libertarian society would deal with it - private charities can pick who to help and the consequence of not working toward self interest will become apparent to people attempting freeloading. We know how state socialism deals with it, like a mixed economy but (apparent in USSR) by forcing people into work by climing ownership of them.

how will direct democratic stateless socialists deal with it?


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