society, benefits, benefiting and hand outs

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“When everyone looks down on you as the dregs of society, you begin to internalise it and in turn this affects how you view yourself.

Knowing you’re too ill to work is a detriment to your confidence and faith in yourself anyway, but when people give you a look of pity or disgust when you say this, you feel even more worthless.”

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Welfare benefits recipient

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“A person is a person no matter how small.”

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Dr. Seuss

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Well.

There are not many discussions that get me more steamed than the infamous “hand out culture” people and all the people who milk the system <rather than working hard>.

Let me clear.

Fraud absolutely needs to be dealt with and those who ‘game the system’ are slime <I will get back to both the ‘those’ and the ‘slime’>.

However.

Our fixation on fraud makes us overlook the fact that the vast majority of benefits go to ordinary people who genuinely need the support.

These are people who may be seriously ill or disabled, simply stuck in poverty, unable to find work or struggling to get by on low pay.

For many of them benefits is a lifeline.

Yet what the ‘hand out culture’ outrage rarely ever tells you is that benefit fraud represents just a tiny fraction of the total benefits bill <this has always been true … it is not a random occurrence>

According to several published studies <UK and USA> … suffice it to say fraud approximately accounts for $1.09 of every $155.87 spent on benefits last year <let’s call it less than 1%>.

Of course you wouldn’t think so to listen to the public discourse and the outrage throughout social media and talk shows.

And this public discourse has serious negative repercussions … research has shown that the public perception of fraud is 34 times higher than the reality.

This misdirected outrage has taken on a life of its own clouding our perceptions and obscuring a sense of fairness which most people inherently want.

Is it fair that people who are genuinely struggling to get by should receive a helping hand?

Many of us have either tapped into the ‘hand outs’ <benefits> at some point or at least known someone who has.

This doesn’t mean they don’t believe in ‘working hard’ … just that they need help.

Is it fair that people needing this help be subjected to abuse, disdain and discrimination as a result?

Clearly not.

But they are … because for some reason we are convinced everyone is gaming the system.

And if they are gaming the system they are slime.

Oh.

Let me point out the true slime.

Fraud in general is slimy <albeit I imagine many people in poverty or sliding back & forth in and out of poverty are seeking any safety net they can .. fraud or not>.

But talk about gaming the system ?? … how about the wealthy? How about the ones who are looking to “legally supplement their income to maximize … well … ‘what they deserve …”

Suffice it to say … if you have money you can game the system <benefit more> far more than someone who is close to the poverty line seeking benefits. No one seems to want to discuss this … just the incredibly small amount that actually constitutes benefit <hand out> fraud.

The bottom line is that we need to change the way we talk about benefits. We hear far too much about the small minority of those committing fraud … and very little about the millions of ordinary people who want to get by.

Instead of shaming or blaming, it seems like we should be focusing on the reasons people need help, whether that’s low wages or unemployment.

I like the fact that some of my tax dollars goes to help those who most often through no fault of their own have fallen on hard times. Taxes, to me, is the price we pay to live in a civilized society to insure we can help those who need help. But nobody likes to think of their taxes going to people gaming the system.

It attacks our sense of fair play and our sense of who deserves what and why they deserve it.

It is difficult to separate issues with regard to benefits <handouts in a negative terminology> because we’re at a time where vast numbers of the population receive some funds via state subsidy in some way or another <albeit some of these numbers get skewed in public as the ‘outraged’ use social security – $’s people earned to receive the benefits from – as well as any benefits they can get their grubby little hands on not associated with poverty to make their point>.

In addition … the system is now so complex that half the time you don’t know whether someone is gaming the system or are they actually missing out on something they may well deserve.

The unfortunate truth is that this also includes the wealthy.

No one talks abut it but the wealthy possibly receive more handouts, and benefits, than the poor … and do so in disproportionate amounts <these are the true slime>.

Look.

I am not on benefits … but I imagine receiving benefits is not fun for the majority.

It means you’re poor.

I imagine there can be a sense of uselessness and despair <and fear of where the next dollar will come from> … all combined with either staying at home or out job hunting when possible while everyone else goes to work which cannot be great for self esteem.

So being on benefits is not very nice.

It sure would be nice if everyone remembered this … and the realities that the majority of people face <working hard doesn’t mean always getting rich or even ‘comfortable’ in wealth>.

It all comes down to the kind of society we want to live in not ‘big government’ or ‘small government’.

Whatever our political sympathies, most of us believe in fairness, and that’s precisely why benefit fraud triggers such emotion.

Few want a society where people benefit from deceit. At the same time, it’s only right we have a safety net in place for those who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet.

We need to remember … .69% <the $1.09 of $155.87>.

Not even 1% fraud.

Let’s say 99% of the people using benefits are truly struggling.

Even if I am off +/- 10% … c’mon … what’s the bitch about benefits?

I am not a huge Bernie Sanders fan but he does seem to channel his inner Dr. Seuss on occasion … people are people … no matter how small their income.

Let’s talk about real issues and quit babbling about a ‘hand out culture’ and people not wanting to work and  making those who are truly struggling feel more shitty than they already do.