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Comment by SmokeyHamster | Hacker News Reader

If you define it as someone getting something while not working vs others getting nothing while working, yes, thank you NPR. That's how unemployment benefits work. That's why government handouts are damaging, especially in the long term. They inherently incentivize not working and punish those who do work.

More importantly, government rarely does anything efficiently. I'm gainfully employed and don't need any "help" from the government, yet I received a debit card from the IRS containing my "relief" money. As much as I appreciate the government giving me back my tax dollars, why did I receive this and not someone who's recently unemployed?

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> They inherently incentivize not working and punish those who do work.

That's only true if its more financially lucrative to not work than to work. This of course is a real phenomenon at the bottom (Welfare Trap) and needs to be fixed, but the solution isn't to eliminate the safety net.

> As much as I appreciate the government giving me back my tax dollars, why did I receive this and not someone who's recently unemployed?

In part because it's intended in part to stimulate the economy, and in part because it was needed without delay; vetting need would've taken months.

Donate it to a charity, go buy Stuff from the local economy, not amazon. Support small time business, buy gift cards to use later.

Lots of useful ways they could prop up the economy.

> They inherently incentivize not working and punish those who do work.

Do you have any evidence of this claim?

If someone is not working for McDonald’s but is a productive member of society, does it matter that they are incentivized to not work?

This idea that people who aren’t incentivized to work are lazy and don’t add any value to society highlights how you view people and humanity.

What would you do if you were paid to not work?

> What would you do if you were paid to not work?

I would probably play video games and read books all day and spend more time hanging out with friends. Would probably be drunk/high a lot more often.

It's obvious. I can't speak for America, but in the UK, one of the biggest problems is the financial cliff people face when trying to get off benefits, as being unemployed will pay you more than any entry level job (you can get social housing too). It's kept people trapped within the system for decades and nobody likes to talk about it.

There isn't enough money left to house the current homeless population too, so really, we need to get those people back into working life so that we can deal with the homeless crisis.

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