It’s good that you are getting support. I do think your jokes here are a bit in bad taste though. It isn’t likely to make anyone feel good about supporting others, or about being supported.
We had almost full automation for 60 years in factories, where did that money go? There are leeches in society, but OP is not among the relevant ones.
Two wrongs don’t make it right. The fact that rich people are often leeches does not change the fact that poor people can also be leeches.
i think anyone should be allowed to choose whether they want to work, and if they choose not to, they should at a minimum be provided housing, food, running potable water and clothing.
On what basis? Are you asking me to support financially someone fully capable of working? Fuck that, I have my own children to support. If he can work, he should work.
Unless you are talking about universal basic income - but this is completely different idea to benefits and should be paid instead of all the other state payouts, including state pension. I am not opposed to that, that’s just basic wealth sharing.
I was happy to pay my taxes before I needed it, and I’ll be happy to pay my taxes after I need it. This is temporary, and it’s important that people get the help they need when they need it.
Problem is that the cost vastly surpasses the taxes you paid and will pay. And since the really rich always have the means to weasle out of the system, the middle class is bleeding until it can’t any more. Countries like Germany are squished by the cost of their welfare system.
Pretty big assumption here that they won’t pay more taxes than what they get from the government. I paid $20k in tax in the first year of my first non-retail job. If they paid taxes for 7-8 years before covid they probably already paid for themselves.
Your calculation would make sense - if all of your taxes went into the welfare system. In Germany the contribution rate is only 2.6% though (paid on top of your taxes) and with that your whole career might not be enough to pay for a single year of unemployment.
Also, the payment that arrives on your account hardly is the whole cost. There are up to whole ministries of government to pay for with thousands of tax-paid employees. Every pay-as-you-go system only works if the vast majority pays and only a few get paid.
the funds sholdn’t come from the working class, but instead the rich. increase taxes on the highest earners to fund welfare.
I think for this to work you need an agreement between wealthy countries to all apply this kind of tax. This would be an attempt to stop all the accounts from just living offshore.
Not sure if the EU can apply this as a bloc style rule. I doubt the US powers that be would want to, and then other large powers I’d argue have even more questionable ruling classes anyway, but I’m open to being wrong on that last statement.
I could be wrong on my first statement too. I haven’t thought it out that much.
