CES wrote:
I'm going off on people who are making middle class and higher incomes who cheat in order to get benefits. There are a lot of them. Most people who get benefits aren't doing that, but the ones that do are scum.
That's where we need evidence, and that's where I think a media beat-up can turn a mountain into a molehill.
The people doing it are plain in the wrong, and need penalties, for sure. But I doubt it is occurring at a level causing major economic problems.
More of a problem is the generations of people, in most western countries, who have become apathetic consumers of social security benefits. Any cheating they do is at a very low level. The concern is not that they are horrible, lazy people, but that they are usually very depressed and have real medical problems. The solution is to make employment and job training an absolute priority...