Welfare in most developed countries is enough not to starve and not to become fully homeless. But in many countries, it does not go one inch beyond this. Subsisting on welfare is indeed a very uncomfortable life. But it is not literal starvation to death.
Right, because even that requires someone do work to support people on welfare.
>> Subsisting on welfare is indeed a very uncomfortable life. But it is not literal starvation to death.
It would lead to quick death if we all tried to live that way at once.
I suppose you could add “move to a country with a better social safety net” to the list. But it doesn’t change the overall point, which is that every alternative to work requires you to turn your life upside down.
Oh, yes, absolutely. But this is moving the goalpost. The question was not whether one could stop working without having to make changes to their lifestyle. The question was whether one could stop working without literally starving to death. In most developed countries, the answer is yes. No one really starves to death due to poverty in developed nations anymore.
I am not too familiar with the situation with the poverty in the US. Do people there still die from poverty-induced starvation in the 21st century?
Getting thrown in jail will get you fed without working. But most people would consider that an absurd tradeoff. So we pretend it’s not an option, moving the goalposts in order to have a more interesting discussion about how to stop working without upending your life or withdrawing from society.
The point of welfare is to make not working so unpleasant that a minimum wage job is less work to hold down.
This is true across the whole developed world, the majority of which I have lived in.
I think the question needs to be a little more nuanced than that. Here are a few resources to get you started:
https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/understand-food-i...
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/912486921/food-insecurity-in-...
https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/food-insecu...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunger_in_the_United_States
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistic...
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/11/23/hungry-at...
https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/54-million-people-america...
> more than a third of the country still lives in an area where able-bodied adults are exempt food stamp work requirements.
How many countries allow people to move there for the purpose of collecting public assistance?
