Re:What If There Just Aren’t Enough Jobs to Go Around?
by dsacco on Friday July 22, 2016 @12:47PM
(#12144754)
As a nitpick, it's not axiomatic that hungry and angry people commit more crimes. It could certainly be true, but it's not so self-evident that the claim requires no proof.
Also, what's the point of making a quantifiable estimation (your "90%") if you have no actual data behind it? Just say you believe something based on observation; throwing out a nice round percentage to describe your belief, even as a figure of speech, does a disservice to real attempts to quantify phenomenon in a discussion.
Re:What If There Just Aren’t Enough Jobs to Go Around?
by yummyfajitas on Friday July 22, 2016 @01:37PM
(#12145184)
It may be "axiomatic", but is it true? Personally I'd feel far safer walking through dharavi (in fact I go here semi regularly) or bhaiganwadi than Baltimore or Tijuana. Yet the latter two are vastly richer. I also passed through a slummy area in Kuala Lumpur, never felt unsafe.
Are my perceptions wrong? Do you have any evidence to support your claim?
Also, why can't vigorous policing - rather than paying tribute to violent criminals - also solve the problem?
I'd estimate at least 90% of people living under the poverty line would never choose to commit a violent crime or property crime if their survival needs were assured. Malum prohibitum crimes and regulatory infractions are another story. Having more money means you can smoke higher-quality marijuana, and usually with less police interference. Having more money means you can pay speeding and parking fines without spending any nights in the county jail.
"Poor people" are not just one big homogenous group. They have their righteous saints and their sleazy lowlifes, and everything in between, just like every other economic class. The former deserve society's help, whereas the latter can sometimes be bribed to behave better.
Welfare doesn't stop the terrorism that still happens in places that have welfare, because those terrorists aren't murderously mad about being poor. It certainly stops food riots, at least until the system collapses. The crime in the Chavez-unraveled Venezuela is quite different from terrorist activity in Europe.