ahhh honey, people lie about being sick

Oh illiterate honey that isn’t the topic of discussion

always be suspicious when someone tries to derail a conversation by talking about people taking ‘advantage’ of a social safety net. brings this to mind:

always be suspicious when someone tries to derail a conversation by talking about people taking ‘advantage’ of a social safety net

There will always be people who will take advantage of something. But they’re not a reason to destroy a whole program. They used to call this “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

I studied fraud. About 10% of people will steal even if they don’t need to. Another 10% will never steal no matter what circumstances they’re in. But the remaining 80% could go either way, depending on circumstances.

I’ve had a teacher friend use this example for his students as well. 10% will do terrible no matter what advantages they have, 10% will do well no matter what disadvantages they have, but the majority depend on their environment.

My point is, when making policy, we need to focus on what would help the majority, not on the people at either extreme.