from Hacker News

Stigma against benefits has made devastating poverty acceptable in Britain

by tapper on 6/28/24, 3:10 PM with 18 comments

  • by cedws on 6/29/24, 12:50 AM

    The term 'crab bucket' comes to mind. The British public have allowed themselves to be convinced they're being robbed by disabled people and immigrants. In reality, they're being robbed blind by an elite class of people who use every nook and cranny in law to hide assets and evade tax. Many of them are high up in politics.

  • by Lisdexamfeta on 6/29/24, 1:42 AM

    It is more accurate to say that failure to build out enough housing, as well as other buildings, infrastructure, and industry, has made devastating poverty acceptable in Britain. https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-every...

    Meanwhile, people like this are like: "Increase supply? haha, best I can do is subsidize demand!"

  • by pmg102 on 6/28/24, 6:57 PM

  • by sevensor on 6/28/24, 7:43 PM

    Are there no workhouses?

    To an outsider, it's remarkable how durable this attitude has been.

  • by mediumsmart on 6/29/24, 4:16 AM

    What does the government do with all the benefits money that people, avoiding stigmatization, are not collecting. Does it say in the article?

  • by imtringued on 6/29/24, 9:41 AM

    >When politicians (through speeches and policy) and the media (through reality television or stigmatizing reports) teach us to see poverty as a result of others' bad choices rather than a systemic problem, it becomes socially acceptable. In this way, poverty and poverty stigma reinforce each other.

    That is an interesting point. The people who shift the blame to the poor don't actually care why they are poor, they just need some sort of circular logic to maintain a scapegoat. If government policies make the scapegoats poorer it, is proof of their bad decisions and they deserve even more blame.