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I feel torn by this. I think that as a Christmas present there is no problem taking a family vacation, even on welfare. But, a week vacation to Disney? I'm a single mother, not on welfare, and have to make future decisions based on a limited income. I live within my means. I drive an old car and limit my expenses by buying second hand and couponing and various other things that allow me to stay debt free. I must say that I sometimes resent seeing people who bring there kids to school in brand new cars, yet are on free and reduced lunch. Bailouts to people who overspend and overextend bother me just like bank bailouts. I sometimes wonder where is my bonus for being responsible? It is disheartening to keep plugging away and yet get only the satifaction that I am doing the moral thing.
Is it unethical for a Congressperson to take his or her family to Disney for a week? How about the clerk who works down at the city Sewer & Water Department? How about the stock broker whose income is principally earned by convincing investors to run up huge transactions fees? How about the grocery store checkout girl whose pay is made possible only by forcing the rest of us to pay HIGHER PRICES for food?
My wife's sister and her husband are both unemployed and have been for almost a year. They are both collecting unemployment benefits and are on the federal extension paid by the Federal Government (taxpayers). They are also getting food stamps.
At Christmas all they could talk about was their upcoming vacation to Disneyworld. They had saved some money and would be using it to fly down to Orlando, spend a week there, and visit many of the theme parks.
Trouble is there only income is the unemployment insurance and the food stamps, so basically us taxpayers are paying for their vacation. Is it unethical for them to spend our taxpayers money to go on a vacation Florida?
I would think since they are on federal funds, especially an extension....it might even be fraud. I know w/ food stamps you are required to report your income, savings, checking acct balance etc. monthly. They are evidently not reporting something. So, yes, imo fraud of some kind legally, and certainly morally. And somewhere a child is going hungry, because his mom makes 20.00 bucks a mth too much to qualify for food stamps.
From 2010, but still relevant. The entitlement mindset is pervasive, in that people on the dole still feel entitled to "what everyone else has" - entertainment and pleasure - even though most people who are still working can't afford cruises, trips to Vegas, or Disney World.
To the poster who protests the store clerk's employment forcing them to pay higher prices for food, there's a simple solution - grow your own food. Oh, that would take too much time and work? Well, that's what you are paying for - someone else to do the work that you choose not to do. It is one thing to pay "higher prices" for the things that you demand from others - it is another entirely to plead poverty and then indulge in entertainment that someone else is paying for. If that store clerk is working 12 hours a day to provide for her family and pay her bills, it's a pretty good bet that she can't afford to take them to Disney World. Yet the taxes she pays, pay for someone who isn't working to go to Disney World? In what reality is that fair? Maybe all the store clerks should just quit work, go on the dole, and take whatever they can get from the government and taxpayers. After all, they deserve a break, too.
What I find appalling is that several posters on this board seem to think that claiming poverty and an inability to pay bills, thereby stealing money out of the pockets of working people, and using it for entertainment that those working people cannot afford, is fair, reasonable, and even helpful to the economy. If you feel that way, hmmm... I need to go spend two weeks in Hawai'i this summer. Send me your paycheck - you obviously need it less than I! - so I can help the economy.
Fly to Disney, food, hotel all on unemployment payments? That's BS. Something else is going on either they are collecting and working on the side or they have no mortgage or rent, car payments, utility bills, insurance premiums etc....cell phone...........cable........................There is more to this story than what the op is telling us. Unemployment payments is chicken feed.
Fly to Disney, food, hotel all on unemployment payments? That's BS. Something else is going on either they are collecting and working on the side or they have no mortgage or rent, car payments, utility bills, insurance premiums etc....cell phone...........cable........................There is more to this story than what the op is telling us. Unemployment payments is chicken feed.
Good point raised. When my husband and I were on unemployment, we racked up a few thousand on our credit card just to put food on the table. The unemployment check was only 2/3 of regular pay, and if it wasn't enough for us to buy groceries with, then it certainly was not enough for a trip to Disneyland. Perhaps this couple has relatives helping them financially? If so, more power to them.
According to our greedsters ANYTHING done to preserve executive privlege is ethical. Our elite must never suffer but the poor must be incentivised by starvation if needed to succumb to the desires of any employer.
Everyone must work for their financial overlords, Everyone!
It's already been noted here that the present model of unemployment insurance is not supposed to be a punitive measure but an attempt to backfill the coffers of business with fed dollars that normally would have been in circulation had the recipients been fully employed. I have seen this same thread in different forms here on C/D, proof that some of our countrymen want a kind of punishing poverty to visit those who are on unemployment. It's just the nature of some to think that a helping hand should be followed by a threatening fist...American's are being propagandized into a stupor of ignorance, the upper class who really gets the most of our government's welfare money through generous tax breaks, business subsidy grants, free employee training through the state comm college systems, etc, are seldom sought out for scrutiny, why? Because the radio shouters are being paid to deflect the view from the real scoundrels to those less fortunate souls with a federal pittance in their pockets...
Since the poor economy is not their fault, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to enjoy themselves some in spite of their employment situation. If they haven't already found a job locally, would the week or whatever they're away make any actual difference? I'm doubtful it would. Simply put, there are not enough jobs to go around to begin with. I'm of the opinion there's more to life in this world than working, production and money (which is only paper and ink, but that's another topic). Life is fairly short and unpredictable, so, I see no reason to sit around being miserable because of a situation caused by other people. I rarely look at Europe for an example, but in many countries there people have quite long vacations, and I see that as a good thing. America is too caught up in constant work.
Maybe they could take the money being spent on this vacation and the time being spent away to actually LOOK FOR JOBS. That way they could be able to pay their own way to Disney and NOT purchase their food with food stamps. As far as the unemployment benefits if they worked they did earn those. In my opinion though, pretty tacky to take such an expensive trip while collecting government food stamp benefits.
No, it wasn't relevant in 2010, and it's not relevant now either. It's an example of complete-waste-of-time journalism that creates a "shocking exposé" out of raw numbers instead of trying to establish some sort of actual context for them which is what a real journalist would have done. Guess that would have been too much work for this gal at the time, so she just went with the sensationalized and superficial bash-the-poor cheapshot approach instead.
Do you know what Las Vegas, Florida, and Hawaii all are in addition to being popular tourist destinations? I'll tell you. They are popular retirement destinations, meaning that there are a lot of elderly people living there. What portion of this $69 million out of $11,000 million (or five-eighths of one percent) that was spent out-of-state was spent while the recipient was attending the out-of-state funeral of a parent? And what about border towns? If you live in Lake Tahoe CA, there are supermarkets just down the road, but they are in Lake Tahoe NV. Was such border town spending counted? We don't know because the reporter either didn't know or didn't tell us. Low marks either way. And cruise ships? The total spent on those over a three and a half-year period was $16,010. That's an average of $381 per month. How many people IS that? And how many of them paid for their own fares? The story again doesn't tell us because the reporter didn't think it was necessary to spend any time finding out. Maybe she was on deadline or something. So she just lumped cruise ships right in there with the $69 million and let you assume whatever wrong things from it that you might.
The OP asked (using a highly questionable example) whether it is ethical for those who receive assistance to go on vacation. A better question might have been whether it is ethical for people to write deliberately falsified, sensationalized, misleading, and distorted stories about those who receive assistance.
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