Quote Originally Posted by Alan View Post
That's true, my brother-in-law buys EBT card balances for <50 cents on the dollar or sometimes with just a case of beer. He's then able to use the majority of his $1600 per month disability benefit (for back pain that doesn't exist) for heroin.

Our welfare state enables a thriving black market economy.
When my brother asks me for money, I always have to weigh whether he will be using it for food or alcohol. I will sometimes give him the benefit of the doubt, and he'll use it to get drunk. But then there are the times that he uses it to get help. It's like playing roulette.

He's definitely been a part of that black market economy, but he would dead otherwise. He doesn't have the mental bootstraps to pull himself out of his financial situation. So, maybe he'd be better off dead, so he could help decrease the surplus population.