Some encourage people not to work. “You don’t need to work. You can get money directly from welfare. Food stamps provide everything you need to eat. Other stamps will get you cigarettes. Health insurance is free. So is heating assistance. Really, you don’t need to work.”
Working, like praying, has long been held to be good for us. We are better off working than doing nothing. There are some people who are able to spend their waking hours in prayer. We may not think of that as “work”, but we who do work are all far, far better off because of them.
Unfortunately, most people whom welfare has freed from working pray for little more than getting more from their neighbors without working.
They are dependent on the government. What caused this? Automation. Modern technology lets two people produce food for a hundred. Automated production and mining lets a handful of people provide for the needs of all their neighbors. By controlling automation, government controls income flow. Governments grow powerful. Automation lets us see the difference between greed and gluttony when it comes to seeking power.
You would think that automation would set people free. It doesn’t. It turns them into wards of the state. They no longer vote for what’s best, but for who promises to give them more. Governments promise more, and gain power. Soon, the poor are virtually enslaved.
At the same time, those who own the increasingly automated production systems grow richer than ever. The vast, continual transfers of money to them soak up most of what’s being printed.
Rich people generally don’t complain. They know that they need to be friends with the government to keep on getting piling up mountains of cash. Automation lets us see the difference between greed and gluttony.
