# If I'm able bodied but refuse to work who or what will clothe, feed and house me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701 "2006-04-14T20:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701/41 "2006-04-17T01:08:18Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > No one who works for thier own daily susistenance! > Why would you expect anyone clothe, house and feed a lazy trifling lout? :rolleyes: > Society should let you starve but may not choose to do so due to a misguided sense of responsibility for your own irresponsible condition. _Shrug_ I guess you could count me in with those who are misguided. I don’t think anyone should starve, regardless of how lazy or worthless they are. We live in one of the richest countries in the world and I find the notion that _anyone_ would starve to death reprehinsible. Realistically, though, it’s nearly impossible to starve to death in this country unless you want to do so. The trash cans outside resturants and grocery stores brim with food. (In the store I worked, we threw out items that were still good but had expired.) Nearly anyone approached would give half their sandwich to someone who was visibly starving, and food is incredibly cheap in this country. (One can find enough pennies on the sidewalk to buy enough food to keep you alive. A can of tuna, for example.) ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mrs\_O\_Malley\_s\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_O_Malley_s_Cow)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701/42 "2006-04-17T02:15:44Z")
In Morgantown, WV they will take care of you indefinitly. There was a big story about it (oh and I am not anywhere near Morgantown). Apparently it has one of the best social service programs in the country. They spoke to some of the homeless there and they said that they talk about Morgantown and how great it is in NYC and many actively sought out going there. So if you want to go homeless, go there. You will be taken care of. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701/43 "2006-04-17T18:18:51Z")
> [@carterba](#): > > It also says > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Matthew 25:42-46 > > 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, > > 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ > > 44 "They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ > > 45 "He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ > > 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” > > Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Um, no. Without getting into GD territory, the verses you quoted are generally understood to apply to those who need your assistance for reasons other than sheer laziness. Jesus is saying “Hey, it’s great that you pray for the needy, but if you don’t help them physically you’re not spreadin’ the love like you should”. There is no Biblical prohibition for assisting the terminally lazy, but it ain’t required either. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701/44 "2006-04-19T11:46:11Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Is there any city/province/nation anywhere on earth that will provide long-term food, clothing and shelter for “a reasonably intelligent, able bodied adult, (who simply refuses) to do work of any kind”? No, not even in the Netherlands, which is often seen as a nanny-state. If **astro** ’s hypothical man said he just didn’t _want_ to work, by rules he wouldn’t receive any state benefits. Nobody’d know what to do with him and in the end he’d probably be labeled “psycholocally troubled” and receive benefits anyway, unless he really opposed this. It’d be fun to have such a test case of a normal man opposed to receiving SS. We do, however, have quite a lot of homeless guys, typical smelly streetdwelling wino’s, who would be eligible for Social Support but who refuse it adamantly. They say they don’t need much and want to be left alone, unbothered by interfering do-goodertypes who tell them to stop drinking. Usually a social worker will do her best to get such a guy S.S. anyway. The rationale behind that is that a homeless man with at least the income to get shelter and a bit of beer will be less of a public nuisance, (petty crime, public drunkenness, vandalism) and that that is worth the tax-payers money. I agree. There is a political party in the Netherlands, however, that occasionally brings up the idea of “free base income”. The idea behind it is that the money saved by abandoning the whole welfareindustry, and by allowing people to work as much or as little as they want without government regulation, would free so much resources that everybody could get a minimal free base income. Another argument is that many of the common resources of the Netherland state (such as out existing infrastructure, our natural gas and oil, etc) belong to every Dutch citizen equally. Needless to say, the idea never makes it. The practical consequences and difficulties are just too baffling. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701/45 "2006-04-20T01:17:20Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Another argument is that many of the common resources of the Netherland state (such as out existing infrastructure, our natural gas and oil, etc) belong to every Dutch citizen equally. And the dikes. Don’t leave out the dikes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-im-able-bodied-but-refuse-to-work-who-or-what-will-clothe-feed-and-house-me/352701.md?page=2)