# Re Kansas what happens welfare benefits are slashed, do poor people leave the state or what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 4, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-kansas-what-happens-welfare-benefits-are-slashed-do-poor-people-leave-the-state-or-what/716838 "2015-04-04T22:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-kansas-what-happens-welfare-benefits-are-slashed-do-poor-people-leave-the-state-or-what/716838/321 "2015-05-12T11:04:16Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > No one has answered this question yet. Why should a bank be expected, let alone required, to provide bank card services, without a fee? Because, to the bank, if you have money in your account (not in debt) you are a creditor to the bank and they use your money to invest and get money from it. It is a little odd to ask money from someone to access their money that you are making money from. Obviously if you have $100 in your account the bank isn’t get much from their investment, but they are getting something, and they’re getting a lot more by encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to have that sum, or more, in their accounts. It’s not like the bank just goes “oh, we have this amount of money. That’s nice.” They invest it. They make money from it. > [@Shodan](#): > > We don’t need to determine that - anyone with relatives who will pay their cable bill and take them on cruises and buy them X-Box doesn’t need public charity. If you can afford to pay for an X-box for your brother - or just give him your old one when you want the next gen - does that mean you can afford to pay his every living cost? Even if you combine everything you included - paying a cable bill, taking someone on a cruise and buying them a new X-Box - then it only comes up to the costs of living if you’re talking a really expensive cruise, single cabin, rather than having your sister-in-law along to share a room with your eldest daughter and help out with childcare while not actually paying much more for the SIL to come along because you wanted that cabin size, with the attached bathroom, anyway. > [@WhyNot](#): > > Are you proposing that we somehow force family members to provide financial support to those who aren’t their dependents? And somehow prevent them from spending money on non-essentials? How much do you think that will cost to implement and police? > > I mean, it’d be nice if they’d help Grandma with essentials before luxuries. But tell a person that they can’t take Grandma on a cruise, and that doesn’t mean they’ll give her the cash to pay her electric bill. The two forms of charity are entirely unrelated. (Especially if Grandma won’t admit to them that she needs help with her electric bill.) Agreed. It’s not just that financially it’s easier to give someone your old TV rather than pay whatever small amount you could get from selling your TV, it’s that it feels like a gift rather than “oh, you’re so poor.” It makes the giver feel good and it does not oblige them to keep on giving. I know quite a lot of poor people who struggle with paying rent but have lots of stuff that looks expensive. Last gen i-phones, for example. Last gen X-box. Cable because they’re on a contract and can’t back out without fees - due immediately - matching the term of the contract but without the actual service. > [@Shodan](#): > > No doubt you can supply a few examples of people who were forced into homelessness by the lack of $10. Three would be plenty. > > If it was just exaggeration for effect, then my apologies for taking your post seriously. > > Regards, > Shodan You’d want all those cites to be online too, wouldn’t you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-kansas-what-happens-welfare-benefits-are-slashed-do-poor-people-leave-the-state-or-what/716838.md?page=16)