[enumjorge]

Let’s not paint with broad strokes. I’m sure the people who are too selfish to wear a mask or limit their activities in any way are also selfish enough to be ok with someone else paying their bills. But there’s also a lot of people who want to earn their keep and they want things back to normal so they can get back to work.

One of the more dangerous narratives in American politics is theory that social programs are bad because they breed leeches. So we’ve been cutting those to the bone. Now one of the scariest aspects of the pandemic in the US is how little to no social net exists for people who are down on their luck. If shit hits the fan , it could get really ugly for a lot of Americans.

[hcurtiss]

I struggle to think of major social programs that we've cut at all, much less "to the bone."

[mlillie]

There was a sea change in views on welfare in the 80s-90s[1], culminating with the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Between means-testing, spending caps and staffing cuts, virtually all welfare programs have been decimated over the last 25 years.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_programs_in_the_United_...