On my application for food stamps, they ask for my bank account number as well as the service provider for my cell phone. So far I've left both blank, though I may have provided the latter the last time.
I don't know if they can find out about my bank account or not, but I'm guessing they can, so I am effectively discouraged from saving any money from side jobs (yard work, that sort of thing). I know for a fact they have access to any employment, so that is a big disincentive to pick up a job unless I really think it's going to work out.
As you have pointed out, there is a feeling that this kind of intrusion is justified since I am apparently getting something I don't deserve anyway ("other people's money").
If food stamps are helping you get out of a tough spot, I'm glad it is helping you.
> there is a feeling that this kind of intrusion is justified since I am apparently getting something I don't deserve anyway
The idea that you deserve food stamps implies that you some how earned it. Keep in mind that what you get in food stamps effectively comes from someone else who would earned that money and might rather use it to pay off their college debt or put their kid through school.
If you are not listing your bank account because you don't want them to know that you DO have enough money to provide for yourself, then you are highlighting why they ask for that information. I'm glad if you are getting temporary help if you need it. If you think you somehow deserve and are trying to hide the fact that you actually do have resources you could use for food, you are making a good case for the fact that the government needs to do a better job of requiring that type of information.
How about land? Who created it? If god or nature, then doesn't that make it a common inheritance? Perhaps I deserve some sort of compensation?
People make things so complicated, they'll do anything to avoid doing the right thing. It's not that complicated.
The law isn't right by virtue of being the law, it's right in virtue of being in accordance with what's truly right. Ignoring this for generations doesn't change it.
You would think a nation that has the sins of taking the land and labor of others would have the respectability to make sure everybody has a place to be with no work requirement. Alas, this nation knows no shame.
I don't know if they can find out about my bank account or not, but I'm guessing they can, so I am effectively discouraged from saving any money from side jobs (yard work, that sort of thing). I know for a fact they have access to any employment, so that is a big disincentive to pick up a job unless I really think it's going to work out.
As you have pointed out, there is a feeling that this kind of intrusion is justified since I am apparently getting something I don't deserve anyway ("other people's money").