Posted on 01/24/2014 4:47:03 PM PST by Libloather
A shoplifter, a recovering drug addict and a young couple barely able to feed their kids are among the stars of Benefits Street - a smash hit reality show featuring welfare recipients that has stirred up a storm of controversy in Britain.
The program zooms in on a rough Birmingham street where 9 out of 10 people are said to live off state payouts, chronicling over five episodes the lives of jobless neighbours as they struggle with their daily problems.
The show has struck a strong chord in a nation fresh out of recession and still reeling from its most brutal austerity measures in a generation, with basic public services trimmed drastically.
Britain's welfare state has long been a subject of pride among many Britons, but these days attitudes toward benefits have hardened - and polls suggest that support for pouring taxpayer money into welfare, especially for the young, is at a record low.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldsun.com.au ...
Maybe A&E can import it.
I went to the article on the link above and there two ads for assistance in how to apply for disability.
Now that is funny.
“reality TV” my toe
Mommy, steal that for me!
Really? I have the nicer things in life on a low income but I wouldn’t say I’m exactly swimming in the lap of luxury. I’m prudent, responsible and have never been in jail. And I haven’t defrauded the taxpayers.
Presenting all poor people as moochers is far from the truth. There are people who do game the system but you find undeserving riff-raff at every level of society.
Yeah; look at those ‘housewives’ who have rich husbands, but don’t really clean or bother to pretend to be interested in the children. Then after a few years they take the kids and house and half the hubby’s bank account.
Yeah; look at those ‘housewives’ who have rich husbands, but don’t really clean or bother to pretend to be interested in the children.
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In an episode of the Sopranos, Carmella was being chastised by her parents and she throws back at them that THEY benefit by her marriage if for nothing else the ‘work’ Tony throws towards her dad.....
Her mother said something about C sitting around in her big house etc etc...
C said “Mom, I work for what I get, you and dad are along for the ride”.....
I would imagine that the ‘work’ in this sense meant she had to ‘service’ Tony, hence she worked for what she got.....
Oh, please. A lot of us get by on low incomes. A lot of others live rather well (better than many of us) just by gaming the system.
“A shoplifter, a recovering drug addict and a young couple barely able to feed their kids are among the stars of Benefits Street - a smash hit reality show”.........
A “smash hit”? Makes me wanna barf! Actually it sounds more like a “smash and grab” sit-com.
“Presenting all poor people as moochers is far from the truth.”
This didn’t present “all poor people as moochers” it presented actual moochers as moochers.
“you find undeserving riff-raff at every level of society.”
Ah, let me guess, you tell yourself this as you swipe your EBT card to get “the nicer things in life on a low income”, right?
Don’t knock it. Any show that reveals how the lazy, the indolent and the cheats can not only survive but positively thrive in our society is all to the good.
Exactly true - but there ARE moochers and cheats and they DO need to be exposed, if only because their activities do give all poor people a bad name.
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