When the government seems to exist only for pulling Gotcha!s, when the tax-system is set up so that you have difficulty paying your fair share
whe you try to live honestly, when the legal-system is seriously arrayed against you based not on any sort of logical law but rather the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted
and to the great effect of forcing you int no-win situations… well, it becomes very hard to make a case for working.
“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed.”
— Ayn Rand
“1 in 4 adults aged 25 to 54 are not working.”
I wonder what portion of those are simply reporting that they’re not working?