Welfare dictating purchasing decisions
Posted: February 24th, 2015, 10:19 pm
Since basic welfare may be enough to live day to day on, but in many places is not enough to make irregular purchases for, say, appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, it has been the policy of some welfare agencies to make interest-free loans to welfare recipients for such purchases. In my location the welfare agency has taken this a step further by acquiring their own in-house suppliers of many products, which the loan recipients are required to purchase with their loans.
On the face of it this makes sense. The welfare agency can actually undercut private retailers since they have no sales and marketing costs, no debt collection costs, minimal additional staff costs etc. They ensure their clients don’t get ripped off and get a good, serviceable product, which saves them from having to bail out the clients later. The problem is that such is the percentage of people on welfare these days that they are driving all other businesses selling these products into bankruptcy.
It occurs to me that this might be the intention. It may be that this will be the method that a somewhat literal form of communism is implemented. Government agencies with a captive market (first of those on welfare and then those who work for the government, contractors etc.) will have their purchases dictated to them item by item. Alternative suppliers will be driven out of business, so people not tapped into the system will not be able to buy the products at any price, not that they will have much money anyway. Eventually the whole concept of money will be abolished and people will simply be issued with whatever the PTB want them to have.
On the face of it this makes sense. The welfare agency can actually undercut private retailers since they have no sales and marketing costs, no debt collection costs, minimal additional staff costs etc. They ensure their clients don’t get ripped off and get a good, serviceable product, which saves them from having to bail out the clients later. The problem is that such is the percentage of people on welfare these days that they are driving all other businesses selling these products into bankruptcy.
It occurs to me that this might be the intention. It may be that this will be the method that a somewhat literal form of communism is implemented. Government agencies with a captive market (first of those on welfare and then those who work for the government, contractors etc.) will have their purchases dictated to them item by item. Alternative suppliers will be driven out of business, so people not tapped into the system will not be able to buy the products at any price, not that they will have much money anyway. Eventually the whole concept of money will be abolished and people will simply be issued with whatever the PTB want them to have.