Homeless Boys

[francois]

How so?

Where is the "distortion"?

You and others are assuming that the locals are lazy and not really knowing their true reasons. This is a typical reaction of many people in the USA regarding social welfare programs.

The distortion is that it may apply to all locals and not just to a limited number of people.

[a447]

You and others are assuming that the locals are lazy and not really knowing their true reasons. This is a typical reaction of many people in the USA regarding social welfare programs.

I'm not "assuming" anything.

I am reporting on the present situation - in the Covid era - as an observer on the ground in Australia, not as someone commenting from afar.

The fact of the matter is that when businesses went into lockdown and workers lost their jobs, the government gave them a monthly sum of money to help them get by. You wrongly assume that I am not in favour of such social welfare, when in fact I not only fully support it, but think the sum is too low!

When lockdown was eased, small business asked for their employees to come back to work. But many workers were only part time and were getting more money from the government then they did from their jobs, so had no incentive to return to work.

That is the true reason. And I'm the one who knows it, not you, as I see it on the news every night. In Australia, not Thailand.

The unemployment rate is a national disaster - millions have lost their jobs. So when a job comes along, why aren't they taking it? The answer, mon vieux, can be found above.

[siscu58]

The West has become so bloated with the populace and their expectations of what the government should provide for them.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury."
Alexander Fraser Tytler.
attributed.

Completely agree with both statements

[francois]

The unemployment rate is a national disaster - millions have lost their jobs. So when a job comes along, why aren't they taking it? The answer, mon vieux, can be found above.

Since you put it that way, who am I to quibble.

[sglad]

I never bothered about where the guys in the bars came from - the more variety the better. But the language barrier was often a bit of a problem.

That's why you gotta learn English - and that's not a "mute" point!

[bkkguy]

That's why you gotta learn English - and that's not a "mute" point!

whilst not wanting to descend into mootness here, if both parties in a conversation are reduced to silence by the language barrier then surely it is actually a "mute" point?

[Zebedee]

I never bothered about where the guys in the bars came from - the more variety the better. But the language barrier was often a bit of a problem.

That's why you gotta learn English - and that's not a "mute" point!

whilst not wanting to descend into mootness here, if both parties in a conversation are reduced to silence by the language barrier then surely it is actually a "mute" point?

Except sglad is only saying " you got to learn english", he is referencing his own statement when he says "and that's not a "mute" point".
not the language barrier between a447 and the boy.

He is still teasing a447 for misspelling moot with mute in a different thread. So sglad is ahead on mootness.

It seems bkkguy you point above is muted!

[Zebedee]

It seems bkkguy you point above is muted!

That was said tongue in cheek, but seeing it in print its not obvious.

feel free to tell me Fark Cough.

[Dodger]

Since starting this thread, 2 of the homeless boys I referred to are now dead.

One of the boys (name?) roamed Jomtien Beach working freelance for the past year (or more)., He slept between the buildings adjacent to the Dong Tan parking lot and relied mostly on handouts to survive. His friend, who is another homeless boy in his mid-twenties, said the boy was found dead one morning wrapped up in his blanket. The police were called to remove the body. I don't know the actual cause of death, but the last time I saw him he was as thin as a rail and didn't look well at all.

The second boy named Olay, worked freelance in Sunee Plaza for several years before the pandemic and was know for his gentle mannerisms. He was approximately 20 years old and had also been sleeping on the streets since the pandemic hit. I would give him a donation every time I saw him, but can't tell you how sorry I am now that I didn't do more. Similar to the first boy, Olay's body was reduced to a skeleton over the past year of surviving on handouts. People who knew him fear that he has also died.

For some reason I didn't feel motivated to post this, but when I read the thread today related to the Food Line in Pattaya, including some of the responses to that thread, I felt inclined to share this.

Some of you who don't live here may not be aware of just how bad it's getting.

[Oliver2]

I'm glad you did. There are periods- and we are in the middle of one now- where compassion is considered a weakness. In the 19th century, Dickens wrote of this in Hard Times....Gradgrind, the entrepreneur industrialist, is of the opinion that the problem with the poor is they expect "to eat turtle soup with a silver spoon." The new conservatism regards the concept of every man for himself as a sign of manliness.
And so often, the proponents of this ideology- and one orange-coloured one springs to mind- were the children of the rich, beginning their careers with that same "silver spoon".