Corrupt Government Employees. Any Takers?

[Fiona 0]

Used to be a time you'd call the Government to tell them about a pension thief who was stealing an unemployment or disablity pension whilst holding down a full time job. The scumbags would be shutdown very quickly. One phone call was all it would take. But not any more.

 

Nowadays, the government phone operators are interupting callers for specific information about corrupt government employees. "Do you know of any corrupt officials involved. Do you have any information... etc."

 

Looks like the Welfare Department has been compromised from the inside. Once the corruption has started, it seems very difficult to avoid a more and more corrupt society.

 

Since found it on the Government website. It's the first question they ask:

[Campbell 0]

HAH! Do they really ask that at Centrelink now? Makes me think of Housos!

[Fiona 0]

Perhaps it hasn't happened yet in Great Britain. Maybe the UK is less corrupt. Dunno. I hope so.

 

Don't forget this land was originally Populated By Criminals.

 

Generations of interbreeding criminals must have corroded the national gene pool. That would explain the runaway crime and the corruption.

 

Look at America. Settled not by crooks but by magnanimous Pilgrims.

[fa chris 0]

Look at America. Settled not by crooks but by magnanimous Pilgrims.

 

yet we still have the same problem. must be global warming then.

[Fiona 0]

Doesn't the US still have that Clinton slam dunk known as Three Strikes and You're Out? With 3-Strikes, any offender was given a severe prosecution disproportional to the crime - such as life imprisonment. (Life sentences range from 8 years to life in different countries.)

California has its Death Row. Texas actually has the Death Penalty.

One problem with US Crime stems from the fact that One Percent of your population owns more than 50% of the wealth while about 20% of the population are penniless or in debt. No attempts are made in Western nations to stem the concentration of wealth and power. Another is that we are creating this one-dimensional society which implicitly claims that money is the sole measure of human worth. You Are What You Own.

I dunno about the US having the same problem. If a citizen reports the same crime with names, photographs, registration numbers, dates, addresses etc., etc., in writing, phone calls and on-line tip-offs over three dozen times, I would expect the authorities to act. Then again, perhaps the corruption and debasement of society is all part of the greater plan.

[fa chris 0]

California has the three strikes rule, I don't know of any other states that have it. Some may, but most don't. A lot of states have the death penalty and actually use it though.

 

Violent crime, petty crime, etc. is something we have a handle on. White collar crime and corruption in politics on the other hand... every single person in our congress is bought off, and so is our president.

[Fiona 0]

Update:

National Welfare Fraud Convictions 2010: 8000

National Welfare Fraud Convictions 2011: 4000

50% drop in convictions in 12 months.

Welfare Fraud believed to be on the increase.

Government just announced the recruitment of private surveillance companies and investigators to replace government investigators.

[the toss 0]

Fiona , where in Australia are you from ?

[Fiona 0]

Perth, Western Australia.

[Sawbones 0]

Poverty doesn't cause crime.

 

And as an American, I have to say that we have the richest "poor people" in the world, but part of the problem is the class-resentment that's preached by the poverty pimps, who tell lower-income residents that they're poor because some stinking rich guy "stole" from them.

 

Complete tripe. They are not poor because somebody else is rich... they never had any money to begin with, so how was it stolen from them? People should rise or fall on their own merits, and stupid SHOULD hurt... the discipline of failure is one of the better ways to learn.

 

I'm reminded of this quote from Robert Heinlein:

 

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded—here and there, now and then—are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

 

 

This is known as ‘bad luck’.”

 

 

I'm not a great fan of Heinlein, but that quote is very appropriate when we start talking about the politics of envy and jealousy.

[nDAlk90 0]

Really?

 

 

Poverty doesn't cause crime.

[Sawbones 0]

Yes. Really.

 

I've seen "poverty" used as an excuse for all sorts of theft, robbery, and murder by various sociopaths... but simply being poor does NOT make one a criminal.

[nDAlk90 0]

Correct... But could someones financial circumstance push them to actions they might not otherwise do?

 

Example: Steel food from a store because they have no money.

 

If so, how can the statement "Poverty doesn't cause crime" be true?

 

simply being poor does NOT make one a criminal.

[Sawbones 0]

Correct... But could someones financial circumstance push them to actions they might not otherwise do?

 

Example: Steel food from a store because they have no money.

 

If so, how can the statement "Poverty doesn't cause crime" be true?

 

simply being poor does NOT make one a criminal.

 

There's quite a leap from petty theft because you're hungry (which I'd be inclined to simply make the person pay back) to the kinds of thefts we're talking about.

 

A serial residential burglar isn't robbing from houses because he's "hungry"... he's doing it because he's somebody who would rather steal from others than earn it himself.

 

We have homeless shelters where hungry people can get fed every day... you just have to be sober. I simply won't accept the "bb-b-b-but I was hungry" excuse from an able-bodied adult who COULD go out and get a job. It might not be a job they WANT, but at that point, you don't have that luxury. Picking up trash or sweeping floors might offend your dignity, but at least you're working. Many of those guys could work, they just don't want to.

 

And there is dignity in ANY kind of work, if you take pride in it and do a good job.

 

I deal with the homeless every day in my line of work. That "will work for food" sign is almost always a lie.

[fa chris 0]

Let us not forget, the majority of crime in poverty stricken areas isn't stolen food.

 

 

Also I think a lot of us are jaded because of our day to day work.

[rory 0]

Correct... But could someones financial circumstance push them to actions they might not otherwise do?

 

Example: Steel food from a store because they have no money.

 

If so, how can the statement "Poverty doesn't cause crime" be true?

 

simply being poor does NOT make one a criminal.

 

Absolutely not.

Either one is a criminal or they are not, rich or poor.

I lived out of my car at one point, and I never even considered stealing.

Went without food many days, and yet did not steal.

Haitians here are some of the most poverty stricken people in the world, yet they dont steal.

If you were to ask a thief why they steal, I bet you will find its for reasons other than food.

[Sawbones 0]

Correct... But could someones financial circumstance push them to actions they might not otherwise do?

 

Example: Steel food from a store because they have no money.

 

If so, how can the statement "Poverty doesn't cause crime" be true?

 

simply being poor does NOT make one a criminal.

 

Absolutely not.

Either one is a criminal or they are not, rich or poor.

I lived out of my car at one point, and I never even considered stealing.

Went without food many days, and yet did not steal.

Haitians here are some of the most poverty stricken people in the world, yet they dont steal.

If you were to ask a thief why they steal, I bet you will find its for reasons other than food.

 

And wretchedly poor people often have VERY direct ways of expressing their displeasure with thieves... many of whom, if caught in-the-act, are lucky to escape with their lives.