[Professor S]

Vamp, while I don't agree with the person you posted's socialism statement, I don't see any hypocrisy in his acceptance of unemployment benefits even though he is against spending. As the man said, if he refuses free money he is stupid, and his refusal would not change anything and potentially only hurt his family (if he has one). He would only be hypocritical if he lost his benefits, and then complained about the loss. If his situation is as he describes, he is simply making the best decisions for himself and his family and I can hardly fault him for that.

We also can't look at things like unemployment benefits, or entitlements in general, like they are disassociated from the rest of the economy. The wealth that pays for benefits comes from somewhere. Instead of the man working for the money, he is receives it for free, and the act of confiscating that wealth to pay for his non-work/benefits/etc might inhibit another individual or organization from employing him (in a macro-economic sense).