They pay $34 for burgers.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke The "but then rich people get more of it" argument consistently feels like concern-trolling designed to provide an excuse to clamp down on means-testing, which of course makes the problem worse because rich people always have ways to get around bureaucratic obstacles.
(cf. buying a second house in another school-zone so you don't have to send your kids to the "bad" (underfunded) school.)
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"I agree that the solve for marginalized communities getting squeezed out of public goods is to address that racism. I also think there are ways to put marginalized communities at the head of the line. Because there will be a line.
It looks like they selected the neighborhoods where the first few childcare slots are going in based on child poverty levels and lack of childcare access. That seems exactly right to me. If there are some wealthy parents in that net, fine. Their kids' buddies won't be.
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I agree that the solve for marginalized communities getting squeezed out of public goods is to address that racism. I also think there are ways to put marginalized communities at the head of the line. Because there will be a line.
It looks like they selected the neighborhoods where the first few childcare slots are going in based on child poverty levels and lack of childcare access. That seems exactly right to me. If there are some wealthy parents in that net, fine. Their kids' buddies won't be.
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@deirdrebeth @Fishercat @mekkaokereke
The 2,000 Billionaires should be the first people to get free tamponsAnd then everybody else on earth who needs them
It’s not hard to see how means-testing is an excuse to not give thing to the poor
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"In other news, the word ‘universal’ means… universal.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke
The UK’s attempts to make child-related benefits income-dependent (see https://archive.ph/2026.03.25-225320/https://www.ft.com/content/e8f10ba1-e555-45c9-8c46-8ef77aa38854) have lead to huge distortions in people’s behaviour, where people are reducing hours to avoid being worse off due to a pay rise. Much better to not tax having children. -
They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke one of the core lessons of public health is that bureaucracy is _expensive_. The entire “Who should pay what!?” Exercise slows the systems down and costs a ton of money and basically all it produces is spreadsheets that cruel selfish people use to be cruel and selfish, and that crowd can’t wrap their heads around the fact that the other thing that’s great about public services being public services is that it’s cheaper.
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@deirdrebeth @Fishercat @mekkaokereke
The 2,000 Billionaires should be the first people to get free tamponsAnd then everybody else on earth who needs them
It’s not hard to see how means-testing is an excuse to not give thing to the poor
@AccordionBruce @Fishercat @mekkaokereke
That's exactly the opposite of what I was saying, and agreeing with.
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@mekkaokereke At this point I honestly find it hilarious how much the NYT hates Mamdani. Every one of these headlines uses the stupidest imaginable pretzel logic trying to spin an obvious good into something problematic.
@mekkaokereke
It's the same everywhere. WTF. -
They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.
The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.
️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
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@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke
My pet hate.
When you start to "means test" something that really should be universal the means test itself costs money to administer and you create a barrier to some of those who should be benefiting but may not be able to navigate the red tape required for many many reasons. -
@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke Sigh. I really hate the mindset of “what if someone undeserving benefits.”
So what? Especially when it involves children.
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@realtegan @mekkaokereke Sigh. I really hate the mindset of “what if someone undeserving benefits.”
So what? Especially when it involves children.
@CStamp @mekkaokereke
Exactly.And by giving everyone a free lunch and breakfast, it removes the stigma of "being too poor" to pay for lunch. That removes a tiny portion of the humiliation that comes from living in poverty.
Then there's the families who cannot figure out how to apply for the free lunch program - or don't have time because the parent(s) work extra jobs. Those children don't go hungry if every child is fed.
We need to stop gate-keeping who needs help, and just help people.
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@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
Trying to carve out a "special" class who are entitled to school lunch has always been a foolish approach that just adds layers of expensive policing that INEVITABLY wind up costing more than they save, and preventing some number of eligible students from getting serviced.
Unfortunately, some people are always more focused on the remote or insignificant risk of cheaters, than they are on make sure that they are servicing those who need it
Just make it free to all
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@CStamp @mekkaokereke
Exactly.And by giving everyone a free lunch and breakfast, it removes the stigma of "being too poor" to pay for lunch. That removes a tiny portion of the humiliation that comes from living in poverty.
Then there's the families who cannot figure out how to apply for the free lunch program - or don't have time because the parent(s) work extra jobs. Those children don't go hungry if every child is fed.
We need to stop gate-keeping who needs help, and just help people.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke If the US has trillions of $ to bomb children in other nations, they certainly have $ to feed its own kids.
Kids are the most importantly resource of any country.
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@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke Agreed.
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@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke but then, how would they justify their “black and brown people don't deserve anything” stance? now that's just silly-talk.
(/s in case anyone is wondering)
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@realtegan @mekkaokereke but then, how would they justify their “black and brown people don't deserve anything” stance? now that's just silly-talk.
(/s in case anyone is wondering)
When you look to the heart of America's problems, 99.99999% of it can be traced directly to racism.
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@realtegan @mekkaokereke Sigh. I really hate the mindset of “what if someone undeserving benefits.”
So what? Especially when it involves children.
@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke Is it even *possible* for anyone (a child in particular) to be undeserving?
Seems like a pretty vital assumption that the answer is yes, but I’m not convinced.
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@realtegan @mekkaokereke Sigh. I really hate the mindset of “what if someone undeserving benefits.”
So what? Especially when it involves children.
@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke if we’re going to give billionaires and corporations tax breaks then feeding kids without means testing seems like small change.
