@souvlaki @androcat

You also have to consider what welfare benefits recipients spend the money on. It's likely a large proportion will be spent locally, on fairly simple things like housing, utilities, food, etc. If so it will be spent on taxable goods with local businesses that pay tax on profits, employ staff that pay tax, who in turn spend that money again on taxable goods, etc, etc. In other words, that money circulates in the economy, benefiting everybody, until it returns to the government (and is destroyed - it does not, in fact, pay for any government expenditure in most economies).

Tax fraud is much more damaging, because it is likely to be on excess income, which is much more likely to be saved, maybe in off-shore tax havens, or spent abroad, benefiting mainly foreign 'investors'.

So why focus on the relatively minor issues of 'generous' welfare or welfare benefits fraud?
Because the real point is that any safety net wage labourers can fall back on strengthens their hand in pay and conditions negotiations, or their individual ability to walk away from exploitative employment.

That's what the fear that generous benefit systems will lead to indolence really amounts to: that people won't be forced to work really hard for somebody else.

@GeofCox @souvlaki I believe it's "Justice Theatre", yet another way to pacify the people, making them watch each other, and not the actions of the powerful.

It's similar to how tabloids always whine about foreigners.