System misused

thanks for taking the time. i suspect there are many others that share your approach, and many more that are not too apart. and, there will be a chunk that do not like sharing much at all.
we are not too far off, although i figure i am less stringent about where i feel public money better serves a community.
your definition of “need” is acceptable. even so, there can be effective cases made as to what constitutes need or want even within that reasonably clear definition.
you note abuse of the system – and this is a significant issue, at all levels. we have those that abuse the system at the bottom, such as welfare and ei cheats; and we have them all the way up to the huge money, such as tax cheats – including those that have lobbied to create tax laws that enable the very wealthiest to avoid losing a precious penny of their beloved money. also in the uppermost levels are those that are in the pockets of govt…and vice versa…whereby the public at large loses massive sums that would benefit all, rather than the sleazy, nasty self serving few. i have added links recently in another thread that shows how much the very wealthiest suck out of the social purse relative to those at the bottom, and those at the top rake in quite a bit more than do the many more at the bottom.
i am sure we agree that graft, greed, self service( to the detriment whereby it proves a grand disservice to others [not sure where you would stand on this one; but it can also be seen as correct that there are many at the bottom whose actions are self serving to the extent of being disservice]), and corruption are issues that we had best rectify asap.
it is my opinion that the siphoning of vast amounts of wealth, and power, from society cannot be seen as acceptable. utter financial equality is a long way off, if we can ever even evolve to such a degree of trust and decency with one another; however, the vast disparity that we have been conditioned to see as “normal” is a root cause of many of our issues, issues that cost the masses a lot of money and resource, and cost the very wealthiest nothing. the power imbalance just serves to perpetuate the “normalisation” of the inequities, and the corruption, and the broken political system that sustains and legitimises it all.
i suspect i am among a minority that acknowledge the reality of luck in life, and i refer far less to the likes of winning a big lottery than i do to things like healthy body and mind, and particularly, the kind of luck that we see as “marketable” ability; some of those abilities are rather ridiculous in terms of production/need, such as entertainers/athletes, and yet those types rake in an absurd amount of cash and positive attention.
lucky people are also those that have the inherent ability to learn skills and information that results in quality income, and moreover, are lucky enough to land positions relative to others that also have such ability… but not everyone is lucky enough to land those positions. there is also much luck in terms of mental health and physical health; moreover, there is much luck in terms of the genetics one inherits, the family and nurture one inherits, and even the place on planet earth one is born into. yes, there are examples of those that overcome so much of so many challenges…but they are in reality the few of that batch. the luck of the draw is often the difference maker; many work hard at things but are unable to find “success’.
a couple of other things that i do take into account, and it does muddy the black and white, is that: there are those that know better and can easily be better; there are those that have incapacity and challenges that are overwhelming…and, in fairness, the latter cannot be treated with the same set of repercussions as the former. not to say the latter people have any right or excuse to cause issues, but i do suggest that some require ongoing supports that are humane, and that ultimately serve the better interests of society at large.
to that end, there are approaches that will prove to be less costly than do our current ways of dealing with things…the cycle of under/unemployment, working for what amounts to peanuts, is not acceptable. nor is our approach to homelessness and the effects of addictions (and, sorry to point out, the worst fallout to society comes from alcohol abuse), and consequent financial suck due to the never ending cycle of policing/justice/incarceration. we have been doing much the same old to deal with these realities for a very long time, with little positive effect. in fact, the result appears to be an ever increasing massive the suck on quality of life for all.