Thread...
I was contemplating welfare and its disastrous effects in contrast with private charity.
Rome had issues with the public grain dole from its inception as a subsidized and price-fixed grain purchase and storage program in the republican era, which even though it was financed by tax increases, saw a precipitous increases in demand as all price-ceiling schemes do. Once it was implemented corruption set in and was frequently a topic of reform but not abolishment by politicians.
Follow
The practice itself is not longer practiced in the West, largely due to health regulations where businesses like bakeries are not allowed to give away bread that is stale (not moldy, just stale).
