No actually it does not cost "just as much" to protect the welfare mom.

• She isn't going to court, the wealthy person is likely to
• She doesn't have a car to recover - the wealthy person has more than one
• She doesn't call the local precinct to insist on more patrols - the wealthy person does.

etc. etc.

the cops can't exactly not go to her house when called because her TV isn't as expensive as mine

She lives where the cop/citizen ratio is much much higher than where you live. And yes they often will take the report over the phone whereas a wealthy citizen will get a housecall..

You have a point about the hidden costs of oil, but much of that is paid back in taxes - fuel taxes are less than the amount of benefit,
o o o

We know that for every $1 we spend on K-12 education we save $10 on prison costs. Thus your taxes that are going for public ed are going to

• Insuring that you are less likely to be burglarized
• increasing the ROI of your investments by increaseing the productivity of the population.

You benefit very much from those prop taxes.

If the welfare mom's ride is as free as you suggest it is, then I'm surprised more well-off middle class taxpayers don't opt for that lifestyle..