Thursday, May 13, 2010

Welfare surge kills initiative

Welfare surge kills initiative to prosper
DUH! Equivalent Of:
Gun Control Does Not Lower Crime Rate

Boned Jello

America is rapidly turning its safety net into a comfortable cocoon.

President Barack Obama's 2011 budget contains a welfare surge that will raise social spending by 42 percent above 2009 levels, according to an analysis by the Heritage Foundation. State and local welfare spending will total $953 million.

The goal is to close the quality of life gap, so that nobody in America is too prosperous or too poor.

In the process, the federal government risks making the dependent class even larger by destroying the basic incentive to work.

Already, landscapers say they can't compete with unemployment checks to fill jobs that pay $10 to $12 an hour. Jobless benefits now stretch to nearly two years, allowing some laid-off workers the luxury to refuse job offers. Similar generosity in Europe has institutionalized the jobless rate at twice the U.S. level.

The Detroit News Continued:
Why is this news?  Several years ago the WSJ did a piece on Britain's welfare system, aka "the dole."  A sociologist wanted to find out why initiatives to raise graduation rates were failing miserably.  He surveyed students about what they aspired to if anything was possible;  those whose father was on the dole overwhelmingly answered,"Be on the dole like me dad." 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been unemployed for a year and almost 5 months. I have an MBA and 20 years of experience and I haven't turned down a single offer, they just haven't been forthcoming. Either I'm just a terrible interviewee or I need to change careers (again).

pdwalker said...

Expanding the welfare roles, and extending the "benefits" are designed for one thing and one thing only: to deliberately increase the number of people on welfare (who, incidently, vote for those who promise them more benefits like most democrat politicians promise)

That'll be one more nail in the chest of the American Body and Soul.

Anonymous said...

In high school Olethea Taylor told the teacher she was going to quit school so she could live on welfare. Defining moment for me.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Those roots courtesy of LBJ's Great Society which paid lavishly to unmarried teens as long as there was no man living in the house.

Gayle Miller said...

Anonymous - I too have an MBA and two degrees, one in broadcast communications and the other in accounting (polar opposites, don't you think?). I am now working and have continuously for the past 25 years (except when I voluntarily took 6 months off) as a legal secretary. I hate lawyers but surprisingly, I like my job. I quit conforming to the expectations of others for me and chose to do what I enjoyed! It pays very well and is busy enough to make a day fly by! The downside is - you need to deal with attorneys!

Anonymous said...

Welfare should be a survival wage, not a living wage. Just enough to tide you over until you find a job.

pdwalker said...

Like is now, you know, the survival wage that pays for your smokes, booze, 60" TV's, that kind of thing. The bare essentials for living.

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