Brigade XO wrote:How about what the people who are on the dole are supposed to be doing when they are not working for the dole?
Child care- their own? Taking classes, getting technical education for a skilled trade? Helping others? What?
How are they using their time if the are not "working"? Then we go down the rat-hole of what people buy other than things needed like decent housing, food, etc. Working (you know, trading time and productivity as some agreed upon level for money) actualy takes time. If you are not working, what are you doing? Sitting around listening to politicians spin promises of future help and doing great things for you doesn't seem productive. Rioting for "more" (chose subject/object of want) also seems to be a bad idea.
Want a nice car? Want nicer cloths, want fun entertainment, want anything and what do you have to do? Well, perhaps make a choice between saving &/or earning more money and sitting in front of the TV watching soaps or game shows or perhaps half the day drinking something alcoholic.
Do I spend money on some things that are probably foolish? Yeah. On the other hand, I have actually worked for that money and my family has been provided for 1st (you know: nice housing, good food, education, health care, recreation, social activity (not including beating people up or stealing things for fun or "need").
What do you do about people who somehow can't or won't work? Big question, we don't seem to have found the answer yet but a whole lot of what is being presently being done doesn't seem to be working. It is really expensive for something that isn't working. Except for politicians, they get to spend other peoples money and not be responsible for the bad results .
How about "go be on the dole someplace else.
The answer to your question, I suspect, is one of balance. Certainly, there should be provision for those unfortunate or unable to either work or take care for themselves. Yet at the same time there are those who seek to abuse this provision. I have personally known of someone who was unemployed, who didn't
want to be employed & who spent his time going around town drinking, smoking & going to the bookies. There have been documentaries on British TV showing people from Eastern Europe who intended coming to the UK simply to claim benefits: (This is one of the hot topics in the current debate here in the UK about remaining or leaving the EU). Another notorious case was an episode of the TV show
Wife Swap. The first family had two children and both partners working. They earned £32,000 a year. The second family had six children and neither partner worked. They earned £37,000 a year. What infuriated many viewers was the wife of the second family could not understand why everyone was complaining; they had a very a comfortable standard of living, without realising that was
exactly what people were infuriated about; they had a better standard of living than the family where both partners worked. (I believe they did eventually get jobs).
I am
not saying that these examples are representative. Indeed it is often the more extreme examples which are seized upon by the media & ambitious politicians or whoever has an axe to grind to make their point & are blown out of all proportion. Yet there is still a problem.
Another problem is that of long term unemployment in a region, possibly brought about by the collapse of a local industry. As Jerry Pournelle in his
CoDominion series says there are people who have been brought up in a situation where several
generations of families had not worked; where there had never been the
concept of working. In a situation like that it would be very hard to break the cycle & find a job, let alone a career. He referred to them as Welfare Islands, describing the ghettoization of these districts. Certainly there are deprived areas of several big cities in the UK that that description could apply to; (think Frank Gallagher &
Shameless). Similar examples can be found in other countries. Another point Jerry Pournelle also made was that if you have people; (civil servants) whose jobs are dependant on caring for the unemployed then it is in their interests to ensure that unemployment continues. Thus long term unemployment becomes an accepted part of the social structure.
One thing that should be remembered regarding Haven was that this situation was deliberately fostered by the Mesan Alignment as a means of crippling the Republic.
P.S. I have been unemployed several times at different periods. Several times when I was young, once in my late twenties & long term from forty into my mid fifties after I had been made redundant. Certainly I spent a lot of my time looking for work. I have also been to university, done various courses & voluntary work to gain additional experience & keep my job skills alive. For the last eight or nine years I acted as carer for both my parents. (I was actually claiming unemployment benefit but I was their defacto carer). Would I have liked a job? Damn right; (although when I was caring for mum it probably would have been impractical). Since her death my own health has deteriorated precipitously but I am still looking for work that may be suitable. The reason I mention this is that I am an example of someone who is in the same situation as described in this thread. One amongst many who is trying to do the best I can & hoping for something better. Yet there are going to be those in different circumstances who won't, either not wanting to or not being able to & who would accept the situation for what it is & not try to change it.
