Kickin Em While They Are Down

[Shell B]

I don't know if anyone cares, but people who are on unemployment in the United States have to go to job seminars and provide proof of their job searches weekly. There are even job placement and job training programs available through the government. It's not as if every person on unemployment is a lazy asshole. Extensions are important for many families.

I have been lucky enough not to have to use these programs. No matter what happens to my current job market, I can cook like a motherfucker and there is always a need for that. I do have a friend who is an electrician. He has more than 15 years of experience. He hasn't been able to find a job for almost a year. He is not lazy. He is not a drug addict or a dipshit. He's an awesome guy who simply can't find a job. Yes, prisoners have better health care than he does.

I think it is sometimes easy to forget that some of these arguments occur between people who live in different countries. People in the UK had their witch trials before us, so they're way over executions, while we still dwell on it.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I don't know if anyone cares, but people who are on unemployment in the United States have to go to job seminars and provide proof of their job searches weekly.

We've had the same thing here for over a decade; I worked for Social Security,which is VERY different from the US version.

Here,recipients of unemployment are given job dairies,which contain tear-out vouchers. The person must have a specified number completed each fortnight.The vouchers must be stamped and signed by employers approached and attached to the fortnightly form to receive benefit. This is called 'the work's test. The Social Security Act (1947) states that to receive unemployment (called 'Newstart' here) a person " must be available for and actively seeking full time employment". There are penalties for' failing the works test', such as cancellation of benefit,or delay/ suspension for up to 3 months.These penalties are imposed regularly.

[Dotard]

Yes one must submit job searches to continue receiving unemployment benefits.

However that is most easily faked here in S. Texas. All you have to do is keep a record of searches but you do not have to submit it regularly. They require you to submit it 'only if requested'. If you don't have one, you get cut off.
You're required to submit 4-5 apps a week.

All that is required is 4-5 contacts per week listing the name of the company contacted and the person you spoke with about employment. In my big city someone is always having some kinda job fair somewhere. Show up to one, drop 5 resume's and you are done for the week. Or just call any random company, "Hi! Are you hiring?" "Sorry, not at this time." "Ok, Thanks!".
Get their name, put on list, done.

There were many times in my life I found myself unemployed. I milked the unemployment to the last day.

The problem is unemployment, for many, pays well. I milked the system because it paid just slightly less than my regular 40 hour a week paycheck and I didn't have to work for it. I got to live the life of Riley. Everyday I got to do what I wanted to do, camping, fishing, build my fish ponds, manicure my lawns, play mindless video games, etc. etc.

I met more than a few 'Cadillac Driving Welfare Queens' during those times. They are not a myth. They collect benefits, get a live in employed boyfriend, free housing and enough disposable cash to turn Adrian green with envy.

If you cut the benefit amounts in 1/2, no one is going to starve to death, you should come to a welfare or unemployment office here in S.Texas and see all the fat-asses sitting in there. I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut 95% of those people could go a week with zero food and still be overweight fat-asses.

I went and applied for food stamps once during my milking days and got approved for $300 a month. $300!! I don't know about where you live but here in S.Texas there was no way in hell I could go through $300 worth a food in a month. Unless it was the finest steaks and lobsters. I found myself asking friends and neighbors what they wanted from the grocery store that I could buy for them just so I could spend the entire $300. Hell, I was even selling food items. I'll take you to the store, you get what you want, pay me 50%.

My sister and her hubby and 2 kids got $300 a WEEK in food stamps. You should see that family, every one of them is an obese tub o' lard. (Doesn't mean I love 'em any less.)

My contention is if you cut the benefit amounts in half and the incentive for these welfare suckers to get off their fat-asses and find a job will increase tremendously.

Sad but that is the way it is here in S.Texas. Get a job, work and eat beans and Ramen noodles, get your clothing and household goods from the thrift (used) store or get some of that fine public assistance and eat steak and shop at the walmart!

If faced with that reality, what choice do you think most people would choose?

Typical Unemployment office in S.Texas:

[youtube]8mfpShhxkrA[/youtube]

[Tiberius]

Wow, me and Dotard agree on something politically.

The world has gone crazy!

[lrh9]

I call bullshit on the Welfare Queen. It's a lie.

[Shell B]

I call bullshit on the Welfare Queen. It's a lie.

No, it isn't. You're either kidding or flaming, though, so it hardly matters.

[lrh9]

I call bullshit on the Welfare Queen. It's a lie.

No, it isn't. You're either kidding or flaming, though, so it hardly matters.

That's YOUR assertion, but you're wrong. It is a lie. One that I'm calling bs on.

[Ashendant]

I call bullshit on the Welfare Queen. It's a lie.

No, it isn't. You're either kidding or flaming, though, so it hardly matters.

That's YOUR assertion, but you're wrong. It is a lie. One that I'm calling bs on.

Welfare queens are not a lie, even in portugal those are seen, however welfare queens are not the majority, but still a big problem, Education is also a alternative for people that can't find employment

[lrh9]

Ashendant:

It's good rhetoric. I can give it that. However, the idea of the welfare queen as in common consciousness is based on a lie. Even if it weren't, it is still a gross misrepresentation of the actuality of most welfare cases. It isn't even a valid indicator that the welfare system needs major reform. The number of cases that are inaccurate is well less than 10% of all cases, and that includes bureaucratic errors both in favor of the recipient and in favor of the government. The variance and average dollar values of those errors are also well less than what anti-welfare demagogues want people to believe.

[Tiberius]

Do you just deny everything that doesn't fit with your little imagining of how the world is? If welfare fraud wasn't a problem, it wouldn't reported again and again by the press. Every welfare system has problems; Dotard admitted to milking the system, and to knowing others who had. Flatly denying it happens does nothing to help the problem.