UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

by Anonymous 3:34 AM 0 COMMENTS

With our current economic circumstances large numbers of people are collecting unemployment benefits. Most of these people want to work. However work is not easy to find. Where do we as a nation draw the line between helping people down on their luck and controlling spending?

First let me explain why I want to see unemployment benefits cut:

1. We can't afford it
We need to make many cuts across the board. Our debt and our budget deficits are the greatest danger our nation is facing. I don't think people realize where we are heading. We are on a path to a situation much worse than Greece. Unemployment is just one of many areas we need to cut.

2. Something for nothing destroys character and self worth
The dole destroys lives and communities. Look at what the welfare state has done to the inner cities, and the family unit. There is a certain amount of growth that comes from earning your own way.

Obviously we can not make drastic across the board cuts in unemployment benefits overnight. Before we make any substantial cuts we must first implement policies that will create a climate of job growth. Three things in particular are most needed:

• Enforcement of existing immigration laws
• Less regulation and taxation of small businesses
• An end to disastrous free trade agreements

Even if we were to get all of these common sense policies in place, it will take some time to see the full results. We would have to scale down the benefits over time.

Plan B
Let's face it, the people that are in power right now will never go for these policy shifts. I doubt the Republicans would do it either; they certainly did not in the past. What is plan B? After six months of collecting unemployment benefits a person must do a certain amount of public service a week. Put them to work! Have people doing public works projects, work as volunteers in schools. If I was on unemployment I would want this. I would want the satisfaction that comes from knowing you earned your check.

I'm not talking about a New Deal we do not need to create huge new bureaucracies to do this. We could allow people to do volunteer work for many private charities such as the United Way and the Red Cross.

I know that most people right now want to work, but there are many that are milking the system. The days of sitting at home playing video games while collecting a government check are about to end. One only needs to look at the debt clock to understand it’s coming to an end. The question is; will it be like falling off a log, or falling off a cliff?