Welfare Reform - "...it’s about fairness and enterprise."

[WhiskeyGirl]

Every once in a while I come across an article that sums up my thinking in just a few sentences.  This is one of them.

"Europe and Britain sinking under weight of welfare costs"

How can we justify the incomes of those out of work rising faster than the incomes of those in work, he asks, or giving flats to young people who have never worked when working people twice their age still have to live with their parents because they cannot afford a separate home?

More emotively still, he asked how it was possible to justify a system where people in work have to consider the costs of having another child, while those who are out of work don’t. By raising these questions, Osborne gives voice to a strongly populist message, but he also speaks to an underlying, economic imperative – advanced economies are long past the stage of being able to afford such largesse.

In his speech, Osborne was aiming only at the easy political targets of entitlement spending – for want of a better term, the “social scroungers”, or those who choose welfare over work...

Osborne rejected the case for tax cuts yesterday, but actually, putting money back in people’s pockets is the best thing he could do to support demand and give the British economy a fighting chance against the winds blowing in from Europe.

To be effective, such tax cuts cannot be temporary, but must be permanent, and therefore funded with far more draconian action on welfare than we have seen to date. Cameron and Osborne need to ask themselves just three questions. What are they in government for? Is it compromise and defeat? Or reform, growth and a sustainable future?

read more here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/9595165/Europe-and-Britain-sinking-under-weight-of-welfare-costs.html

In the current environment there are a lot of good people out of work.  Folks who really want a job.

On the other hand, there are folks that have never worked in their life, continue to have one child after another, and seemingly have no plans to ever get a job. 

What is Obama willing to do to give the American economy a fighting chance?  Make America's economy work for able bodied people willing to work?

Lots of interesting stuff in the news today.

[WhiskeyGirl]

The second part of this is simply "jobs solve a lot of problems" - not original to me.

I read this somewhere a long time ago.  It was about providing young people with jobs.  Minimum wage if needed.  The idea being that even a medial job kept them off the streets, tired them out, and helped them be productive members of society.  No time to grab a gun and go shoot up the neighborhood.  It's the CM theory - exercise, obedience, and affection - in that order.

If more young people had to work to survive instead of living on welfare would there be less violence?  Fewer neglected children?

If more young people had to walk to school instead of taking a bus or getting a ride would they be better able to concentrate in school?

Jobs solve a lot of problems.  Why aren't they a priority?  Why is the priority gun control, higher welfare payments, and making excuses for bad behavior?