Crush Liberalism

Ramifications of having a welfare state

Look at our pals in Great Britain:

Nearly ten million people in Britain are out of work – more than six times the official unemployment rate – it was revealed last night.

The ‘hidden army’ of jobless accounts for a quarter of the working-age population.

Critics said the staggering numbers represented a ‘huge pool of wasted talent’ and fuelled concerns about the drain on the economy.
…
But in the small print, the ONS figures reveal that the real total is 9.6million, because a further 7.95million people in Britain are classed merely as ‘economically inactive’.

They are not listed as unemployed but do not go to work because they are sick, looking after family or simply refuse to find a job.

Oh my. “Economically inactive” is quite the euphemism to describe people who “simply refuse to find a job”, wouldn’t you say? That’s like saying that Bubba is “loyally inactive” because he simply refuses to leave the interns alone. Continuing:

… Kieran O’Keeffe, policy adviser for the British Chambers of Commerce, described the increase as ‘worrying’.

He added: “Whilst we accept that many people cannot work for valid reasons, such as those with caring responsibilities or in early retirement, there are many more that are claiming welfare in one form or another.

“These represent a “hidden unemployed”, lost within the complexity of official statistics.

“This underlines the urgent need to find a long-term solution to welfare dependency, which, if left unchecked, will condemn a growing proportion of the working population to a cycle of low aspiration and worklessness.”

This one galls me:

“Many of these people could work, and would want to work, if given the right incentives and support.”

How’s this for an incentive? “No work, no money!” There. Problem solved.

Obviously, those who are sick or are primarily responsible for a child or someone sick are not who I’m talking about here. But I have a real problem with people who refuse to work and live off of the public dole to fund their chosen lifestyle of lethargy. No scratch that: I don’t have a problem with that…the UK does.

If you reward bad behavior, you will get more of it.

August 16, 2007 - Posted by crushliberalism | economic ignorance