An interview with an extraordinarily candid fellow on welfare in the UK: he doesn’t want a job and doesn’t see any reason why he should have to get one. It’s his choice, his ethos.
[flv:https://www.anglicansamizdat.net/wordpress/videos/I_don’t_want_a_job.flv 480 360]
‘The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?’ said Scrooge.
‘Are there no prisons?”
‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
‘And the Union workhouses.’ demanded Scrooge. ‘Are they still in operation?’
‘Both very busy, sir.’
‘Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’
It would be interesting to know how many folks like him there are on welfare. No doubt the system is very broken, and I don’t know what the answer is. Did you know that in Ottawa, Ontario “Works” thinks that $300 a month for rent is adequate. What kind of a place do you think you can rent for $300 a month? Did you also know, that if you get even a part time job, what you earn is clawed back from your welfare cheque? Where is the incentive to take the part time job that might eventually lead to a full time job?
Welfare was originally intended to be a hand up, meaning a temporary measure for those who needed the help. Unfortunately, we have had far too many years of Liberal/socialist governance in Canada (and most of the Western countries) that welfare has become an entitlement and a permement hand out.
Jesus forgive me, but I don’t have much sympathy for those who have no interest in getting off the welfare roll. I have been unemployed since the end of October, and am starting a new job on Tuesday. If I can find work in less than 5 months (including the painfully slow month of December) in this economy, than what is wrong with so many people who have been on welfare for literally years?
How many people have been on welfare for “literally years”? Do you know?
I assume you have education and job skills. How about the 55 year old miner who just got laid off, and has never done anything else? Or the fellow who got a job with an auto company straight out of high school and the plant closed? Or the workers in the Hershey plant in Smiths Falls, same thing?
The problem with welfare is not the “socialists”. It was Mike Harris and his small minded cuts that made the situation so bad in Ontario. If welfare is to be a hand up, there ought to be stepping stones – you ought not to have the amount of your wages clawed back for getting a part time job. Furthermore, the minimum wage should provide a living wage to people. I heard a man being interviewed on the radio, who is working cleaning offices in Ottawa. He makes $900 a month, and his rent is $1000. Issues of poverty are not as simple as you think.
Hello Kate,
It is surprisingly difficult to find any statistics that show how long people are on welfare, and consequently I am forced to rely on personal observations (which are admittedly limited). I have observed in a neighbourhood where I lived that there are numerous families that are and have been on welfare for years. They make no secret of it. They openly talk with each other outside the local public school, complaining about how little they are given, and sharing advice on how to get more (often this entails having another baby). I have NEVER heard any of them say so much as one thing about getting even a part time job. It is these people, the ones who are unwilling to “help themselves” (they don’t even try) while at the same time complaining about what my tax dollars are doing for them, that I have a hard time feeling sorry for.
I will say this. I fully agree that for those who do work they should be paid a livable wage. I find it offensive in the extreme that we start paying income taxes while our incomes are still below the poverty line (base personal exemptions are $9,104 for Ontario Income Tax and $10,527 for Federal Income Tax). I also find it disgusting that our minimum wage laws ($10.25 per hour or about $20,500 per year in Ontario) allow employers to pay wages that are below the poverty line (for which there does not appear to be an “official” amount thus making this a hard one to quantify).
Here is info on the poverty line:
http://www.ccsd.ca/factsheets/fs_ncwpl01.htm
I do agree that welfare reform is necessary. I get nervous when politicians start talking about it though, because it usually translates into across the board cuts, rather than taking a good hard look at the system and figuring out what changes need to be made in order to make it work.
I had a friend who had a job offer – I can’t remember if he was on welfare or not, I think he might have been. All he needed was a pair of steel toed boots. He went to ask welfare for the money to buy them, and they said no.
I just noticed that those stats are ten years old, sorry about that.
Here are some more recent stats:
http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/provincial/Ontario/2010OntarioReportCardEnglish.pdf