Benefits debit card - best idea EVER!

[d000hg]

Isn't the benefits system part of the Welfare State, i.e. the state wants everyone to be able to find food and shelter regardless of circumstance? I think it's easy to see how that goes the way it has, because saying "if people don't want to work they can starve on the streets" is never going to be a popular stance.

I wonder what would happen if long-term unemployed weren't allowed to vote!

[Mich the Tester]

Feature creep and people realised that they could vote themselves more money for doing less.

I agree with everything else you put, by the way.

Could well be part of the problem, yes. But is Taylorism part of the problem too? I wonder whether some jobs are just so soul-crushingly dull that nobody will do them, and whether some low skilled jobs need more variety to provide a basic level of mental stimulation; perhaps businesses can look at this and see that letting people have some variety in their work might actually increase productivity and their feeling of contributing to something greater than themselves. Maybe there's a cynicism that's running through society from top to bottom. People see mediocre directors and failed bankers 'on the take' and follow the example. Of course, I don't think that's the whole problem either, but I think it's too easy to just point the finger at the people at the bottom of the pile and blame them without examining what so-called leaders can be doing to set an example.

[The Spartan]

I wonder what would happen if long-term unemployed weren't allowed to vote!

Workhouses
Coal mines?

[original PM]

Can we also have a special shop for people like OPM and eUK so the rest of us can avoid them too?

less of that or you will be off to the camps too...

:nazi:

[Robinho]

I believe it's pronounced "ze camps".

[Zippy]

This is a seriously carp idea. I'm not a bleeding heart liberal in any way, but why are we so hell bent on punishing and stripping the dignity of people who are out of work.

There are *some* benefit scroungers. There are *more* people who are out of work and desperately trying to find something. For many people out of work at the moment (some for whom this will be the first time that they can't work) the stress is huge. In their eyes, they have lost a large part of their self worth as they are unable to provide for their families; now let's just give them a bit more a of kicking by saying that they are not only a feckless cost on society but also not trustworthy enough to spend money. All because the daily wail wants to sell more copy and knows that there are few things better to raise the ire of the rabble than a good benefit scroungers story.

WHS

I'd go further and provide the equivalent of your last salary for three months. Means-tested, if you must. Nothing in it for the "life-long scroungers", but a valuable breathing space for the honest.
A few more onshore jobs wouldn't go amiss either.

[Robinho]

WHS

I'd go further and provide the equivalent of your last salary for three months. Means-tested, if you must. Nothing in it for the "life-long scroungers", but a valuable breathing space for the honest.
A few more onshore jobs wouldn't go amiss either.

Benefits should be the bear minimal for basic survival and attending interviews, basically enough so you can get yourself back on the horse.

If you want to live in luxuary when you're out of work, then save up more money when you are working. Though know saving is an alien concept in Britain now.

[minestrone]

The problem is that there are a lot of people that just do not have the ability to do even the most basic jobs.

Out world class education, education, education system has seen to that.

[socialworker]

1. People who lose their jobs already lose status in society and stigmatising them further with a special card would just be kicking them when they are down. It must be hard enough to hang on to your dignity without being singled out as a benefits claimant when you go to your local shop so everyone knows you have lost your job.

2. Real scallies would find a way round it

3. The best bargains for fruit and veg, meat etc are to be found in street markets which are strictly cash. Would you rather families are tied to buying cheap burgers from supermarkets rather than trying to make nutritious meal from scratch? It would kill local markets in poor areas.

[d000hg]

The problem is that there are a lot of people that just do not have the ability to do even the most basic jobs.

Out world class education, education, education system has seen to that.

People who never go to school are still able to do menial jobs. A problem is that we don't have that many truly menial jobs - picking stuff up and moving it around. Even working in McD requires a fairly substantial amount of training by idiot standards.

Still, if someone is smart enough to know how to place a bet at a bookies, I think they are smart enough to work.