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| Britain | |
| It's dads, not mums, we should push to work | |
| 2010-06-30 | |
| Sure Start. Childcare tax credit. Working Families Tax Credit... billions have gone into pushing mothers into work. This costly project -- so dear to Labour's feminists -- was wrong-headed not only because it went against the wishes of most mothers, who preferred part-time employment, but also because it drew from funds we now discover we didn't have. Also, just as bad, it distracted us from a huge and growing problem: fathers who didn't work. Frank Field, in his new role as Cameron's poverty guru, urgently wants to address the issue. He aims to stamp out the mentality that sees benefits, not hard work, as the means to survive. The coalition's new Work Programme, he predicts, will force millions of these young men to find a job or risk losing their benefits. Not, as now, "for up to six months", but for up to three years. Field is right to target benefits. The only way to wean these young fathers off the addictive lifestyle of being paid for doing nothing is cold turkey. For many of these young fathers, the threat of no more benefits is, literally, unheard of: their fathers, and their fathers before them, have milked the system for years, never getting a job. "Industry" is a foreign concept.
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| Posted by:lotp |
| #8 But Old Patriot - to the left the person's 'JOB' is to sit fat-dumb-and-happy and VOTE DEMOCRAT! (Early and Often in Chicago and Seattle....) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-06-30 15:45 |
| #7 One generation's safety net is the next generations' cradle. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-06-30 15:28 |
| #6 Both Britain and the US need to also crack down on an "education" system that doesn't prepare its students for even the most minimal type of job. Any "teacher" that has 25% or more of their class incapable of passing the minimum course requirements at the end of a term should be automatically terminated. That's going to require hammering HARD existing "teacher's unions" that protect incompetents from any form of consequences for their failure. I doubt that either the British or the American legislatures are willing to do that, so the cycle will continue. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2010-06-30 13:39 |
| #5 I can see a lot of this in certain places of the good-ole USA. My wife - who came here from the Philippines (read: no welfare or entitlements) is continually appalled when she see's the 'poor' here who are on welfare but fully able to work. It just amazes her that they can do that. The 'poor' here would be consider fairly well-off there. I think the only solution (here) is to ramp up training and education programs and then announce that welfare will end (not reform - stop dead!) in 1 year. And then simply end it. Welfare is an addiction which, as mentioned, you simply need to go 'cold-turkey'. Taking care of the 'poor' is not the Federal Government's business IMHO. If a state wants to do it - fine - they can use their own money. Hey - I can dream can't I? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-06-30 13:35 |
| #4 It's circular. The benefits were designed for those women with children whose baby-daddies (whether or not they are husbands) are unable to provide even minimal support. Therefore some husbands made themselves scarce that their wives could qualify for support... and the gold-diggers (ok, brass-diggers, but even so) pushed out their men so they could have the money without the effort of caring for the man who was willing to work to provide it. And of course, then the boys saw they could have their fun without taking responsibility, so why bother themselves? Unfortunately, no matter how unfair it is to the men who can't find work, as Scooter points out, the only way to break the cycle is cold turkey. It would be helpful if the men were offered training in some sort of employable trade before being cut off. ("Here, this is how you work a shovel on the road crew, and yes, you must bathe and brush your teeth every single day or you'll lose your place... and then you will not be able to go back on the dole.") |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-06-30 13:08 |
| #3 #1, from the article they don't refuse to work. There are simply no jobs that offer a living wage for native Brits with an ounce of self-respect. I think it IS tough trying to compete with immigrants who come from 3rd world hellholes and are glad for the chance to work 90 hours a week in nasty conditions for below minimum wage. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2010-06-30 12:31 |
| #2 Fathers are pushed out of the households so the mothers can qualify for government money. Fathers are taught they have no value except as sperm donors and so learn to behave that way. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-06-30 07:50 |
| #1 Cut them off. It's long past time that society does some social norming and sends the message that a given standard of living shouldn't exist for a person just because they are above ground and breathing. Able bodied and refuse to work? Suffer deprivation, humiliation, and starve in a gutter. Let these types see that a few times and I guarantee their attitude will change. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2010-06-30 05:42 |