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This article makes it look like one can live modestly but comfortably without ever having having to work or prove you can't support yourself and family.
It seems too incredible to be true, IMO.
Can any of you separate the facts from fiction in this article when it comes to welfare payments in the UK?
Sounds about right to me. Here in Oz, you'd get the same. The more kids you pop out, the more money you get. Not sure about the UK but here you also get $5k in baby bonus on top of the benefits. Some might argue, oh but we need kids to be born to pay for the future generations' pensions but problem with these sorts of families is that the kids' only adult example is their parents happily lolling about on welfare, so why work? They end up doing the same as mum and dad more likely. We've already got 3rd-generation bludgers now.
Welfare is becoming less and less about giving people a hand when times are tough, and more and more about it being a deliberate lifetime career choice.
Sadly this will probably be true. Child benefit is payable on a 4 weekly basis for each child, ongoing until they leave school at 16 or 19 if they opt for further education. On top of this you will be given an allowance called 'Income Support' which is based on your family circumstances, ie ages of parents, number of children, health etc. If you have health problems (real or 'just for the system') you would qualify for more benefits in the form of Disability Living Allowances - two components are available, care and mobility. So if the parents are disabled and a couple of children are too that will bump their weekly allowances up quite nicely. On top of that they will qualify for full housing and council tax benefit (ie no rent or council tax will be payable by them, just the good old British taxpayer). Obviously they also get free health care for all, free prescriptions and if they are on Income Support will get free dental care too.
No incentives to work here really is there? Our benefit system needs a good shake-up because there are far too many like this family but maybe with fewer kids.
Yes, its true - I know in the US welfare payments for unemployment etc are temporary right? Not here.
Only about 30% of our population actually works - the current system of welfare will help further deteriorate our global standing as a world economic power. People I know here that claim welfare don't actually think of it as tax redistribution i.e there is a mentality that the government should provide! Add to this that our current PM wants to tax the wealthy and most productive worker even more and continue to cater policy to the very people claiming welfare.
Add to this that we have familes claiming asylum that live in multi-million pound houses in Kensington whilst our engineers live in modest apartments!
Add to this that our current PM wants to tax the wealthy and most productive worker even more and continue to cater policy to the very people claiming welfare.
The current US president wants the same thing. Sad, isn't it? What's as bad or worse is all the people who keep voting politicians like that into office. There are far to many people who think they deserve something rather than that they should earn it.
In the USA, unemployment benefits are temporary but Obama has extended the programs until the economy recovers.
There are other programs in the US which people abuse as well ... I overheard a woman at a Houston baseball game one day talking to her friend say this, "I need to get me another baby, I need the extra $350 a month." This is how welfare families come up - they have lots of kids to get lots of benefits from the government and usually they wind up with the wrong sort dealing drugs, gangs, prostitution, and many times in bad school districts. So with the parents busy (or not) trying to make ends meet, the teachers don't care / just want to live & meet quota, and nobody else really stepping in, these kids end up nowhere and the cycle continues.
I would strongly urge all working Britons to write their government and say that these benefits should be reformed. It sets terrible precedent.
What is Obama supposed to do - cut off the unemployment insurance??? There would be tens of thousands of families who would be homeless. He has no choice but to extend the unemployment insurance benefits and hope to god the economy recovers so that these people can get jobs.
What is Obama supposed to do - cut off the unemployment insurance??? There would be tens of thousands of families who would be homeless. He has no choice but to extend the unemployment insurance benefits and hope to god the economy recovers so that these people can get jobs.
True, but I think the debate is over any type of permanent social safety net that discourages productive behavior. Sure, a safety net is important, but it's also important for able-bodied people to lead productive lives when the opportunities are clearly present, no? I'd think both Americans and Britons would agree.
It won't be long before Atlas will shrug. Keep punishing the producers and they will leave. Then what will the big government, nanny state do? They condemn the wealthy as greedy yet can not fund their entitlement programs without the "evil" wealthy citizens.
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