Welfare = Failure

The welfare state fails.





One in five Britons grow up in households where no-one goes to work


By Steve Doughty
20th January 2010
Daily Mail



One in five young children is being raised in a home that relies on jobless benefits, an official count revealed yesterday.

Nearly 2.4million children and teenagers live with parents who depend on means-tested state handouts - a third more than previous estimates.

Among them are 722,800 babies and toddlers aged four and under, a fifth of all youngsters, according to the figures produced by the ministry that pays out jobless benefits.

The analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions shows that in May 2008, 2,397,410 children 18 and under lived in homes where a parent or guardian was claiming a meanstested out-of-work benefit.


A Whitehall estimate last year put the figure at 1.8million.

The figures have angered critics of the Government's welfare policies.

Jill Kirby, of the centre-Right think tank Centre for Policy Studies, said: 'The Government is failing on the one measure which back in 1997 it said would be the most important in judging its record.

'Tony Blair and Gordon Brown said workless households were the key problem they were going to overcome. It has clearly gone wrong. Things are going in the wrong direction.

'The benefits system is creating and increasing dependency, so more children are growing up without any experience of what it is like for someone to have a job.'

Researcher and author on the family Patricia Morgan said: 'This is a very high number.

'From the estimates that I have seen in the past, it is clear that there has been little or no improvement over the last ten years, despite the way people have been deluged with in-work benefits like tax credits.

'This is a dreadful comment on the past decade of welfarism.'

Children who grow up in homes where no one works are less likely than others to do well at school, enjoy good health, get work as adults, and avoid the traps of drugs, crime and single parenthood.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: 'Our Child Poverty Bill will commit this and successive governments to eradicating child poverty by 2020.'










welfare

Obama: Rent our/your house and we pay you.

Obama mulls rental option for some homeowners-sources

Tue Jul 14, 2009


NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. government officials are weighing a plan that would let borrowers who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments avoid eviction by renting their homes instead, sources familiar with the administration's thinking said on Tuesday.

Under one idea being discussed, delinquent homeowners would surrender ownership of their homes but would continue to live in the property for several years, the sources told Reuters.
Officials are also considering whether the government should make mortgage payments on behalf of borrowers who cannot keep up with their home loans, tapping an unused portion of a $50 billion housing aid kitty.

As part of this plan, jobless borrowers might receive a housing stipend along with regular unemployment benefits, the sources said. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Diane Craft)


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The above idea is a very European, specifically British idea! I know - I know people in England who receive benefits and the government pays their mortgage.

This is a very English idea ... just like their health care system!









Obama strikes again

Boston: On Welfare, get a free car.

I'm moving to Boston, going on welfare and living a much less stressed lifestyle.




Free cars for poor fuel road rage
By Hillary Chabot
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Boston Herald

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.
“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading).

The Patrick administration decided last month to funnel an additional $30,000 to the nearly $400,000 annual car ownership program.

The program, which is provided by the State Department of Transitional Assistance, gives out about 65 cars a year, said DTA Commissioner Julia Kehoe.

The state pays for the car’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for one year at a total cost of roughly $6,000 per car.

The program, which started in 2006, distributes cars donated by non-profit charities such as Good News Garage, a Lutheran charity, which also does the repair work on the car and bills the state.

Kehoe defended the program, saying the state breaks even by cutting welfare payments to the family - about $6,000 a year.
“If you look at the overall picture, this helps make sure people aren’t staying on cash assistance. It’s a relatively short payment for a long-term benefit,” Kehoe said.
But Kehoe admitted about 20 percent of those who received a car ended up back on welfare, and while they lose the insurance and other benefits, they don’t have to return the car.
“Given the state’s fiscal condition, paying for AAA and auto inspection costs is outrageous,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). “There are so many families out there trying to deal with layoffs and pay cuts. You have to wonder what the state’s priorities are at this point.”
Applicants for cars must have a job or prove they could get one if they had the car in order to qualify. Once they have the wheels, they must send DTA their pay stubs to prove they are employed.
To get the cars, they must be unable to reach work by public transportation and have a clean driving record. The program is only available to families on welfare with children.
Kehoe said the bulk of cars go to places with less public transportation, such as Fitchburg, New Bedford and Lowell.

“I can’t believe there are no restrictions on how they use the car,” Jones said. “I just don’t see this as a core function of government.”











liberalism