I'd go so far as to wager that if any company or government institution listed jobs for no pay, only comprehensive health care benefits, in exchange for 20 hours a week of work, they'd be FLOODED with applicants instantly - the very same people that some of the young people on this board call "lazy", because they can't find jobs or the jobs they have do not include health care benefits at all.
@Penelope 1st the main discussion was about unemployment benefits...nobody was talking about the elderly. 2nd the money the elderly had stolen from them for 50 yrs is gone. It did not sit in a room until that person retired. The money they are now receiving is borrowed (using their kids and grandkids as collateral) so it is not their money. If I didn't already know how economically and politically ignorant you are I'd say you were trolling.
lol they don't need to stay on welfare they could get a real job and this would encourage them. If your working whether your unemployed or not it discourages lazy people from just staying on welfare.
I really don't get how leftists can view this as a sustainable or healthy economy. To me it would be pretty damn obvious that the Spanish government is too big and has gotten in the way of legitimate business.
I think many welfare programs in the States already require some type of 'work activity' for the person to receive cash benefits; be it volunteering with a non-profit, enrolling in educational/job training programs, attending school, etc. Single parents with infants of a certain age and disabled persons are exempt from the work activity requirements for benefits. Of course this is all ran by a inept and cash strapped government so I cannot attest to the success or reinforcement of these programs. Here is the info page from my state's program (this particular cash assistance program is for families) Department of Human Services | WorkFirst NJ (NJ's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - TANF)
@Garrison I comepletely agree that insurance and health care costs are outrageous. Do you think companies would offer the type of job you referred to (20 hrs/week for benefits) if wage laws were thrown out? I think it is very possible companies would. Instead of creating new laws they should throw out a lot of current laws.
Workfare, working for your welfare check, was started in NYC by Guiliani, and has been tried in other cities and various countries. It caused homlessness and other problems, and replaces qualified working people with cheap labor from the welfare rolls, creating unemployment. A much better idea is to make welfare recipients prove that they have been looking for a job, and give them job training, classes in interview skills, and other things that will help them get a real job. There's a long list of articles about te overall failure of Workfare, here: The cruel truth about US workfare « UnfairWorkFare
[quote name='"LDSR"']It's an interesting idea/program. On one hand it seems better than the current U.S. benefits system. On the other hand getting rid of minimum wage laws, regulations, and lowering taxes would do a lot to get people paying jobs...and reduce reliance on gov't benefits.[/quote] I second this idea over op
[quote name='"garrison68"']Although it's pathetic that it's come to this, in America (which is currently in last place for health care in the industrialized world), many unemployed and/or retired people, including myself, would gladly "volunteer" 20 or so hours a week in a job to get our health insurance and dental bills paid - but there is no such thing, at least not in America. What we really need is major health care reform - among other things.[/quote] Go donate 20 hrs at McDonald's I'm sure there hiring
McDonalds health care benefits suck, I'd rather work part time at a job that I'm qualified for, and forego money for a good HMO. McDonald's health insurance plans: not lovin' it - Oct. 5, 2010
@James Because the average "leftist" doesn't understand basic economics. Spain's 25% unemployment rate is probably rich peoples' fault in their minds...and it's easier to believe bullshit than to actually learn truth and let go of the bullshit.
[quote name='"garrison68"'] McDonalds health care benefits suck, I'd rather work part time at a job that I'm qualified for, and forego money for a good HMO. McDonald's health insurance plans: not lovin' it - Oct. 5, 2010[/quote] " I want I want I want" thats all I ever hear from you my friend what do you have to offer?
Probably the best way a disabled or retired person could help the common good would be to volunteer in schools. The environment would allow them to have access to handicapped facilities and work while seated in a climate controlled atmosphere. Most older people went through a much different and more advanced study course than kids do today. Their general knowledge alone would be a great help mentoring students, and it would take a huge load off the teachers when sub-par students have one on one with a tutor...
A lifetime of experience, from the streets to all kinds of jobs including manual labor, manufacturing, civil service to the giants of the financial industry. We have the worst healhcare of any country in the industrialized world, and it's a national disgrace. This country does not want intelligent, hard working people anymore, they want the cheapest possible help here, and outsourcing to other countries to cut costs, and quality, even further . I don't need their stinking money, I need decent healthcare and I'm paying way too much for it, even though it's subsidized. There are tens of millions of people without the means to even get an HMO like I have, because we SUCK at providing for our own people. The prisoners all have healthcare. The detainees at Guantanimo have not only great heathcare, they get dental implants if they need them - which can cost five to six thousand per tooth and most dental plans don't even cover them (I know this because I'm in the process of getting two on my own with my own money for a bill in excess of five figures ). I'd work for free to have my dental bills, and/or HMO covered - but this isn't even allowed. Fucking pisses me off.
@Garrison If your problem is with the price of health care you should focus on the causes...gov't intervention in the industry that keeps the free market from functioning and the federal reserve that facilitates rampant inflation. It sounds like you are advocating more gov't intervention. Explain to me how gov't intervention can solve problems created by gov't intervention. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King Jr.
The governments and medical industries of every single industrialized nation in the world have done better than ours has. There is no reason why we can't have healthcare at least as good as anybody else. We should have the BEST in the world, nothing less. What we do NOT need is a totally unregulated heathcare industry, like some people here suggest. And we do need Medicare for seniors, which happens be the best thing about American healthcare, along with supplemental insurance which covers conditions and treatments not included under Medicare. We are getting fucked because the system is broken, yes the government is often wrong and the healthcare corporations take advantage of it. They do not want to offer affordable private individual polices, because it's more expensive for them - they'd rather do business with IBM or other industries, and deal with the companies' benefits office, rather than the patients themselves. This is called greed. It's time to fix that. Hopefully this Obamacare is a step in the right direction. There is something seriously wrong with a capitalistic democracy that makes it almost impossible for people to buy something that is a basic human need. I've had insurance at jobs that was great, but now pay more than my fair share for insurance, which is subsidized by the state - and it's about time that tens of millions of uninsured Americans got the same deal that corporations and government employees get - with CHOICES. It can work, but the lobbyists from the healthcare industry have the Republican party on the payroll to prevent it from becoming a reality. It is up to the people of America to see it does come about, and made to work. For crissakes, we can't do worse than last place.
From what I am told on this side of the river that is how things work but ...what is available to you depends on your education level; they give them some type of test to see what grade level they are at in math and literacy. Lil bit stupid considering most welfare recipients are also recipients of sub-standard American edumications... Also, I do some volunteer work for a charity that is down the block from my shop and they have one welfare worker there and they don't even have the budget for overtime much less one more payed employee. Same goes for many non-profits, they aren't taking jobs from people because there aren't any jobs to give. Kind of amazes me due to the bankroll the particular non-profit I am speaking of has, but they are effin tight on money.
[quote name='"garrison68"'] A lifetime of experience, from the streets to all kinds of jobs including manual labor, manufacturing, civil service to the giants of the financial industry. We have the worst healhcare of any country in the industrialized world, and it's a national disgrace. This country does not want intelligent, hard working people anymore, they want the cheapest possible help here, and outsourcing to other countries to cut costs, and quality, even further . I don't need their stinking money, I need decent healthcare and I'm paying way too much for it, even though it's subsidized. There are tens of millions of people without the means to even get an HMO like I have, because we SUCK at providing for our own people. The prisoners all have healthcare. The detainees at Guantanimo have not only great heathcare, they get dental implants if they need them - which can cost five to six thousand per tooth and most dental plans don't even cover them (I know this because I'm in the process of getting two on my own with my own money for a bill in excess of five figures ). I'd work for free to have my dental bills, and/or HMO covered - but this isn't even allowed. Fucking pisses me off. [/quote] Maybe YOUR dental bill is so high because Guantanimo is free? And why? Government!! So what's Mr street smarts answer? Government.