[TheRevolution1776]

well, my thoughts on this would be the same for welfare in general as well. ANYONE receiving government supplemental income whether it’s unemployment, food stamps, HEALTH insurance (by the way the poor always had access to this, so where did they get their argument ?) and who is able bodied and of sound mind, should be forced to do community service. Help fix roads for free. How about making them hold the stop sign for 6 hours a day ? They should be out painting over graffiti etc... Seems like a cost effective way to save some money in local and state budgets. And the upside is it will deter many from slacking off in life. There is a job anywhere and people need to stop thinking that any job is beneath them. I’ve done some crappy jobs but it’s lead to my current place in time, without college too.

[Richard Kimball]

One of the problems with the hard core unemployed is that it's cheaper to send them money to stay away. Outfit I worked for hired a "youth program" to mow the lawns. After the first two times they showed up, we had to start locking all the doors. If they needed to use the bathroom or wanted to use the drinking fountain one of my workers had to escort them. Why? They stole anything that wasn't nailed down and we found some crack cocaine on the floor after they left once. One of them had come in and bought some candy from our fund. We're pretty sure it fell out of his pocket while he was getting his money.

There are some people out there seriously looking for work, but when the unemployment rate gets down to five percent, whoa nelly.

[BenKenobi]

I disagree. The solution is to cut the benefits off altogether, not to push indentured slavery.