Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, May 03, 2012

When did it become OK for Americans not to work?

My neighbor left his supermarket job and now gets a regular government check. In other words, he quit the work force and now feeds from the public trough.

He is healthy, and knows I do not approve of his sloth.

I wonder if my disdain for this scoundrel is fair or shared. When did it become okay for Americans not to work? Recently, Charles Murray, author of "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960 – 2010," wrote in the Wall Street Journal:

“It must once again be taken for granted that a male in the prime of life who isn't even looking for work is behaving badly. There can be exceptions for those who are genuinely unable to work or are house husbands. But reasonably healthy working-age males who aren't working or even looking for work, who live off their girlfriends, families or the state, must once again be openly regarded by their fellow citizens as lazy, irresponsible and unmanly. Whatever their social class, they are, for want of a better word, bums.”

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now we need answers instead of questions.Complacency is a terrible thing for those who were laid off or fired.Maybe they quit.Who knows?Everytown America is saturated with them.I hear them bragging about how they make as much on unemployment as they made when they were working.My answer is to wean them off gradually rather than pulling the rug out from under them.Fire a warning shot or two,then cut em off.

Anonymous said...

I think women with welfare babies do much more damage to the tax coffers than a man.
Both demographic's need to be cut off.

lmclain said...

Don't worry....it won't be long before a whole lot of those collecting checks will be cut off. The State, broke and getting broker by the minute, will be forced, if only by fiscal necessity, to find reasons to stop the checks. From city level (look at Salisbury's condition) to county level (Princess Anne is a glaring example) to state level to federal, its a house of cards waiting for a very tiny breeze to collapse. It can't be stopped or avoided. Printing money (stupid obama's solution) is #1 on the list of the most egregious and irresponsible things to stave said collapse off, and THAT will work temporarily, but in the end, makes the problem MUCH worse. Keep voting however--- I hear there are some people who say they can "fix things".

Anonymous said...

Everyone who is on welfare as a ways and means of existing as opposed to just a stepping stone to becoming self sufficient makes my blood boil. I too am tired of working, mentally, physicaly and emotionaly but I know that, that is what I must do. I work because I have work ethics and I am proud and have self worth. These people who are nothing more than a drain on society are like ticks and mosquitos and we don't allow ticks and mosquitos to keep draining us so why do we allow these dregs of soiciety to drain us?

Anonymous said...

The start of this story is a complete lie.no one can quit a job and recieve benifits.laid off or fired yes.I can't believe how easy it is to post lies and the sheep all start bahhing.

Anonymous said...

6:32
I had to quit a job right after we moved here because the daycare I had decided to close. I was able to get benefits but was penalized for I think it was 10 weeks. I found another daycare and another job in less than 2 week. This was years ago but there are certain instances where people quit and still can get benefits.
There could have been a few reasons he left his job.
Don't be so quick to judge.

Anonymous said...

I believe the person is correct.there used to be a penalty.since the state started paying out triple or more than usual they changed it.

Anonymous said...

/The government has made it too easy to be LAZY. No other word for it. Work ethics are gone, dignity is gone, all anyone wants is the money. They get more on unemployment and welfare than they get for working. SO why work? Make it so its more desirable to WORK instead of slouching off hard working people.

Anonymous said...

4:24.....Who do you think "makes" all those babies with those women?
And Federal Unemployment Extensions ended in April so anyone on unemployment longer than 6 months is about to be cut off if hey already have not been.

Anonymous said...

As someone said in an online forum last week,if you want to see Welfare fraud,go to any nail salon in any town on any given night.

Anonymous said...

@1:22 my guess, your guess, is as good as the mothers guess in most cases as the father is either in prison, dead or "relocated" going by another name.