What's with states like OK and LA?

[JohnFKennedy]

I prefer the saying:

"A Democrat sees the glass of water as half full. A Republican looks at the same glass and wonders who the hell drank half his glass of water."

- Jeff Cesario

[JohnFKennedy]

If the guy is starving, how's he gonna manage to catch his own fish

[JohnFKennedy]

ah, ok, what would work best would be a combination, if the first time he gave him a fish and then came back and gave him a fish and gradually taught the man to fish so that the guy would get good at it gradually and then be able to make it on his own without support but the person looks after him until he is firmly established in his ways.

Really, a combination of both works best.

[JohnFKennedy]

Well, it would be nice if it happened, the state supported the individual through the hard times bolstering their morale and giving them the abilities they needed to get back out to work.

Unfortunately lots of people on welfare here cheat the system by going out and doing cash-in-hand jobs so they get welfare but also money they make from those.

[JohnFKennedy]

thank you MarkDel, I like to think I am positive, some Democrats seem positive still to me, I would argue that that is the type of campaign that John Edwards is running.

I see what you mean about dignity, but some people, to be brutally honest, don't mind sitting around doing nothing and getting a pay-off from the government, if I ran the country (God willing someday I will run britain ) I would implement a new welfare system, where people are given benefits, but are also given the opportunity to learn new skills at classes organised by the government to help them get back into society and become fully functioning members of it. It would be good for the economy, however, I would keep the benefits as many people on benefits are those who couldn't go out to work such as single parents who can't afford the costs of child care.

[JohnFKennedy]

Are people who are unemployed, along with receiving benefits, encouraged to attend government funded classes to learn new skills to help them keep up with the world today?

[JohnFKennedy]

By new skills I meant useful skills not things like teaching them to be a better checkers player .

[JohnFKennedy]

A large proportion of unemployed people are illiterate and innumerate I believe, yes?

teaching them to read and write and count would be the most useful thing.

Other useful skills would be computer skills and academic skills but also manual skills, such as mechanics and things like that.

[JohnFKennedy]

But how do we define good jobs?

I personally believe that there should be a wide range of skills, available for the unemployed to learn and that they should be given the choice of government course which they do to help them get back into work, some jobs just aren't suited to people and so they should have the right to choose the job that they try to get back into society doing.