Still stories like this will hurt those of us whose taxes are used this way.

In fact, I have met British and Aussie people in Thailand who have a relatively good life based on welfare recipts from “home”.

I suppose any kind of support system will have its misusers????

I have a lot of sympathy for people out of work because they can’t find a decent job. I’ve been there. I spent the better part of three years in a row there, actually, and in the process completely exhausted the generosity of my family and friends for life. It sucks.

But I was _looking_ for work. If I’d been offered work, I’d have taken it, and I was doing everything in my power to put myself in the path of offers. I wasn’t sitting on my butt cashing checks funded with tax dollars and talking about how I just couldn’t be bothered to even investigate the possibility of a job.

There’s a big difference between down-on-your-luck and lazy. And this woman’s story is absolutely textbook “lazy”. In fact, if laziness were a medical condition, doctors would be suspicious that a patient meeting the diagnostic criteria as completely, precisely, and thoroughly as she does might be faking it.

Of course she is starting to look for a job now – right after they threaten to cut off her “income.” It is however as much the government’s fault as it is hers. There has to be an enabler. This is the same as I see with members of my family: My father provided a livelihood with his restaurant and now that it is gone, they are regretting gambling away all their earnings and have to scramble to earn a third of what they used to.

Money that wasn’t earned is a pox. It generates an attitude of entitlement and sloth and leads to bitterness.

“We all patronize businesses on a daily basis. From time to time one may run into a business with a “now hiring” sign on the door. Wouldn’t one say to oneself, I will inquire about a position here, considering I am not currently employed and am tired of living on next to nothing from month to month? But, that is my thought process! I cannot force this type of logic on others.”

I do this often. Turns out that almost invariably, the employer has a hard-to-fill position available. For example, restaurants often have higher standards for servers than for dishwashers. (And in my area, the number of job openings for dishwashers has apparently plummeted in the past month or so.)

It is very tedious and time-consuming to look for a job if you don’t have a car. a local newspaper, or an internet connection, unless a large number of employers is clustered (as, perhaps, in a shopping mall).

Whilst it’s easy for me to say she should get a job etc. etc., I don’t come from such a deprived background, so I don’t really know what struggles they’ve had. But I do know that others have managed to do it, and after all of this time someone must have offered her a job.

Personally, if there was no “system” to help people be lazy then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I have a very low tolerance of laziness because if I can work a full-time office job and I also coordinate weddings with five children and I am also the wife of a Pastor then everyone else can too! But thats my logic!

Don’t get me wrong, if one is terminally or mentally ill or a senior citizen or a paraplegic or an amputee, then obviously one cannot work and would require assistance. I will even go as far to say that stay at home moms/dads are even at liberty to stay home if that is your household arrangement. But, to stay home just because you do not want to take orders from someone in exchange for a paycheck or because you never “get around” to going to look for a job is absurd.

We all patronize businesses on a daily basis. From time to time one may run into a business with a “now hiring” sign on the door. Wouldn’t one say to oneself, I will inquire about a position here, considering I am not currently employed and am tired of living on next to nothing from month to month? But, that is my thought process! I cannot force this type of logic on others.

Make money which in turn will make it a great day!!!!!!!

this is where the US is heading…sad sad sad. economies are trying to directly square up and make a play against natural selection which is a LOSING battle…just like the US’s attempt to over come globalization with bullshit trade/tax policies. I lol all the way to the grave…fucking depressing.

just like poorly run businesses, poorly run people should FAIL. you can say I lack empathy, but don’t call me a liar.

@Jennifer: I linked to the article before any commentary, as I assumed that readers would read the article. Second, I myself assumed he did work *but* she chose not to look for work prior to the family (plus I do say that I understand not working to raise a family).

It sounds to me like Elizabeth has been a stay at home mom for the past 20+ years. It’s weird that the author didn’t bother to mention if Elizabeth’s late husband worked.

“Lazy”

Probably, but the UK economy is substantially different from that in the US. Opportunities abound here, not so much there.

There is a large underclass in the UK, and while I do not know for a fact, I suspect there is widespread distrust among employers and job discrimination against people who live in council housing. (Their address (and perhaps also their speech) would give it away, much like when someone here lives in public housing. When I delivered pizzas, every employee knew exactly where the public housing projects were located, as we did not deliver to them, and would not accept orders from those addresses.)

I consider government “job” and “training” offices in the US to be largely worthless, or at least of limited value/ These offices are not there for the jobseeker – they exist for the convenience of the employer. They act as gatekeepers for employers – I can find five jobs I’d like to apply for, and the state employment office can find reasons to weed me out of four jobs, leaving me with ONE job referral for a full morning or full afternoon of my time. And the training programs are to train jobseekers for jobs employers cannot otherwise fill on their own. It’s never about you, and always about the employer.

She failed to plan, thus she planned to fail. Having said that, the UK economy has greater unemployment (rate) than the US, and I’m not sure what bottom-rung job opportunities exist there. (There is a large underclass with negligible employment prospects.) And the British Army is probably proportionally smaller than the US Army, so I’m not sure going into the Army was a feasible option.

But she should have anticipated the difficulties her children would face in council housing, and taken steps to escape it.

Some sort of part-time work requirement to graduate (perhaps 20 hrs/wk during your senior year) might not be a bad idea. Outcomes are often bad when people complete their education (and especially when they drop out) before undertaking employment.

I have known people like that here personally and from what I can tell, deep down they dont feel like they deserve any better.

And I did see that 7up series, it was amazing how defined things were. The documentary was pretty boring after while though.