The Logical Conclusion Politics and progress

The Welfare Trap Exposed

Something I often find myself discussing with friends in the UK is the current state of welfare in the country. For those of you who don't know, the welfare state in the UK is a mammoth, providing money for just about any reason you can think of, and quite a bit of it as well, straight from the taxpayer's purse. The belief of the left is that somehow this dinosaur helps the poor, but really all it seems to do is keep them poor and keep their productivity down. We're going to look at how.

Meet Dave, he's a 26 year old unemployed man. He left school at 16 with GCSE qualifications, and has never had a job. He claims benefits and lives off of those. You may deride Dave and tell him he's done all manner of things wrong, but has he? As an unskilled worker, Dave is probably only going to be able to work for around the minimum wage. This is £5.93 per hour. Let's assume Dave could work 40 hours a week, this would give him a total weekly income of £237.20, or £12,334.00 per annum.