General:
If you don’t have any money and are living below the poverty line, why not join the military and “work”?
Welfare recipients who are clearly able to work and choose not to, should be made to. If they can’t find a job, one will be provided for you. You would have to establish a timeline of sorts. (I’m thinking between a year and two)
There are other jobs that can me found if the Military isn’t your cup of tea (Like cleaning up the roads and/or performing other jobs most likely to be seen done by community service folks)
Faults? Comments?
FDR’s policies were closely tied to the great depression’s increasing rise in unemployment. This is different in that unemployment is nowhere near what it was. The two year window to find a job is ample time for a person to find employment somewhere. If they wish to stay on the public teet, then they should have options, imo.
Really, there aren’t many corollaries to what FDR did. He made up jobs. I am saying there are plenty of jobs to be done (for what is already being spent)
I think I covered that in my OP. However, if alcoholism is the prevailing factor wouldn’t you think they might be rehabilitated by basic training and no access to the alcohol?
Why should the military be burdened with a bunch of people who don’t meet their qualifications to do anything? The Army isn’t a “make-work” program, it’s our ARMY. I’m sure a bunch of alcoholics and mentally-disturbed folk will do wonders in Iraq.
I’m not sure I follow you. Surely they don’t want to go to boot camp.
I mean, I would agree with you because I think of alcoholism as more a mental addiction than an actual physical addiction.
Is that really what you took from my OP? It doesn’t have to BE Military. It CAN BE though.
There are other jobs to be done so that people are empowered for their governmental money (FOR FREE)
I’m strongly opposed to any sort of mandatory service, military or otherwise. I see little difference between conscription and slavery.
I find it deeply disturbing that so many poor in our country have signed up for the military, not because of patriotic fervor, but purely out of financial desperation. If we cut back on military expenditures, we could easily afford to pay for more non-military vocational training, plus room and board for the impoverished.
We are 5 percent of the world’s population, yet we’re responsible for half of all military dollars spent worldwide. Given that we are surrounded by two oceans, and share a border with Mexico and Canada, there’s no threat to our country that would justify this extreme use of resources. The opportunity cost we are losing is enormous. It was Eisenhower who put it best:
Ravenman-
The difference of course being, the recipients being responsible for 100% of the welfare money. As it stands right now, you need only “look for work” and work a certain numbers of hours in order to be eligible. How about they work as much as they need to in order to be a recipient of this federal funded money? Maybe they could scale it so they they have benefits based upon how much work they actually do? Someone wants to work 60 hours a week, they get a bit more than someone working 40 or 20 hours per week.
For the most part, yes. That’s the way our society is set up. If I owned enough stock to live off the dividends, I wouldn’t have to work. Or if I owned enough property to rent out to others I could live off of that. But I don’t. So I’m forced to sell my labor to somebody who does own property in order to survive. Hunting and gathering isn’t really a viable option either, because I’m bound to run into a property owner or park ranger who will stop me.
Are you familiar with the term Garbage In - Garbage Out? Despite the usual military BS, a soldier’s quality is determined by their charater and their ability. All basic training does is provide them with some new skills.
According to the law, there is no access to alcohol (or drugs) in American prisons, yet the prisoner are able to aquire these substances. Also having observed paramilitary situations where large numbers of prisoners were converted into troops (parts of the former Yugoslavia during the 90s), I must second the comment on “Garbage In-- Garbage Out.” Basic training will not stop them from being thieves, drug addicts, and rapists, it will make them thieves, drug addicts and rapists with uniforms, better weapons and training in aggression.
Why are you guys so stuck on the military aspect? Are we not getting some garbage in anyway? There are OTHER jobs for them to do that don’t involve the fate of our nation.
Is there no way to determine the good soldiers from the bad currently?