Workout for the Dole

There are two ends of the spectrum.

Have the dole and pay people when they are unemployed.

Have nothing and unemployed people have to survive by their own devices.

Those two schools of thought diverge because of how people see the world.  Some see the world as a dog eat dog place, where those who struggle hardest are well rewarded for their efforts, and the lazy are left behind.  Others are a little more lenient.

I'm in the lenient group.  Mainly because we are social animals, not independent units.  For the first 10-20 years of our lives we are entirely dependent on others.  In the last 10-20 we become much more reliant too.  And during the intervening years we perform many socialistic activities, such as driving on roads not built by us personally.

The more you are given, the more successful you become. Examples; the more education you experience, or the better food you eat, or the better healthcare you get.  These all add to your chances of being better at helping others.

People are naturally generous, that's why we look after each other.  We like to cheer success on, we like to help others.

The dole is an example of that.

Let's look at what the dole does by seeing what would happen if there was no dole.

Dole bludgers will not suddenly spring into action finding new jobs as online game designers, or set up automobile manufacturing plants, nor will they lead a great creative cultural renaissance.

What they will do is start competing at low end jobs, driving wages down.

We will start seeing Work for Food signs.

At the same time small businesses and landlords will start experiencing problems.  People on the dole spend all their money.  They have to.  All that money gets spread through the community every fortnight.

When the Government stops paying dole it stops a direct injection of funds into everybody's pockets.

Crime will become more prevalent.  For obvious reasons.  Selling drugs makes good money, and if someone's desperate they will do desperate things.  If you've seen "Breaking Bad" the whole premise of the show fails if it was set in a country with universal healthcare.  That show only works in a US setting.

Begging will become more popular.  It was only after the introduction of poker machines in South Australia that I first saw a beggar.  Without dole payments that problem will become endemic.

Dole payments are a good thing.  They help people, and not just the people getting the money.

Work for the Dole is a fantastic slogan.

It has that earthier honest approach of calling unemployment benefits a dole.  A handout.

Another technical term is Newstart payment.

As if the unemployed are beginning some grand new adventure.

I only wish.

Work for the Dole is tinkering and sloganeering.

The work cannot be real work, otherwise it undermines employed people and businesses.

Imagine a landscaping business being undercut by free labour from a Work for the Dole scheme.

Or free Work for the Dole labour being used to construct houses and roads.

And at the same time the Government doesn't want to spend more money on it than the dole already costs, because the whole idea of Work for the Dole is to show voters that the bludgers are giving some value for their dole.

So you end up with half-arsed projects with no long term view, because the next Government comes in and tinkers some more.

And you end up with unemployed people not learning anything and their circumstances not changing, apart from having to pay more for travel so they can get to these projects.

Work for the Dole is tinkering.

You know what would be better?

Workout for the Dole, pay gymnasiums to take classes for unemployed when they can spare the time.  Don't make it compulsory, but those who show up regularly are given more attention as to getting a real job.

And hopefully it will help unemployed gain some fitness and a little happiness.

There is no solution to unemployment.

Well, there is one, but it's called slavery and has a bad reputation.

With the way employment ebbs and flows there will always be unemployed.

With the way technology kills old jobs there will always be unemployed.

Perhaps another way rather than being given Work for the Dole jobs which only teaches unemployed to do what they are told, rather than any real skills.

Then perhaps, a system that gives real life skills is a better.  Because it's an unchanging foundation throughout life.

I think a fitness progam might fit the bill.