It's time to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, and Public Education

Same problem exists in many countries. It's quite simple, the system has to ALWAYS encourage working instead of being unemployed. So basically maximum unemployment needs to be less than minimum wage for a full time job, and people with a part time job need to be able to keep a part of their unemployment. This is a simple system, which would work because it's simple. All the free housing, food stamps, transportation, other free crap needs to be taken away and put under 1 unemployment payment so it's easy to control.

 

LOL, seriously? On the contrary, the responsibility of the government is to take care of people. So you cut 60% of expense and 100% of income too because taxes end?

 

Well said @crimsonghost, couldn't withhold a stifled laugh for long in that regard ... its believe-able that to life, everything has a pro and con, whether free or not..that's life for you

 

These things should not be eliminated, they should be changed so they work effectively. USA should take a look at how Switzerland for example implements its welfare programs. In USA people get hooked onto welfare and then because of all the government red tape, it is almost impossible for them to get off welfare. Pretty much it seems as if the US government does everything it can to keep people hooked on welfare.

 

The same problem exists in most countries. Can you quickly explain how it's done in Switzerland (if it really works!) since I'm not too familiar with their system.

 

It's the sad truth but it does happen. I'm from the Philippines so I know what you're talking about. It's really sad to know that without public education, our poor countrymen won't have any access to education. When you say 'poor' here, it really means poorest of the poor. I pity the children who have been born that way because most of them couldn't find a way out of poverty. Sometimes these children even go to school hungry because they just don't have anything to eat at home. They don't even have decent clothes for school and a simple pencil is already a treasure for them to buy.

With regards to Social Security, it has been a great help to all its members because it's usually the only source of income of retirees here after all the years of hard work. Contribution to our SS is on a voluntary basis for people who are self-employed.

 

OP you must be very young. This is something I hear often coming out of the mouths of 20 somethings year olds, they start in the work force and watch their dreams of what they think it will be like when they are all grown up go up in smoke. Reality sets in and they discover that work is just that work! So rather then try to find better ways to work they turn around and blame it all on the people that do not work, that are on some sort of subsidy. The logic is..."If I did not have to pay for the dead beats I would have a better life, they just should work harder... they are all lazy bums taking advantage of my hard work."

This stereotypical view has no basis in fact really, again it is all about perception. If anyone has ever actually known of a person on these sort of benefits they would realise that their lives are far from easy or glamorous. The amounts they receive are barely enough to feed the family or keep the lights on for that fact. Things we take for granted like buying new things are not even something they can consider. Sadly many benefits are given to people that do work because they are not able to do all that has to be done to keep warm in the winter months or to get health care. I truly doubt you would want to see someones grandma eat cat food and freeze over the winter because they no longer could have their social security payments.

 

I wouldn't get rid of public education completely, but I would definitely prefer we move towards privatization. The current public school system is clearly a failure. We're falling behind a lot of countries in numerous areas. I'm a big opponent of the welfare state, so I would definitely agree with getting rid of most of it, and the programs that come along with it. We've had more than 50 years of this garbage, and it's created nothing but dependency and misery, so I think it's fair to label it a giant failure. Time to try something different.

 

That is very area specific though. In the USA it might be like that, especially in cities where rents are high.
I've seen a lot of unemployed people in Europe have a pretty decent time. Having the money to go and drink in bars, buying big tv's and video game consoles etc. So basically living a perfectly normal life except they don't have to lift a finger to get it. I personally know quite a few people like this, they aren't rich by any measure but they live comfortably on their unemployment benefits and are in no hurry to get a job because getting food on the table really is really not a problem.

 

When you subsidize people to work, they are not going to work. It's just human nature. I doubt we'll ever see the end of unemployment insurance all together, but there definitely needs to be a lot of strings attached and a certain amount of time you can be on the program. You can be on it for way too long of a period these days.