Dole bludging hippies are really aliens with synthetic polymer skins.

I have had a few discussions (some heated) over the years about people getting off their arse and doing something useful for themselves. I've been told various things such as "It's not their fault they don't have a job", and sometimes that's true. But a lot of the time it's because either that person wasn't suited for the job and got fired, or quit because they didn't like it. Even if it wasn't their fault that they lost the job, it's their fault that they're not out there looking for one (that is if they're not doing it).

Now, I'm not saying that all people who are unemployed are worthless sacks of shit; just the ones who refuse to actively seek work. It's one thing to be out there looking to improve your financial situation, and it's another thing to write "The World's Greatest Fictional Work" (also known as the "Dole Diary"). If you sit there soaking up the taxpayers' dollar and then whinge that it's not enough to support yourself with, you deserve to have your benefits cut severely.

The Dole is not a lifestyle (at least it shouldn't be). The dole is there for you to support yourself until you find regular work. If you're not looking for regular work, then the amount of money you collect each week ought to be limited by some inverse square law, which I shall call "Reagan's Law of Social Dependence". RLSD states that the amount of money you receive on a regular basis should decrease according to the relationship M =3D R/T=B2. Where M is the amount of money received, T is the time (in months) that you have been unemployed and R is "Reagan's constant", which is determined as a "base rate" of welfare payment from what your position is and which country you live in.

The implementation of RLSD means that people who attempt to be long term welfare sponges end up making a few cents a week. If you're not collecting disability pensions, then unemployment pensions should provide you with enough to buy fresh groceries, a small amount of decent meat and the local paper to look for jobs, or at least apply at any one of your town/city's fast food franchises. If you've been out of work long enough, and your benefits aren't very beneficial anymore, then all of a sudden a job at Greasy McGreaser's doesn't look so bad. A welfare system based on RLSD will do wonders for the local job market (and newspaper sales), and people might even learn life skills which are not limited solely to one particular industry, such as fry cooking, patty flipping and burger making.

If we make people work for their cigarette money, then maybe the world will become a more productive place, morale will rise and cancer will be cured in the blink of an eye.

But all these pro-active work ethics and whatnot don't amount to anything if the person whose soul we're trying to save doesn't want to work. There are plenty of people in the world who are content with sitting on their fat, slovenly arses all day, sponging off the government and their parents. To me, these people are worthless husks. They add nothing of any importance to the world; they soak up money that would be better off spent on roads or education (or left in the taxpayers' pockets).

And that is what I mean when I say that the moral fibre of the world is being eroded by the apathy of the younger generations.

Children today are spoon fed culture and technology by the older generations who got off their arses and made a difference in the world. NEWS FLASH, KIDDO! That new Nokia mobile phone isn't going to invent itself all of a sudden so that your parents can fork over a few hundred dollars. People need to get out there and get educated. If they can't be the ones making leaps and bounds in the realms of science and technology, they could at least do the world a favour by making sure that the hamburgers of those that do are ready on time.

Unless you are a cat, you have no excuse to sleep on the couch all day.

I work with the sort of people who although they aren't the brightest people (or the most competent), get out there and make an effort. I may not like these people, I may not get along with these people, but at least I can respect their earnest and determination, and that they don't sit around expecting everyone else to look after them.

I believe that the "Work for the Dole" was one of the greatest things introduced as far as Australian welfare is concerned. When it first came out, I was opposed to it. Then I realised that it was doing a lot of good by showing the people on unemployment benefits "Hey, this money isn't free you know". This is one of the important lessons that need to be taught to many people. The idea of "Something for nothing" has always appealed to a lot of people, but it's not going to work. The laws of Conservation of Energy and Conservation of Matter say so.

While I concede that there are some jobs out there that pay less than basic unemployment benefits, there are important things to be learnt there. For example, learning that it's hard work making good money (so learn to counterfeit well). Until people want to work, there is no reason for them to do so. I'd recommend electrodes attached to the genitals, but the cost of rolling out such a plan is far too high to make this feasible.

Until the world wakes up to itself and starts producing productive members of society, we're all doomed to suffer from our own laziness and unwillingness to help ourselves out.