beating up the underclass

Valda believes that the welfare system will never be scrapped because governments and society in general benefit from having an underclass of dependant and docile citizens to beat up.

"Think about it," says Valda, "if you removed welfare you will create a desperate underclass of people and this will not only threaten the security of the nation but the jobs of everyone else."

"In theory, if you forced everyone off welfare it may be much easier to exploit them -- desperate people will work under any conditions for any pay -- but their desperation will lower wages for other workers and those currently employed won't like that, will they?"

"By keeping an underclass of dependant and docile citizens on welfare, the government effectively uses them as scapegoats," says Valda, "and their vilification and ill treatment serves as a threat to low paid workers not to risk losing their jobs and joining the underclass by asking for more pay."

"Also, it suits business to have a pool of docile unemployed people on welfare because it provides them with a ready reserve of workers should existing staff get too uppity in their wage demands and need to be sacked," says Valda. "And, during holidays and prolonged sickness, when regular staff are off work, employers have no trouble finding short-term replacement staff."

"We all know someone -- or have been there ourselves -- to know how badly you are treated by government officials and society in general when you lose your job and are forced on to welfare," says Valda. "For me, It was an abominable experience, and it struck me as terribly cruel that I was persecuted for something beyond my control."

"Nobody's job is 100% secure and we are all at risk of becoming unemployed if not sick or even too old to work," says Valda. "And what are we paying exorbitant taxes for if not for social security when we need it?"

"I survived for seven months on benefits before I found another job," says Valda, "and in that time I was forced into various draconian schemes deliberately designed to thwart me from looking for a job and to drain every drop of my self-esteem. It was as if they didn't want me to find work and wanted to keep me as a dependent underclass citizen so that they could benefit from my unemployment."

"Regularly reporting to the welfare office with evidence that I was looking for work was like visiting a parole officer for committing a criminal offence," sighs Valda. "The whole experience was degrading and intended to be so. And, except for one person who went out of her way to be kind, all of the people employed at the welfare office were petty, mean, sub-human little tyrants who wouldn't last a day in the real world with real work."

"My new job didn't pay very well," says Valda, "but I was so glad to get out of the welfare system that I accepted it happily. And isn't this just another facet of the cycle of perpetual slavery and welfare that our system promotes?"

"As I see it, the system exists because there are not enough jobs to go around and maybe that's because those who do have jobs are being paid a lot more than they are worth (such as the welfare clerks) or doing the work of two people (as many of my high-paid friends are)," says Valda. "And, as more or us lose our jobs and are forced to take lower paid jobs after a humiliating period on welfare, wages across the board are going to reflect this change."

"I've never heard of anyone coming off welfare getting a higher paid job than they had before, have you?" asks Valda. "It stands to reason, then, that everyone in a job, especially a highly paid one, should thank the welfare underclass for their good fortune."

"So, don't blame the people receiving benefits and don't vilify them," says Valda. "Most of us got there because we lost our jobs and the pittance we receive is hardly worth the additional humiliation we suffer -- and you or a loved one may be next."

"During the seven months I was on welfare, it seemed to me that helping me get back into the workforce was never the intention of the officials I saw," says Valda. "On the contrary, their intention seemed to be to humiliate me and keep me in the system forever."

"Because I knew that the longer I stayed unemployed the harder it would be for me to get out of the system, I had to drop my standards to absolute rock bottom to get a job, " says Valda. "This really surprised the welfare officials managing me. I guess they thought I'd be turning up for my regular humiliation sessions with them forever!"

"With people like that depending on the unemployed for the existence of their jobs," says Valda, "you get to understand who the real parasites are and why the welfare system will never be scrapped."

"If you don't have the intestinal fortitude to overcome the harassment and claw your way out of the system you will remain with the welfare underclass forever," says Valda. "It's a terrible fate and the type of people who succumb to it are often the sweetest of people, gentle and kind, trusting and naive, who have no natural defences against vilification and mistreatment."

global welfare heaven

Cassidy, 22, is a university student receiving all the government financial help she can get her hands on. She's in welfare heaven and believes welfare is not only a social good but also that there should be more of it!

"Western capitalist countries are unlikely to abolish welfare because, like the ancient slave system before it, welfare is the means by which economies thrive and the wealthy get wealthier," says Cassidy. "It may seem crazy that giving away money is good for the economy but compared with the cost of providing jobs and opportunities for everybody it is an incredibly cheap way to manage the masses. Right?"

"Welfare is an industry providing jobs for thousands of people," says Cassidy. "For every person on welfare, there is at least one person in some sort of government employment managing him or her. The ancient slave masters cracking the whip - or the workhouse wardens withholding the soup - are now the case managers, counselors, psychologists, employment agents, housing agents, immigration agents, lawyers, private detectives, etc that owe their comfortable livelihoods to the welfare system."

"Abolish welfare and there will be twice as many people out of work and starving," laughs Cassidy. "The government isn't stupid - it knows what it's doing."

"Welfare payments are so paltry, deliberately so, that every penny given gets put back into the local economy immediately," says Cassidy. "Capitalism is fired by consumerism, and the more people consuming local goods and services the healthier the economy."

"It is no coincidence that there are more supermarkets and super-malls in welfare towns than in up-market areas," says Cassidy. "The grocery giants and the cheap chain stores practically live off welfare. The poor, disabled, aged and the unemployed have nowhere else to go but the malls - and they have nothing else they can spend their welfare checks on than the cheap food, clothes and home-wares they find at their local mall."

"Abolish welfare and whole towns built around malls will become ghost towns, thousands of mall workers will lose their jobs and the grocery and chain store giants will go out of business," laughs Cassidy, "and a whole lot of government employees would be out of work, too."

"Welfare, in cahoots with religion, is a powerful way to control the masses and prevent them from revolting," says Cassidy. "It is far cheaper to give the poor, disabled, aged and the unemployed a pittance to cover their basic expenses than to employ a police force or an army big enough to keep them from ransacking the homes of the rich or otherwise disturbing the peace."

"Abolish welfare and the heads of the rich will roll, just like they did in the French Revolution!"

"Finally, welfare is not only a clever economic strategy but it's also a dastardly clever social strategy," says Cassidy. "No civilization, ancient or modern, has ever provided 100% employment and opportunity for everyone - the young, the old, the sick, the feeble-minded and the disabled - nor has there ever been an attempt to achieve what most economists would consider such an impossible aim. Even the communist countries maintained a social barrier between the upper and the lower classes."

"There are two ugly facts relevant to all economies from ancient to modern times, says Cassidy. "One, is that jobs are finite - more people equates to less paying jobs and where there is no slavery there is unemployment or underemployment - and two, is that without an underclass there would be no upper class."

"Abolish welfare and there would be no underclass for the middle and upper classes to look down upon, boss around, abuse and bully and no easy scapegoats to blame for society's ills!"

"Frankly, I intend to stay at university for as long as I can - doing one course after another - and taking as much welfare as I can," says Cassidy. "Sure, I won't get rich and I'll have to put up with all the welfare-bashers cursing me for being a sponge - and eventually, I suppose, I'll have to join the slaving masses - but right now I'm basking in welfare heaven and I know that the government not only loves people like me but needs them, too."