[wind_magic]

I'm all for welfare. We absolutely should have a safety net that insures that people don't die just because they are out of a job and flat broke. Where I may differ from some is in what level of living that safety net should afford - I want to make sure people don't starve to death, that they are out of the rain at night, warm in the winter, etc, but what some people consider "subsistence" is a lot more than what I consider subsistence. I do not think it is in the tax payers interest to insure that everybody who is out of work gets to keep their home, for example, or keep their stuff, or even be assured that they won't be bunking up with other people in group shelters - having a place of your own is a luxury that many people don't experience until they've been out of college working for a few years, I don't see it as a tax payer responsibility to insure that everyone has their own home. Social welfare should be the last resort, the safety net that insures your kids don't have to sleep in an alley, that they at least have a mattress under them and that they don't wake up staring eye to eye with a squirrel in the city park. Welfare should be enough to keep people alive and to give them a chance to get back on their feet, but it should NOT be a "living", a living is what jobs afford for those who can work. I don't think we should return to Victorian times and work houses, but I also don't think it's the tax payer's responsibility to pay people's rent when they are walking around jabbering on the latest cell phones and driving their SUV instead of taking the bus to their job interviews. Welfare should be something that keeps you alive, but also something that you are highly motivated to get off of as soon as you can.

All of this is going to become more and more of an issue as the baby boomers retire - at some point we are all going to have to decide exactly what kind of an environment we are going to provide for the masses of people who are going to retire without a dime in their pocket. Obviously we can't afford to pay their mortgages and keep them in bubbly and lobster, yet at the same time we can't very well have them sleeping on cots in gymnasiums (or superdomes) either, there is going to have to be some kind of middle ground. I think that middle ground should be group housing with three squares a day and basic medical care, because there are going to be so many people retiring in this fashion that to provide anything more is going to enslave a whole generation of young people who's entire futures will be mortgaged before they ever get a chance in the world.