[redmenace]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d8f23dc2-0d28-11da-ba02-00000e2511c8.html

First I can't believe that a person that is unemployed could keep 2 cars, a high end home cinema and is complaining that he can't move into a nicer apartment. On the same token, this also demonstrates the danger of giving up you economic and personal freedoms for security(be it economic or other).

[aldo_14]

IS he actually receiving benefit?  It's not clear.

[mikhael]

He is recieving a benefit, and he needs to find a large vat of molten metal and jump in.

[whinge]
Oh me oh my! I can't use my unemployment benefit to move into a more expensive apartment! the state is trampling my freedom!
[/whinge]
Useless, pathetic parasite.

[aldo_14]

That would seem to be a fair enough assessment.

[Kazan]

/agree mik

[Rictor]

For better or worse, most of the West (the exception being the US - to a degree) is moving in this direction. Now, I'll admit that there are times when a dash of the ol' Socialism is good for what ales ya, but that applies mostly to developing countries. In wealthy, industrialized nations, there's enough to go around without government handouts.

[redmenace]

Like I said, you can ask the gov't for all this help, but you will have to eventually pay the price.

On a side note, no wonder there is such high unemployment in east Germany, they are the most expensive workers around.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by redmenace
Like I said, you can ask the gov't for all this help, but you will have to eventually pay the price.

I dunno, because it's hard to get context on exactly what happened here.  If it's a means tested system, it kind of makes sense they'd withdraw benefit to a person who was financially capable of buying a more expensive house; and it wouldn't be an intrusion if part of the system required notification of a change of premises and a corresponding re-evaluation of means.

For all I can tell, he could have told the labour agency he was going to move to a more expensive house, and they told him in response that they'd probably cut any financial aid he was receiving to due to  that property (increased) value being incorporated onto the means assessment.  Assuming it's not state supported accomodation, of course, ala council houses.

I don't see why he got benefit in the first place, though.  I'm not advocating forcing people to sell all their possessions, but surely he currently has enough assets not to require financial aid?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by redmenace
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d8f23dc2-0d28-11da-ba02-00000e2511c8.html

First I can't believe that a person that is unemployed could keep 2 cars, a high end home cinema and is complaining that he can't move into a nicer apartment. On the same token, this also demonstrates the danger of giving up you economic and personal freedoms for security(be it economic or other).

dude, you'd be surprised on what some can get on welfare

but really, what a complete idiot.. if he wants to get nicer stuff than he has (hah!) he should.. y'know.. get a job..

[Kazan]

I'm tired of people misusing the word socialism

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=socialism

   1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
   2. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.

[Rictor]

Well, if it isn't the language police. True socialism doesn't exist anywhere aside from a few holdouts like North Korea.

Wikipedia says:

Socialism is an ideology with the core belief that a society should exist in which popular collectives control the means of power, and therefore the means of production. In application, however, the de facto meaning of socialism has changed with time. Although it is a politically loaded term, it remains strongly related to the establishment of an organized working class, created through either revolution or social evolution, with the purpose of building a classless society. It has also, increasingly, become concentrated on social reforms within modern democracies.

What I meant was social-democracy or the tendency towards state welfare, whether individual or corporate.