Have you ever received unemployment benefits?

[Leifmk]

Yes; briefly, between graduation and getting a job. This was a "bare minimum to survive and remain healthy" kind of dole rather than the more generous allowance for people who have been employed and then lost their jobs. Those were a few rather boring months, with nothing useful to do beyond applying for jobs left and right, and few friends around (as most of them had graduated as well, and mostly left town as they came from elsewhere). Did get to read a lot, at least. (As for just going out and getting a part-time job or something, that's easier said than done in a town where >20% of the population are college students.)

I didn't feel the least bit bad about it, knowing that I'd get a proper job sooner or later and wind up as a taxpayer.

 

[Abaddon]

No, but I plan to once I return to the UK, as well I am going to try to get housing benefit.. while i am going through college it will be difficult otherwise...


#edit, perhaps not.. one of the stipulations is NOT being in full time education.. why is this set up to hinder people trying to educate themselves?! I can live as a bumb and get my rent paid.. but if I want to go to school? oh, no-no, you gotta pay!

ARGHGH!! Thats GHEY.

 

[Mise]

Because it's not a story. Pensioners don't have savings that get screwed over by interest rates. Say I've managed to tuck 10 grand away through diligent saving of my pension. Say the official rate drops 2%, and all of that is lost from the interest the bank gives me. That's $200. There's no story to be had there, especially since lots of pensioners would very rarely see their balance go above $1000, meaning lower interest rates cost them $20 a year at most, and more likely closer to $5.

Yeah - and there's the other side of that too. The only pensioners who actually get screwed over by interest rate falls are the ones with looooooads of money to begin with. Pensioners who have only saved $10,000 (either in AUD or USD, it's a pretty small amount for life savings) will not be living off those savings, but rather off the state pension. State pension varies by inflation, at least in the UK, so is immune from interest rates. So the pensioners who have saved $100,000 (i.e. the middle classes) would lose $2,000 per year, but that's fine because they are already very wealthy! (Also someone who's saved $100,000 probably has no mortgage, or else he'd have paid that off first rather than saving so much cash.)

(This post was very jumbled... sorry.)

 

[RedRalph]

@RRW. What do you mean by "demographics"?

There are demographic correlations, obviously, but people from any "demographic" can find themselves screwed. It is always individual circumstances that happen to correlate. What are your individual circumstances? You think you got your job because you were white?

I entered the workforce in 1999, a very good time for full employment, and got a job for life in 2000. demographics is the wrong word I suppose, I was just lucky to leave school when I did.

man he's in Ireland there is like no non-whites there lol.

Really? I must mention that to my black niece, and my other black niece or nephew when he or she is born in August.

 

[Masada]

I'm going to be honest here. The staggering level of stupidity that was contained in those posts forces to me arrive at one of two conclusions either: (A) you were taking the piss and playing some particularly good devils advocate or (B) you were entirely serious, in which case you seriously need to open your eyes to something like rudimentary history. If its the second, I don't know, go talk to your grandparents about the welfare state and the costs and benefits of maintaining it.

You've earned money for 40 years. There's a reasonable expectation that you can live on some of the proceeds comfortably.

It isn't like the Australian working population just wanted to pay punitive taxes for the fun of it. No, they readily paid high taxes for their working lives in exchange for which they got a fully functioning welfare state -- pension included. Then to turn around and say: "Hai guyz. I thunk u should have saved moar" is kinda missing the whole point of cradle-to-grave welfare system. You sacrificed income now -- i.e. those savings you could have made and potentially lost. In exchange you got a guaranteed income stream from the state at retirement. which couldn't be lost. That was the nature of the system.

Of course, there's no way I'm suggesting that the pension should be scrapped or is useless or that old people should support themselves; I'm just saying that those reasonable expectations go both ways.

Not when the system was based on the assumption that you didn't have to.

 

[Bast]

Really? I must mention that to my black niece, and my other black niece or nephew when he or she is born in August.

LOL you do not.

 

[RedRalph]

LOL you do not.

for the last time Bast, I do. My sister had a child who's father is English/Jamaican 12 years ago, and my other sister is now pregnant by her fiance who is Brazilian. Why do you refuse to accept that my family is so diverse?

 

[El_Machinae]

Moderator Action: Bast, that was not the best way to handle someone talking about their family
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Disgustipated]

abusing the system? I'm not sure how they are doing this. You don't here much about unemployment abuse. Usually you only hear of welfare abuse. So I'm not sure what unemployment abuse entails.

Either way my answer is yes. I wasn't entirely comfortable with it. I got it when I got an honorable discharge from the military (you are eligible as long as you get honorable discharge). It felt like I quit, so I wasn't entirely sure I deserved it. Since then, I either quit my jobs, or I was fired. I have never actually been laid off... yet. As I said, it felt like I was quiting, but it was there, so I took it. In any case, it does take a while to transition from military life to civilian life, so it was fair I believe.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

I entered the workforce in 1999, a very good time for full employment, and got a job for life in 2000. demographics is the wrong word I suppose, I was just lucky to leave school when I did.

Oh, that does explain it. And actually I think demographics is the right word. I thought you were trying to make a white male point.