l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Lessons from Dutch Welfare Reform
By Michael D. Tanner
Welfare advocates regularly urge Americans to look to the European welfare
state as a model. At least in the case of the Netherlands, they might be on
to something.
The Dutch have just announced a massive reform of their welfare system,
designed to reduce dependency and put a new emphasis on work. For example,
welfare applicants will now be required to prove that they spent at least 4
weeks actively searching for a job before they become eligible for any
assistance. And once they begin to receive benefits they will either have to
work or perform volunteer community service. Dutch welfare recipients would
be required to take available jobs even if they had to move or commute up
to three hours per day.
Given that just 42 percent of U.S. welfare recipients are engaged in even
broadly defined work activities (including job training, college, or job
search), and that an attempt to restore work requirements to the food stamp
program has been met with a storm of resistance, the Dutch appear to be much
more pro-work than we are.
Other reforms would reduce benefits by treating families as a single unit,
rather than as separate individuals. For instance a mother with two children
would receive a single payment rather than three separate payments. The
combined payment would be less, based on the assumption of “shared expense.”
According to the Dutch government, the reforms will ensure that welfare is
seen as “a safety net, rather than a right.”
What the Dutch apparently understand is that, in the long run, welfare
dependency hurts the very people it is designed to help. Making poverty a
bit more comfortable may be satisfying in the short term, but the real goal
should be to reduce the number of people in poverty. To do that requires
people to take more responsibility for their own lives.
That’s a lesson in European compassion that the U.S. could learn from. | T*********I
发帖数: 10729 | | T*********I
发帖数: 10729 | 3 荷兰的国债对GDP才７０％就觉醒了。美国这里１００％还木有人管呢。 | d*******p
发帖数: 2525 | 4 "Dutch welfare recipients would be required to take available jobs even if
they had to move or commute up to three hours per day."
赞这个，如果美国welfare也有这样的要求，那么美国还有救 | T*********I
发帖数: 10729 | 5 还有这个也很好：
而一旦他们开始获得收益，他们将必须做一些community services。
他们应该证明自己的effort。挖坑除草搞卫生都行。或者如果他们能学习，增加自己的
技能（必须通过某种含金量的考试）我个人认为也行。
【在 d*******p 的大作中提到】
: "Dutch welfare recipients would be required to take available jobs even if
: they had to move or commute up to three hours per day."
: 赞这个，如果美国welfare也有这样的要求，那么美国还有救
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