Te Radar: Pay the unemployed to stay out of the way

What some people fail to realise is that there will always be unemployed people, because some people are simply unemployable, and the best thing for everyone is for them to be paid by the state to stay the hell out of everyone else's way.

The cost to society and the taxpayer is thus a net saving if the Government doesn't force these people on to hapless employers and harassed co-employees.

There is no doubt that a culture of dependency exists among some sectors, which the economic policy wonks wish to destroy, as they have no toleration of any form of culture.

Thus we have the now eagerly awaited annual "Don Bash", this year targeting the welfare sector.

Among other things - including the adoption of children from teenage mothers, and the implication that women on the DPB are sluts - Don mooted the hoary old work-for-the-dole scheme.

Working for the dole is surely an oxymoron, for clearly if you are working then you are not on the dole, you are a state employee (just like Don).

To be fair, the scheme greatly reduced the numbers of unemployed up until the early 1980s. The only difference was it wasn't called "work for the dole", it was called the Post Office, or the Railways.

The question, however, is not only what the work will consist of, but what the resultant cost to the taxpayer is of ensuring that the loafers and malcontents actually work.

Surely it will cost more to enforce this through yet another level of state-funded malingerer-minders than it will to simply pay the indolent the benefit. Result to the taxpayer: net loss.

Don also spoke of limiting the length of benefit entitlement.

Once people have run out of their entitlement they will either find a job or turn to crime, both excellent outcomes for the Government, as it will then be seen to be tough on crime by showing a statistical increase in prison numbers.

This outcome will also reduce unemployment further with the required rise in the need for prison guards, who, regrettably, will be paid more than the dole. Result to the taxpayer: net loss.

Of course, many people do not wish to work for the minimum wage. Don has advocated a solution to this conundrum on several occasions, by suggesting eliminating the minimum wage.

He does this safe in the knowledge that he will never have to endure the wretchedness of attempting to subsist on the pittance that would be paid as a result. Little wonder, then, that beneficiary support groups are outraged. Without a steady stream of aggrieved beneficiaries they have no work either.

Don also demonstrated how out of touch he was by suggesting that the unemployed be tested to see if they can read.

There is a very good reason that Winz doesn't ask if people can read - they may then find out what benefits they are legally entitled to.

Result: net loss to the taxpayer.