Do people actually understand how welfare in America works?

[Mr Khan]

SamuelRSmith said:

richardhutnik said:

* If somehow, unemployment and welfare went away, everyone would start working jobs.  Really?  You know there are jobs everywhere?  And what kind of jobs?  There are homeless people, living on the streets, who actually do work jobs.  Again, what kind of jobs are available?  Is it some sort of great thing that a person can't even make enough money to afford shelter?

I'm not going to bother with the rest of the post, as the rest of the post makes the basic assumption that welfare is a good thing, and that people just don't understand the details.

I'm just going to say this: in a free market there will always be enough jobs to meet the number of people looking for work. In a free market the unemployment rate would be zero, or close to it, almost 90% of the time. There would be brief periods when an industry/large company suddenly dies where a huge number of jobs are suddenly lost, but the markets would adapt within a relatively brief period to find employment.

There is always a job that needs doing. The problem is that the Government gets in the way and makes it more costly to do that job, and it doesn't get done.

Again, the assumption of free labor mobility is about as fanciful as the Tooth Fairy. In a free market, just as many people would be screwed over by structural problems, such as the failures of certain whole industries or certain positions becoming obsolete.