How many times have you contacted a local company only to be helped by someone with an accent so thick you could cut it with a knife? Now I have nothing but deep respect for someone from another country who has learned English, but I have discovered that most of these local calls for service are rerouted to India or the Philippines.
I have nothing against either of these countries, but why aren’t these calls being answered by Americans? It’s pure economics. It’s cheaper to reroute these calls halfway around the world than to hire Americans willing to work. Ah, the key word in that sentence is “willing.”
Despite all the medical advances, the number of working-age adults on the disability roles has doubled since 1990. About one in 20 working-age adults now receive disability payments. They aren’t getting rich, but it’s free money for doing absolutely nothing. Most of these people are fully capable of answering a phone. They can read and write, answer simple questions and fill out simple forms. Voila! Put them to work in those call centers and you solve multiple problems: You get all these people off the disability roles, save the country a ton of money, and businesses will have happy customers.
Most of those now on disability have one of two problems: back problems or mental problems. Frankly, it’s hard to find someone over 40 without a back problem, but most still go to work every day. Those with skeletal problems can be provided with special chairs and computers if necessary, but most can do this work. There are some with serious mental problems, but they belong in a hospital setting. The others would no doubt feel a lot better about themselves if they had something productive to do.
One of the big problems with welfare and disability is that we simply send out checks and require nothing in return. Robert Rector, one of the leading experts on poverty in the nation, once told me that if we required all those people who receive welfare checks to simply show up and sit in a room, the number of people on welfare would drop dramatically.
Imagine what would happen if we required them to show up and push a broom? We could eliminate federal and state custodians and save taxpayers even more money. Sorry, if you feel that is beneath you. Then go out and find something more productive to do, but until then, here’s your broom.
Liberals are all for women in the workforce unless, of course, they are on welfare. While the rest of us sweat and toil, they want all those welfare queens to be able stay home with their children. Well, have them go to work, too. If they can take care of their own children they ought to be able to take care of other people’s children. Establish child care centers at these work places and have some of these mothers work there. Others could be put to work making lunch for all those people pushing brooms.
Still others could be put to work repairing our infrastructure. Sure, the unions would scream bloody murder, but we would need a certain amount of skilled workers to supervise those working for their welfare checks.
Those who have the ability to be retrained for the jobs that are out there but going to foreign workers could be channeled into job training and placement programs, but here’s the deal: The businesses running these training programs get paid, and paid well, but only after a trainee is successfully placed in a real job.
Then, there is the problem of illegal aliens. Put them to work building the border wall. Pay them a wage that they can save and take back to their country of origin after their deportation hearing or when they decide they would rather go home on their own, whichever comes first.
What about the welfare bureaucracy? It would have to be drastically reduced. The government now spends 2.5 times what it would take to lift every American out of poverty. That means a lot of government workers would be unnecessary if we stopped paying people for doing nothing.
Give the welfare bureaucrats who can work their way out of these jobs golden parachutes. They can then use that money to start their own productive business or retrain for a job in the real world.
So where are they going to find all these jobs? With the money we save, we can afford to cut taxes on businesses and individuals, which will stimulate economic growth like we have never seen.
Problem solved!
Media wishing to interview Jane Chastain, please contact [email protected].
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