Should a staunch Libertarian sign up for umemployment?

Economics Economics Questions
1

I am really struggling whether to sign up for unemployment or not. My company is doing a two week layoff in July and I would qualify for unemployment for a week of that. In addition, my company has a nice plan to subsidize unemployment that would amount to $1100 in addition to the unemployment. The problem is, you have to sign up for unemployment to get the company subsidy.

I am vehemently opposed to unemployment benefits and resent the fact that money is taken from my check each month for unemployment “insurance”. I feel like I have earned the company benefit by being a productive member of my company, but really wish not to sign up for unemployment to get it. I really don’t need the money because my wife and I save for rainy days.

Any advice from the free-thinking brains that inhabit this community would be much appreciated!

2

sign up.

3

I think you should sign up for it.

Having a political belief is one thing. Acting in your personal interests given the system you’re in is another thing.

You may be opposed to the unemployment benefit system but you didn’t get an opt out. You had to pay in so now you might as well claim on it as and when you need to.

4

Sign up for the unemployment but do not cash the cheque that you get from the government.

If it is direct deposit, just do not spend the money or give it back to the government.

5

Sign up. You’re a tax producer, not a tax eater.

6

Sign up. Your little contribution to bankrupting the state.

7

Do you drive on state roads? Do you drink communal water?

It is impossible avoid the “benefits” of government activities nowadays. Signing up for unemployment benefits is to take money from the government, but that money is already stolen and will not be returned to their rightful owners whatever you do. But using the government to steal from others, that would be crossing the line. If you lobbied for higher taxes or for example new regulations that would harm your competitors, then I’d say that you’re a thief and a thug who uses the government as knuckles.

8

Go for it.

9

simply getting back what was stoeln from you is fine. the alternative is to have it used for welfare and war.

10

Let me put this another way. Should a FED-member bank refrain from inflating while it is being pursued by all other banks, encouraged by the FED’s policy?

The bank not only SHOULD inflate, but MUST inflate, else it will go bankrupt.

Unless you are actually resorting to or threatening violence, or VOTING for policies that do so, do whatever is in your best interest. Libertarianism will die a quick death if libertarians refuse to survive in an unjust world.

11

Adding to what everyone else said, take it. It is better that libertarians survive than non-libertarians.

12

Ask your company to give you the money directly. If they don’t, tough luck. You say “I really don’t need the money” so why get involved with the state ? This

also sounds sensible.

13

I agree with those previously who suggested applying for the state unemployment check and then ripping it up.

In cashing a government unemployment check, you are not getting your stolen property back. Unfortunately, the money you paid in taxes is gone. Like pretty much all of the tax payments Americans make to the federal government, it probably went to paying the interest on the federal government’s national debt. In order for you to get that unemployment check money from the federal government, it will have to increase taxation on everyone else, hence the act of cashing the government unemployment check would be an invasion of your fellow citizens’ property rights.

The state has indeed placed us in a difficult financial system under which to prosper, and this is indeed unfortunate. But being complicit with the state in its acts of property invasion are not justified by the fact that we live in such a system.

14

this is not a a necessary truth. it forms the weak point in your argument. spending money which formerly was held in a government account is not an invasion of your fellow citizens property rights. taxing your fellolw citiziens is. by cashing a cash you are not taxing anyone.

15

Why should he not?

And what if someone is entering job market and never worked before? Should he starve?

16

I would not have any qualms about entering unemployment based on the lack of competition for the market of the unemployed, which is going to increase as the Schadenfreude Depression of 2009 marches on.

It’s a shame that there are not competing unemployment beneficiaries that would provide the unemployed with a wealth of options to choose from.

If i had the choice between government “assistance”, & perhaps becoming an indentured servant for “x” amount of time (possibly while learning a certain trade to become more employable, or to learn or earn a specific job on site), I most likely would choose the later.

Seeing as how this does not really exist (charities do exist, however, at churches, etc., but this is a limited consolation compared to the amount of competiion & uneployment rebound agencies you could easily have without a state), there is little choice but to take the unemployment benefits from the government.

Taking the long view, imo, your better taking it now rather than later on during finanical slump.

The important thing is knowing that you can trust yourself to not become dependant (whether it’s based on trusting yourselve, your character, time preference, etc.) on it. The moment you feel like you can move on from this temporary unemployment & make do, go for it.

17

This reminds me of another point. If you work for a company that is still in business they have to some extent benefitted from government actions by merely being in business. So ultimately your decision comes down to benefitting directly from the state or benefitting indirectly.

18

Well I think the more moral choice would be to work in the markets despite State infestation via interventionism. If there is absolutely no option left for someone unemployed; if they have no other way of managing to re-enter the market, or amassing enough of a living standard, even it means taking on a possibly de-meaning job, then unemployment benefits may be an acceptable last resort.

Even with today’s non-free markets, however, I do not see how one would be unable to find some source of income, however unconventional or demeaning the job may end up being, to save oneself from the dread of unemployment. However, this will probably change as the economy worsens, which presents an uncomfortable Catch-22 on the part of the unemployed that are normally against government hand-outs.

I think a good way of combating this would be for libertarians to gather & create unemployment stop-stations, where anything from voluntary charity to direct offers of employment are amassed by individuals who wish to ease unemployment.

Need a job? Well, take the time to read some brochures on Austrian economics & alternative views to the crisis & why you became unemployed, and we can help set you up with interviews and/or other opportunities, if not at the least, be able to provide personal counsel & advice during the hard-times.

The funding may be a problem, but the operation would require more so time & effort on the part of those involved, rather than mass amounts of money, as I’m not implying a voluntary welfare fund to keep any interested unemployed afloat (but that certainly can be an option).

Offers of temporary indentured servitude, in exchange for providing a place of residence or a place of work (which may or may not be below minimum wage), until the unemployed is able to get a job on their own, could also be an option.

While I think the mainstream focuses on jobs too often, taking advantage of that obsession during the upcoming depression may provide an excellent opportunity to get people interested in austrian economics & libertarianism.

The immediate bonus of being able to know why they become unemployed, how they can get re-employed, & how to stay employed (or at least competitive) would certainly give the incentive for more people to listen to us, methinks.

*Edit: lol, typos.

19

I would take the money, use what I need to to survive, and use the rest to combat the state (e.g. donate to the Mises Institute, buy pamphlets and pass them out, etc.). There’s nothing more ironic than using government money to fight government.

20

Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree with you that people should strive to avoid leeching off others at all costs. My point was that as far as government money is concerned there’s not much difference between them giving it to you directly and then giving it to you through a middleman.

I just noticed that almost sounded like something a LL might say.