Is it a real problem though? A tiny minority of people use up a tiny amount of the budget being wasters, I'd happily pay 1% more tax so that they're not homeless and (for the most part) committing crime to get by. It's a small price to pay for social equality.
Well, as the program shows, many of them are still engaged in criminal activity. Drugs, theft, benefit fraud, receiving stolen goods, despite all receiving benefits.
Yes, it's problem. The cost of long term unemployment is not "tiny". You can't just look at the JSA cost, which in itself isn't really that small either. The money could be used to help people who might give something back one day. Remember, they not only cost money in benefits (housing benifit, job seekers, child benefit, pension etc etc), but they contribute nothing to the system to pay for healthcare, education, defence etc, which they all benefit from. Some have been unemployed for decades, that's not acceptable, and I don't really understand why it's tolerated.
Even if you stick with "it's only 1%" myth, 1% of most peoples tax bill equates to £50-100 a year. Would most people choose to spend that money on themselves, or give it to someone who hasn't worked for 3 years if they were free to make that decision?
I agree society has little option but to pay the money in the short term. But equally, people (and TV companies) shouldn't be criticised for "demeaning" long term benefit claimants. The process should be demeaning as possible, there's nothing glamorous about paying the tax that funds their meal ticket. If people find it demeaning, maybe they should take a long hard look in the mirror.
I think the Raikiri's point (I'm relying on being corrected if I've misinterpreted it) is that a lot of time (and therefore money) is being wasted trying to reduce a 5bn spend down to, for example, 4.5bn at the expense of a lot of people being a lot worse off than they were before, when there are other ways to make this sort of money but it involves upsetting people who might actually be voters.
The money is being "wasted" to keep they system fair, prevent the rot spreading further and to encourage people find work. The prospect of claiming benefits for anything more than a few months should be as unappealing as possible.
You could equally say that if the unemployed spent has much time looking for a job as they do winging about benefit cuts and committing crime they might be better off.
Also, benifit claimants are voters the same as the rest of us so your argument doesn't really make sense.
