Taylor Caldwell Quotes
People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.
Caldwell, Taylor. On Growing Up Tough. Devin-Adair, 1971.
Mormons have been divided on this issue. Many Mormons do accept welfare, and government subsidies for agriculture and other business corporate welfare and some hold with Benson’s view and would not accept for example agricultural subsidies for not growing crops. Ironically, Benson, as the Secretary of Agriculture, presided over the nation’s largest give-away program for not working: agricultural subsidies. However, this statement was made after his government service and was made as President of the Mormon Church.
This appears to be one of the first expressions of the 'workfare' concept.
This incredible quotation was actually typical of many of the extremist right wing views that Angle had. Very few conservatives who may have problems with the unemployment insurance system believe that the benefits are so generous that anyone would possibly be spoiled from the benefit. An unemployed family head, who may have been middle class, if he or she lost a job and while looking for another is supported by unemployment in almost all cases will be below the poverty level. This is hardly a standard of living that would spoil anyone. The voters of Nevada certainly thought so as they defeated Angle at the polls.
Nixon’s view was very popular, except the reality of the welfare system was much more complicated than most people thought. A very large percentage of the adults on welfare were women with young children. There was no practical way for them to work unless there was some mechanism for caring for the children. Most of these women could only earn minimum wage which was not enough to cover the cost of child care. Providing child care would then cost more welfare money for this investment and politicians, even those hating the welfare system as it was, would not make this investment which would have dubious payoff. Training the women for better paying jobs and covering their child care in the process, works but the investment is very large and gives the government even more control of American life so there has never been a consensus for this. In other cases, women could get work but not having an automobile, they could not get to jobs in most of the United states. Further, requiring welfare recipients to work, collapsed when the economy was in recession. Many women just could not find jobs, and even when the government provided assistance, the state of the local economy determined whether or not workfare was practical.
This clause is an interesting combination of liberal and conservative ideas. The former was the fact that it was the society’s obligation to provide jobs for the willing workers and welfare for the needy. At the same time, there was to be no assistance to the people who would not work—a classic conservative welfare reform.
Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell was a British-born American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction, also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner, and by her married name of J. Miriam Reback.
