My Jobs Proposal

So we've all seen the headlines about unemployment rates continuing to rise, and Obama is going to save us all with his stimulus plan. Well, I have an idea, and it comes from growing up with a farmer for a dad.

In the 50's, Congress enacted the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Basically, this program pays farmers some amount of money to not farm their lands and instead use it for something that helps out the environment (prevents soil erosion, improve water supplies and quality, and increase wildlife habitats). So farmers get paid to not work. Now granted, I'm sure it is less money than they would have made if they had planted crops to harvest, but still, they are getting some money for not doing regular farm work.

So, I propose to Congress to come up with a similar program for jobs. There are some people out there working who could probably get by without working. It would be harder on those people, and they wouldn't be able to save as much, or afford as many luxuries, but still, they don't HAVE to work. So Congress should pay them to conserve their working so that someone else (who really NEEDS to work) can have their job, and the government could pay those giving up their jobs some amount less than they would make if they were working. I think we'd see all sorts of jobs open up if this program were available, and the unemployment rates would significantly drop...

...However, finding people to work those newly available jobs might be tough. After all, maybe they could survive on the money from the government through the Workman Conservation Program.

Or is that what Welfare is?