If you can’t tell by my previous writings, I loathe socialism. All of it. The idea of being forced to share the wealth drives me nuts and keeps me up at night if my day was too easy. Until recently, all of my evidence was third party, research of others like Thomas Sowell or F. A. Hayek. But now, I have my own evidence!

My father lost his job as CFO for a title company in Texas. He quickly obtained unemployment. Socialist, right? What has happened? Our government has decided to make being unemployed a little nicer, a little more tolerable. Isn’t that nice? Well now, my dad is turning down jobs because he does not want to lose his unemployment. That’s right. He could be contributing to society by pursuing both permanent and temporary (which may lead to permanent) jobs, but instead he is only looking at permanent jobs, even though temporary jobs may pay more than unemployment. So here we have a system stifling productivity in the name of sympathy. Don’t get me wrong. My dad is making the right choice from his perspective. He knows how much money he can make from unemployment and knows how much he can make from these temporary jobs. He will let his pride and wallet stop him from accepting a job when it is pays less, as a whole, than unemployment.

In line with this steaming pile, I had a conversation with my mom regarding what I would do if I lost my job tomorrow. I told her I would immediately get a job, Starbucks, Home Depot, a local restaurant, anything to get income while I find a job that uses all of my skills (I currently design microprocessors for pace makers and implantable defibrillators). She asked, won’t that pay less than unemployment? I never thought of that. I immediately thought to be a productive person in society, not leech off of it. She said, you pay unemployment taxes, so you deserve it. That is more of a reason to eliminate unemployment taxes, than to leech, isn’t it?

The true test of your ideals is when it hits home. I know what I would do in this case, but what about you?