RJ
05-25-2007, 09:43 AM
I suppose this is sensible in an Eastern European, Borat sort of way.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/jobless_romanians_get_welfare_goats/
Jobless Romanians are to be given goats instead of welfare benefits as part of a scheme to make them contribute more to the economy.
Under the pilot project, welfare benefits are to be axed from September in the Independenta district, a collection of villages in south-eastern Romania, where unemployed families will instead each receive 10 goats.
They will be expected to milk the animals and sell milk and cheese to earn an income, and when they find work, they will have to return the goats to the local council.
The scheme has been set up by the council’s campaigning mayor, Cristea Gascan, who said: “We have 30 families that are on benefits, and just paying them cash does not help them or us. But with goats they are making a positive contribution to the economy and will be working instead of sitting at home expecting handouts.”
[...]
Suliman Visel, 22, who is unemployed and was the first to sign up for the goats, said: “I want to work and the goats will be good for me and my family. They will help me feed myself and my two children and will bring more than the welfare money we had.”
But Marin Vasile, 28, also out of work, said: “I do not want to hear anything again about any goats. If they give me goats I will take them to the mayor and make him look after them.”
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/jobless_romanians_get_welfare_goats/
Jobless Romanians are to be given goats instead of welfare benefits as part of a scheme to make them contribute more to the economy.
Under the pilot project, welfare benefits are to be axed from September in the Independenta district, a collection of villages in south-eastern Romania, where unemployed families will instead each receive 10 goats.
They will be expected to milk the animals and sell milk and cheese to earn an income, and when they find work, they will have to return the goats to the local council.
The scheme has been set up by the council’s campaigning mayor, Cristea Gascan, who said: “We have 30 families that are on benefits, and just paying them cash does not help them or us. But with goats they are making a positive contribution to the economy and will be working instead of sitting at home expecting handouts.”
[...]
Suliman Visel, 22, who is unemployed and was the first to sign up for the goats, said: “I want to work and the goats will be good for me and my family. They will help me feed myself and my two children and will bring more than the welfare money we had.”
But Marin Vasile, 28, also out of work, said: “I do not want to hear anything again about any goats. If they give me goats I will take them to the mayor and make him look after them.”