Learnt a new phrase today: "Comfortably Poor"

How apt!!   I have always maintained that those sucking on the government teat, are far, far, far, far more comfortable than people like yours truly living off  her saving and a few dollars earned in stock trades. Tell me, why would welfare recipients even bother to look for work when conniving liberal governments are loading them with fat bribes of  substantial  amounts  which many a time means  much more  than if  that recipient had actually had a "pay" cheque for "work" done?   The Left knows exactly  how to keep people dependent on it because that translates into welfare recipients' voting  for them forever.  When did taking welfare  become NOT a shameful thing?

Japan is proving once again that when disaster strikes they can  survive and not just survive but survive at the top of the pile.  Kudos to the thinkers in the Japanese government for making no bones about why welfare payments are being slashed.

From JapanTimes:
Welfare payments to be slashed ¥74 billion to root out the comfortably poor.

Welfare benefits will be slashed by ¥74 billion over a three-year period starting from fiscal 2013, after a government panel found that some people are making more on the dole than the average low-income person who is not spends on living costs, it was learned Sunday.

The decision to lower standard benefit payments by 6.5 percent was made by welfare minister Norihisa Tamura and Finance Minister Taro Aso. The reduction will hit in August.

Since the standard benefit payment provides the basis for determining other levels of public assistance, such as subsidies for school expenses, reducing it may also affect low-income earners even if they are not on welfare.

Tamura said after the meeting that he will implement the measures so the decision does not adversely affect such earners.

The actual amount doled out per household will be slashed by a maximum of 10 percent from the current level, which is based on age, number of family members and area of residence.
Welfare recipients hit a record high of 2.14 million in October 2012 and the state budget for benefits, including medical assistance, stood at around ¥2.8 trillion for fiscal 2012 ending in March....