People here in China have the idea that if you don't have a job in America (or Canada), the gov't will just give you money. They aren't that far off base
I almost wish this were true. Maybe it is in Communist countries like Canada, but it sure isn't in the USA. Much of our welfare was gone by the Reagan Revolution of the early 1980s.
Well, OK, in many states you can get a lot if you have a minor child in your custody- food, housing, medical care, child care, cash, and a lot more. But without the child...there ain't much safety net here at all.
After a blowup at the Casino (not my doing, I swear
) I've been unemployed again for quite some time. And it's really, really bleak here...even things like retail are getting hard to come by. I'm furiously applying for jobs I wouldn't have even bothered to laugh at BC (Before China)...and still getting very few nibbles at all.
I did have an interview last week I'm waiting to hear from. The company had jettisoned its Marketing department when the economy collapsed, and are seeking to replace it with one person, 20 hours a week, hourly pay, no benefits.
I get food stamps, which buy ONLY food....no toilet paper, no toothpaste, no gasoline...nothing else.
It would probably be easier- and cheaper!- for me to get a private audience with Hu Jintao than with an American doctor.
So, there IS some safety net for kids...but the days when you can just quit your job and live off the taxpayers (or even return from years abroad and get much help shoehorning back in) are over in America. Have been for decades.