A not-so-good point

Got another one of those insipid e-mail forwards. This time it's about "Canada's sad state of affairs for beleaguered taxpayers":

THIS GUY PUTS IT RATHER WELL!

This was written by a construction worker in Fort MacMurray...he sure makes a lot of sense to me!

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit.

In order to earn that pay cheque, I work on a rig site for a Fort Mac construction project. I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare cheque because I have to pass one to earn it for them...?

Please understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their arse drinking beer and smoking dope. Could you imagine how much money the provinces would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a Public assistance cheque?

Please pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don't.

Hope you will pass it along though, because something has to change in this country, and soon!

A seemingly good point, right? Wrong.

First, start off with the fact that in 2005, there were about 56,400 people on welfare in Alberta. That works out to about 1.9% of all Albertans. And this number has been trending significantly downward over the past 10 years, even as the population of Alberta grows. Not exactly what you'd call a crippling blight of beer-drinking, dope-smoking layabouts dragging down our society.

Next, consider that on average, a person on welfare in Alberta will receive anywhere from $635 to $1000 a month.

Now let's do the math—and just for the sake of argument, let's assume that each person on welfare is maxing out their $1000 a month.

56,400 people x $1000 = $56,400,000

Wow! That's a lot money, hey? Except it's not. Not when the Alberta government made $603 million in profit from liquor, and over $2 billion in profit from gambling. In other terms, the entire cost of welfare payments works out to about 2.2% of what the government brings in just from booze and gambling. Both of which our construction-worker friend from Fort Mac is likely indulging in to excess with his unique combination of ridiculously inflated oil-company wages and limited self-awareness.

So you see, we don't need this guy's tax dollars to support welfare. Or anyone else's, for that matter. And let's not forget how much of that welfare money goes right back to the government, in exactly the same way that our hard-done-by friend cheerfully donates what's left of his after-tax paycheque to the government: drinking and gambling.

All in all, it just seems like poetic justice to me. The only good point this dumbass has is the one on his head. If only there were a urine test for stupidity.