What? Get a job!

Remember that line from the Vietnam war that went something like, "to save the village, we had to burn it." I get the impression from PM Schroeder that is what he is saying here (or at least AP's interpretation of it):



Speaking on Germany's ARD television, he insisted the welfare state had to be shaken up if it was to survive.



"One can only be fair when one is prepared for change," Schroeder said. "We're making these changes to free up resources for investment in future tasks," he said, naming better education and child-care as key to making the German economy more competitive.



Of course all this presumes that it is a good thing that the welfare state survives. Anyway, the PM is only proposing new measures to make sure the able bodied work and free up investment by business. I suppose that IS a problem for these freeloaders; they don't want to work. This isn't a case, however, of burning the village to save it, but using a garden hose to put out a 4 alarmer.