Unintended consequences
Some of my libertarian friends have long argued for the legalization of prostitution. After all, sex is good, capitalism is good, so why wouldn’t paying for sex be double-plus good? Perhaps they should think a little harder about clashes between existing laws and programs and legalized prostitution. For example, if you’re on unemployment, and you refuse a job, you can be denied further benefits. And if your neighbor owns a brothel, why shouldn’t she be able to advertise for jobs in the local job banks?
Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.
“Why shouldn’t I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?” said Miss Ulyanova.
You can probably see where this is going. Yes, a woman (software programmer!) in Germany refused to take a job at a brothel, and is now facing denial of unemployment benefits.
Of course, my libertarian friends would argue that unemployment programs should be abolished too, but that’s not much of an answer for the poor woman in Germany.
January 31st, 2005 at 7:15 pm
hmm, I’m staying away from the prostitution debate thing. however I will say your a bit off on the unemployment benifits thing, at least here in MN. first refusing a job you didn’t apply for would have no effect on your benifits. second you are allowed to refuse a job even if you applied for it in a number of circumstances, ranging from the amount they pay compared to your previous earnings to the type of work not using your skills.
January 31st, 2005 at 8:30 pm
The German system must only go by whether or not a person has the right qualifications for the job. “Hmmm… she izt breathing, and she has Das Kooch, yet she says ‘nein’… Achtung! Nein benefitzen!”
January 31st, 2005 at 9:30 pm
Well, if she’s a virgin then she can claim she’s not qualified for the job …
February 1st, 2005 at 1:07 am
I finally bothered reading the artical. one thing it says in it is that they can only lose their benifits for refusing a job after collecting unemployment for one year. have fun getting your benifits to last a full year around here regardless of whether you refuse a job or not.
February 1st, 2005 at 11:22 am
The libertarian angle is how they fund unemployment in Germany. Aside from the one year of benefits (which is pretty generous), it boils down to taxing other people so somebody doesn’t have to get a job. At a certain it stops being unemployment and becomes welfare.
She had a year of being out of work to examine the job market & decide if she needed to learn new skills or move to get a job. After that, do other taxpayers & workers need to keep paying her tab?
In the US, unemployment is something that working folk pay into and formerly working folk get to draw from for a limited time. After a certain point you get cutoff, because unemployment doesn’t replace the working wage.