IPI's Matthews Kicks UK Welfare 'Bum': BBC Special to Air Tonight

IPI's Matthews Kicks UK Welfare 'Bum': BBC Special to Air Tonight

DALLAS, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Call it an economic version of "Supernanny." But instead of naughty children, you have unproductive welfare recipients. And instead of parents at their wits end, it's a government withering under the massive weight of feckless welfare policies.

Dr. Merrill Matthews, Resident Scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), stars in a new documentary on BBC Wales' "Week In Week Out," asking why isn't there more outrage at the staggering number of unemployed on welfare in parts of the UK. With over a decade of experience working in U.S. welfare policy reform -- and in real Texas cowboy boots -- Matthews visits the homes of families in southern Wales who have been "living on the dole" for generations.

So just how bad is it? In Merthyr, Wales, a shocking 20 percent of the working-age population is receiving "incapacity (i.e. disabled) benefits." Matthews investigates not only why so many refuse to get out and find work, but also offers advice on what the UK can do to imitate America's successful welfare reform policies.

To those who would criticize Matthews' tough-talking stance to get off their "bums" and get back to work, Matthews says, "People who think it's cruel seem to think work is punishment -- work isn't punishment! By helping people get back into work, you restore their dignity, restore their self-respect, and you give them a chance to make a living they were never able to do before."

Matthews' prescription: "Public officials must stop making excuses for people and stop coddling them," he said. "The government must make a clear and undiluted statement that people are going to go back to work. People themselves can make something of their lives.

Matthews' work in the UK is a continuation of IPI's global free market public policy efforts on intellectual property, health care, and now welfare reform. The BBC special airs tonight at 10:35 pm GMT.

For more information or to preview this edition of "Week In Week Out," please visit BBC Wales online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/.

The Institute for Policy Innovation is a non-profit public policy organization based in Dallas, TX. IPI experts are available for interview by contacting Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139 or erin@ipi.org.

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Source: Institute for Policy Innovation

CONTACT: Erin Humiston of the Institute for Policy Innovation,
+1-972-874-5139, erin@ipi.org

Web Site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales
http://www.ipi.org/

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