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Comment by rdudek | Hacker News Reader

That really depends on the market location doesn't it? I've moved states to find jobs in the past.

So have I, but even then, I expanded my search radius in discrete steps:

  - 0-30 minute commute and remote for stable companies
  - 30-60 minute commute and remote for promising start-ups
  - less than 2 hour commute and remote for anybody
  - moving to a previously white-listed US metropolitan area
  - moving anywhere at all within the continental US
  - freelancing gigs
  - live on the government dole
  - emigrate to a Commonwealth country
  - emigrate to another Anglophone country
  - emigrate to a completely foreign culture
  - turn to a life of white-collar crime
  - "out, damned spot"
  - wage bloody revolution against the corporation whores
  - sell humanity out to the lizard people

So far, I haven't ever had to progress past step 5. I'd be a little worried about folks stuck on step 7, as that's just before the slippery slope starts.

Why would you prefer to live on government welfare instead of moving to another country?

I can see people not wanting to if they are "settled" in an area - either by property or family - but I would think doing something productive in another country would be better than doing nothing.

{S}He probably had to pay rent and or eat, or go to the doctor, or pay for internet to send out job applications. We don't stop being expensive because we are not working.

The standard of living/quality of live for the poor in the USA is better than being poor in other countries. People on the dole often have nicer shoes and accessories than I do (talk about financial priorities out of whack, but I digress)! Depending on the situation you're better off on the dole than working a low-wage job. However, In other countries being poor means no welfare, no shoes, no plumbing, no food, and no Louis Vuitton purses.

I wouldn't be "doing nothing". The dole isn't always about sitting on ass and cashing checks. It's just that the things I would be doing would probably not be sufficiently remunerative to maintain a lifestyle that includes clean beds and showers.

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