[Cerek]

I think this is a good example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. By legalizing a "victimless crime", they German gov't has - in fact - ensure that some women ARE victimized, by either being forced into prostitution or losing their support income.

Heiro - It is not always as easy as it sounds to just "pick up and move" someplace where there ARE jobs available. Unless the woman is willing to live in her car or look for a homeless shelter, she will have a difficult time finding a place to live unless she already has the money to support herself. I was faced with a situation once where I had to find a place to live on my own. Even though I had a job at the time (through a Temp Agency), I did NOT have enough money to pay "first and last month's rent" (in addition to a deposit) on any of the apartments I checked on - and these were all in the same town I was living in at the time. I had no choice but to move back home with my parents until I could get back on my feet. I've never regretted what happened, but it showed me first hand just how much easier it is to tell someone to "find a job" or "move somewhere else" than it is for the person in question to actually DO that.

SilentThief - I dislike people who cheat our Welfare System as much as the next person and I'm a firm supporter of Workfare, but not everybody that receives Welfare is deliberately trying to cheat the system. As for our gov't "putting the dads in jail", that only happens if the dads have actually committed some crime. What are we supposed to do? Say, "Well, we would normally put you in jail for this crime, but since your estranged wife and kids are on welfare, we're gonna forget the jail sentence this time so you can go out and get a job." That might sound feasible on paper, but most of these dads aren't supporting thier wife or kids anyway. They're "deadbeat dads" that have abandoned their family because they don't want to live up to their responsibility in the first place.

Q'alooith - VulcanRider provided ample evidence that jobs are not as easy to find in Germany as you seem to imply. And that even some jobs that sound "legitimate" are nothing more than fronts for prostitution. Again, I speak from personal experience. I have a BS degree in Marketing and Financial Planning and an Associates degree in Electronic Data Processing, but after moving back home (in the aforementioned example), I couldn't find any employment that was remotely related to my degrees. So I worked in a restaurant as a dishwasher for 2 years until a better job came along. Several years later, I have a decent job (for my area) but I still am not working in anything closely related to what I studied for in college.

The point is that jobs are not always as easy to find as you imply.