Conventional wisdom tells us that, since the unemployed are simply too lazy to get jobs, giving them benefits while they're trying to find them only discourages that practice. Unfortunately, it seems like the moochers are much moochier than we thought: [url=http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/losing-benefits-isnt-prodding-unemployed-back-to-work/]"First, the short-term unemployed have a much better chance of finding a job than the long-term unemployed and always have. Second, the short-term unemployed are seeing a steady improvement in their prospects, but the long-term jobless are not. And third, there’s been no major shift since the benefits program expired at the end of last year. (The chart shows the data as a 12-month rolling average, which could obscure a sudden shift. The un-smoothed data, however, doesn’t show a jump either.)"[/url] To be fair, these are conclusions drawn from three months of data-- too small of a sample size for anything definite to be said. While [url=http://www.economics21.org/commentary/boost-economy-let-unemployment-bill-die]some economists[/url] have argued that cutting the benefits would boost growth, [url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Projects/BPEA/Fall%202011/2011b_bpea_rothstein.PDF]others have[/url] have argued the exact opposite. Long-term unemployment is such a [url=http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/out-of-work-out-of-luck/]big problem[/url] that it seems to be transcending [url=http://www.aei.org/article/economics/fiscal-policy/labor/heres-why-conservatives-should-worry-more-about-long-term-unemployment/]party lines.[/url] What, if anything, should the makers do to help the takers of society?