More and more it appears as if The Bahamas is becoming a place where Bahamians are depending on hand-outs. Not as a matter of choice, but rather because of a way of life. With more and more people losing jobs, more Bahamians find themselves flocking to the Department of Social Services in search of some sort of help to live life day-to-day.

More Bahamians are becoming reliant on Social Services' coupons for food, water, light bills, lunches for their children, uniform allowances and even for clothing.

Prime Minister Ingraham, in his lastest National address at the rally to introduce the FNM candidates for the upcoming elections, said that the government of The Bahamas will be extending the unemployment benefit for Bahamians from 13 weeks to 24 weeks.

While we must be appreciative of the government's attempt to do its part to try and ease the pain many Bahamians feel, the truth is, extending the unemployment benefit will not solve the country's present dilemma.

The middle class has been squeezed out and has virtually disappeared due to the financial crisis and many people who were once living comfortable lives, now find themselves in a position where they have to live without electricity or water. Some have been evicted from their homes and many tote lines at the Department of Social Services.

While the Unemployment benefits will assist many Bahamians who find themselves in this position, the truth of the matter is that unemployment benefit is being paid for by those of us who are working, in spite of the fact that government tries to make it seem that they are paying the bill.

The truth is, working Bahamians are carrying the load for those who are unemployed. As a result, National Insurance payment, which increased last year, is expected to increase even more this year.

Bahamians are generally known as a proud people and things must be pretty bad for some of our people to get to the point where they have decided to tote a line for social service assistance.

Bahamians don't want just hand-outs, they want jobs.

The onus is on the government of The Bahamas to find a way to stimulate employment in the country. Giving hand-outs is a temporary solution, which tax even more those who are working or those who own businesses.

If we continue to just rely on government hand-outs, The Bahamas will become a welfare state, in which many young Bahamians will not see the need to have to work, but rather to sit back and depend on hand-outs from the government.

This way of life will make our Founding Fathers turn over in their graves, because it's not in keeping with the ideals they held in their hearts when they fought for the freedom of The Bahamas.

This is not what we want to teach our children. Is this what our young people coming out of school and college can look forward to, no place to find a job and earn a living? This glimpse of their future will leave children with a sense of hopelessness, which in turn results in high crime.

We thank the government for the unemployment benefit, for the Jump Start program and for the Job placement program, however, the bigger picture should be to find a way to create long term jobs. We ought to be careful not to let the mindset of our people get into that welfare stae, where they sit back and depend totally on the government to take care of them.