lean more towards a limit on the number of weeks of unemployment and then when that limit is reached you have to take a job from a list -- if you haven't found one by then or there isn't one, then at least do whatever job the unemployment office has on their list -- they can dibby them out and do the hiring :o) ....

I agree with you in theory. However, the problem is the public sector unions. You could pay unemployed people to provide necessary public services like - oh, I don't know- mowing the median strips on the expressway or picking up trash on the roads. But then wouldn't the unions start rioting and complain that it is some union member's job to do that for twice the hourly rate?