31 January 2006

Means testing is stupid, expensive and counter-productive.

If I ever win the 100 million on the euro lottery, I will find a 100 people on incapacity benefit and pay them 150 pounds a week for the rest of their life and record what happens to them. I suggest that those that could work, would work once they were free of the financial disincentive of means tested benefit.

Everyone should have a decent income that provides basic shelter, food, clothing, energy etc.

If we provide this means-tested, people will always find a way of manipulating benefits, turn to crime in general or will starve and/or become homeless.

If we don't want any of these things to happen, we have to provide this income un-means-tested.

We are the fourth richest country in the world and the vast majority of people here want to work, we can definitely afford this and have a moral duty to do it.

A citizen's income is affordable and the most efficient way of doing this because it removes the financial disincentives to work that are the problem and has the extra reward of getting rid of a lot of bureaucracy in the process.

A citizen's income will enable everyone to work when and where they are able to, with their earnings topping up their basic income. Problem solved!

I know I keep banging on about this, but whatever benefit you are on about, and incapacity benefit is the latest, then this is the simple solution, it is not difficult to work out, which leads me to believe that some people who claim they care about poverty, don't 'really' care as much as they pretend. Too many people have dollar signs in their eyes to do anything serious about the problem of poverty. Please prove me wrong.

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