24 June 2008
Boris Screws The Poor.
Well it is hardly a surprise to find a right-wing Tory like Boris not giving a hoot about those less fortunate. First he came for those on income support getting half price travel, how long before under 18s lose their free travel and when will Boris honour his reluctant election campaign commitment to 24 hour freedom passes for pensioners or routemaster buses? Oh! I forgot that was just a ruse to get people to vote for him.
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On your bikes - and get fit!
ReplyDelete"Boris screws the workshy" would be more appropriate.
Hi this is Katrina Anon...
ReplyDeleteIt ain't free, its paid for by all the taxpayers, fees, surcharges, licenses, etc. I love how people say it is free like the government has some resources of its own...Oh! Wait that's right...they just go to the taxpayers and charge them fees, surcharges, licenses, etc. to fund these.
It right for a society to help those in need and doing what they can to get out of that situation.
Snafu: Income support goes to a lot of people who work and carers etc. Looking after an elderly relative who is chronically sick is hard work! To these people cheap bus travel is a big help.
ReplyDeleteAnon: Inequality comes back to bite the rich in the end. Large scale inequality is a sign of the moral bankruptcy of the wealthy. Who wants to live in a society where your 'freedom' means living behind bars to protect your material goods from the povertous hoards outside? Nothing makes people happier than helping others (and voluntary charity just does not cover it).
Hi Neil, this is Katrina Anon...long time no blog...
ReplyDeleteNeil on the face of it I do not disagree with you up to a point. Certainly you are right that when the differences between the wealthy and poor get very large problems occur. The same thing happens when government overreaches like many in Europe have.
What you want governments to prevent is the creation of royality. That is to say that the accumulation of wealth and property are a matter of heredity and not effort. There is much less of that in the US than the UK, though I would like to see less still.
Once you start taking or "redistributing wealth" there is the very real risk of sapping the productivity of your society. Those people that are willing to work the endless hours making a shop or store turn into a winning enterprise do deserve to enjoy the wealth from their labors; not the government taking it away from them and giving it to someone else.
Further, when a government depicts the hardworking whatevers as some kind of leech on society, the so-called class envy, they are guilty of a worse crime in my book. They are dividing their society and instilling covetness in the average citizen. That will be a much larger problem.
If these people are so evil, then what jobs has government created? It is usually corporations that create the jobs and churn money through the system.
What government needs to do is build the playing field and the borders that corporations must operate within. They should guide corporations to avoid excesses and keep worker job skills and benefits transportable with the region. Above all they must and should encourage corporations to churn money not accumulate it.
Those things make for a better society and one that generates the revenue for the social programs that a society will no doubt need.
A government should celebrate the wealthy of their society and not covet their things and toys. At the same time a society needs to do the same for all that work, value their work, and insist that they work. If you do not then you end up with people like we have around here that feel they are entitled to sit on their doorstep.