We have a disturbed view of the poor. This is a statment with which most people would probably agree to a greater or lesser extent, but probably not for the reasons that I'm about to put forward.
My rant starts with an article I read that said that the UK was the worst country for social mobility, citing that those who are from poorer background are less likely to do well than their European counterparts. But I have a problem with that. What has that got to do with social mobility? If the people who are born to poor backgrounds work hard and never go anywhere then there is a problem, but if they are lazy and don't go anywhere then that is how things should work, isn't it? Or are the lazy to be promoted above others?
So far, so harsh. Now I'm not saying we forget social mobility, it is very important, I just recommend a different measurement, how about we take those who are from poor backgrounds, who get AAA (or ABB etc) at A-level (unlike me) and then ask where they end up. That way what we're asking is 'what happens to those from a poor background who are competant and work hard?' If the answer is still 'they don't suceed', then we've got problems!
Unfortunately this lack of understanding goes even into the Church. The Bishops in the House of Lords recently defeated a bill that would cap the amount people could get from benefits. I'm sure they thought that this was a win for Christian charity, sadly I'm not so sure. This is based on what I would call 'rights' verses 'grace'. When someone can be given over £26,000 in benefits, they are unlikely to work. Who would? Work is hard, tiring and often boring. It requires dedication, persistence and the ability to concentrate on the tidious and the repetitive... why would someone do that if they can get far more doing nothing? And remember the average wage is £26,000 BEFORE TAX, which means someone being given £26,000 in benefits is getting a net sum. To get £26,000 net a working individual would have to earn around £35,000!
Meanwhile to pay for such benefits we need to borrow until our country is in serious debt and tax people who have earned money giving them even less of an incentive to do so. That makes no sense, unless you want to try to force the system to collapse.
Anyway that isn't my main point. I'm not in the take all the money off the poor and let them rot camp. Far from it. What I want to point out is this:
Lets say you're in trouble, you can't pay your rent and you don't want to be thrown out of your home. You tell me about your troubles and I say to you, well I'll pay your rent for the next two months while you look for a job. Two months goes and you find a job, would you pretend that you haven't and keep taking money off me?
No, of course you wouldn't. Why? Because you would feel terrible that you're ripping off your friend who was there for you when you needed it and because sooner or later I'd find out and then you'd lose the type of friend everyone needs around.
But this is basically what government benefits allow people to do everyday. When a friend gives you money it is an act of grace, recieved with thanks. But when a benefit is given to you by the government, it is a 'right' that you ought to demand. Why not after all? You are entitled to it!
But really both scenarios are the same, when a benefit is handed to someone, it is not government money, it is money that has been taken off someone who earned it. It did not come from a bottomless pit that people think of the government as being, it came from a man or woman, who worked hard, then had their due wages taken off them by HMRC and then given to someone who hadn't worked for it.
I've been told of people who have told the government that they need a house because their girlfriend argues with their mother.... when they don't. And who have stayed in a hostle two nights a week so that they are classified as homeless to get a house sooner, even though there was no reason for them to say there, they just wanted to be shifted up the list. This was because it was their 'right' that they were entitled to. But no one would lie to their friend in such a way, despite the fact it is the same thing.
Further each time that money is taken off people and then given to another there is an army of civil servants who are required to do the taking. They need to take the money, process it, analyse who to give it to, get it to them, and chase up those who don't pay or claim when they shouldn't. All of that costs money which is also taken off the person who works. That isn't efficient.
So what is the answer? Do I think we should let the poor suffer? No of course not. But we can't 'nationalise' our poverty relief. It just leads to people treating the government as an infinite source of cash, it leads to people cheating the system, and plenty of money being syphoned off in the process. Oh, all the while giving every working person less of the money they earn.
What we need to do it organise our giving ourselves. Cut back benefits, cut back tax. We'll all have more money and when we get it we need to give it away. How much? Well is you're earning the average £26,000 per year and over night you stopped having to pay tax, you could afford to give away £3,700 per year to charities. Now I know that the government is important for certain things, defence for example, or the NHS, but those don't account for the £700,000,000,000 (£700Bn) the government spends!
Think of what could be acomplished if we only spent the bare minimum on the government, say £150Bn (the cost of Defence and the NHS and a bit more) and then spent the rest on charities and each other instead?
You know your friends so they aren't going to rip you off like they would the government and if a charity is wasting money on unecessary things then you can just give it to a more efficient one... so you don't have to pay for arts grants of £50,000 for something useless.
Our fellow man would be a lot better off as long as we were generous. We can do that, right?
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
