The Poor are a Political Football

In the eleven years that NuLabour have been in power in the Dis-United Kingdom, the gap between rich and poor has widened, social mobility has fallen to zero, our education system turns out more and more unemployables, and the welfare benefits system has grown into an enormous bureaucracy that keeps the poor, poor.
Meanwhile, our economy has been royally shafted by Gordon the Moron, with ten years of cooking the books during a peak in the business cycle, pretending that money was being invested in our 'future' whilst instead giving tax-breaks to the rich, at the same time increasing the country's national debt to unheard of proportions. So, now that we are heading into a deepening recession, there's nothing left to tide us over the bad times to come.
These thoughts, and more, were in our minds as Nosher and I relaxed in our deckchairs after an afternoon's gardening on our little allotment plots.
The sun was out, the breeze was gentle and warm, and our plants were growing well.
But, in the great scheme of things, we are both poor.
Although we both own our homes, we have been bled almost dry by mortgage payments over the years and steeply rising taxes. We try to make sure that what little disposable income we have left is spent as wisely as possible. In other words, we devote our efforts to ameliorating our condition in any legal way available. And, for both of us, that means taking responsibility for how we live our lives and not expecting the State to pick up the tab.
But the situation for those people now currently in the benefits system, or who become enmeshed in it in the future, is going to get far worse if the reforms outlined today by one James Purnell, are anything to go by. Purnell is a NuLabour Assistant Fool who has led a privileged life (like so many NuLabour activists), has never been poor, and appears to despise the condition, if his latest pronouncements are to be believed.
Due to both main parties treating the poor like a political football for the past forty years, there are now more economically-inactive people in the Dis-United Kingdom than ever before - even on conservative estimates there must be around 10 million people of working age who are not economically productive.
By fiddling the figures, the Government claims that only around 1 million people are technically 'unemployed' - that is, out of work and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. But add to that around 2.7 million on Incapacity Benefit, another approximately 2 million 16-18 year olds not in employment, education or training, and a million or more on DLA who don't work, plus an indeterminate number who don't (officially) work but don't claim benefits (either because they are too proud or they despise the system and don't want to be a part of it) and the numbers become mind-boggling. In short, we are a country that does not make much attempt to utilise the talents of our workforce for the national good.
'These new proposals will do nothing other than make the poor even poorer' Nosher said 'whilst doing nothing to address the benefits culture that enduces workshy people to expect the State to give them money for doing nothing.'
'The tragedy' I said 'is that these reforms will be used to depress the wages of the lowest paid workers as the economy sinks deeper in recession. It really is a sad indictment of our political system that not one political party is prepared to say openly that the benefits system is out of control, and that nothing will change until we reform the education system so that it trains people for a life of work, and motivates them to want to work; until we reform the NHS so that it strives even harder to find effective treatments for those who are found to have medical conditions that prevent them from working. And then the benefits system itself should be reformed so that it becomes an effective re-training and employment agency, so that, in effect, in functions as an extension of the education system. And we need to provide realistic incentive to business and industry to take on apprentices and trainees, and cut their tax burden if they do so. Instead, we appear to be heading for a cynical workfare-style system that will do little to motivate people to take charge of their lives, but will enable the unemployment and benefits figures to be manipulated even more than they are at the moment.'
'Tragic, but, I fear, all true' said Nosher.
More from http://www.overthegardenfence.blogspot.com/ soon.
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