I have such a narrow mind I won’t comply with the hate peddled by the government towards minorities migrants and other common enemies. You however lap it all up in your free thinking kind of way …..
One of the points of The Welfare State, was that it provided a safety net for those who fate had been less than kind too. Illness. Accident. Desertion. Unemployment. And it is true that scroungers can get onto the system and we will all of us have seen this happen. BUT, the problem is how to stop the scroungers, while at the same time giving help to those that need and deserve it. This problem has proved to be unsolvable to politicians of all Party's from day one of The Welfare State. Tighten the system up and those most in need of help are the ones most likely to suffer most. Open it up to ensure that the net catches those most in need, and it looks like a Scroungers Charter. I for one don't blame our Politicians for being unable to come up with an answer to this problem. I accept that there isn't one. And I can live with the odd idle shiftless waster getting away with its being the price we have to pay for helping those in need, UNLESS/UNTIL someone can come up with a workable answer.
What bugs me most is all the lost money which could go to those who need it going to people who play the system. Like you say, solving it is another thing.
I generally agree with this on most social policy. It will never work as planned ever and with every refinement there emerges another grey area. The only thing definite about a system is that it will constantly need changing. Poverty costs us all though so go for the universal basic income type model, improve windfall taxation of big profit making businesses and billionaires to redistribute and reduce poverty and increase investment in sustainable non profit making energy and transport to make life more affordable. The only thing that stops that is greedy or compliant voters.
What I meant by opened minded, was from the political view, not a blinkered one party narrow minded agenda!!!!
You were doing rather well till you got to the bit about non profit making. You seem to think that it's a good thing. Profits are NOT dirty words. Businesses that don't make profits don't tend to last long. People who work for these businesses join the ranks of The Unemployed. Governments are not equipped to run businesses. But history does show that when they tried it, these businesses were non profit making.. As for sustainable non profit making ventures, I am hard put to think of any that have succeeded. If I may give you an example it is Norway's Oil Fund. The Norwegian Government funneled it's oil income into this fund which is in effect a National Pension Fund. I believe that this fund is the Worlds Richest Company, investing in over 9000 PROFITABLE Companies Worldwide. This means that income will continue to be generated, long after the oil has gone. OR They could have doe what, for example The UK Goverment's of the day did, and dole it out to the population to gain short term popularity.
Remember when I said 'be careful what you wish for?'...... I think I'd rather have had another two years of Johnson. At least there was the chance he might get something right by accident occasionally.
