I still am a firm believer in a welfare state and am proud to say I come from the country where it originated and is maintained. What would be a serious alternative, the workhouse?
Undoubtedly abuse of the system and the fact that it has had to be extended to include members of the EU etc have weakened what was a fine and pioneering system in it's day, something to be proud of as a nation. Do we want to end up with a private health insurance system as they have for example in the USA?
Abuse has come about mainly becasue of a laxity in the system which means that for many it's actually more lucrative NOT to work and instead to claim benefits :
Quote:
Originally Posted by garinda
Eric, some of what you say, I take.
Though without wishing to appear too much like a copywriter for the Daily Mail, on some points you're wrong.
In recent years we have had a situation in which people chose to live on state funded benefits, because it meant they were better off doing that, than working for a living. For this, the system was wrong. Not necessarily the people who took advantage of the situation, who wanted as much money as possible, to fund their family's living costs.
The jobs some people are no longer prepared to do, are now being done by eastern Europeans. Who can work here, thanks to the E.U.'s open borders policy.
State benefits should be there for people, who through no fault of their own, need them. They should not be an option, a choice. Which for some, it was. Long term we can't afford that option as a society.
This programme showed people helped back into the jobs market, who then decided they couldn't afford the loss in income, so who chose to go back to living off benefits.
'Yvette, who, with four kids, finds that a minimum wage from Poundland is no match for the benefits she was getting before. Even Hayley doesn't blame Yvette for quitting, which is out of character for Hayley, and means that there must be something wrong with the system.'
Benefit Busters | Last night's TV | Television & radio | The Guardian
Benefit Busters | Single Mothers | Channel 4 - YouTube
http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...s-59903-3.html :quote
Fostering a work ethic in a country which offers opportunities to it's people is the key to a growing economy and prosperity for all...as well as a basic welfare system which helps those who are the weakest in society and those who need a helping hand to get them started in the working world.