Is it at all suprising that it starts this way? That we start by triming the edges, cutting down on the fat. Is it at all suprising that they start by taking away the universal benefits from the richer, in order to get the ball rolling. Some would say this is the correct way to go, some would say we should start by taking away money from people who dont need it, some would see this as a sign that the conservatives are really trying to protect the poorest from the worst of the cuts. I however am not some ...
The welfare state was first drawn up in 1942, as a way of dealing with the problems unrestrained capitalism had created. It worked because, while housing is in short supply, the majority of people today regardless of where they live, find it is of good quality, nothing like the slums of the laissez faire era of Britain. Similar to this, in the modern day, for all we complain about the state of our hospitals, nobody has to worry that they wont ever have health care when they need it and at least before this current government no one would worry that they would starve if they lost their job. The welfare state had seemingly done its job but with a coalition nibbling away at the outside, at what they call "excess" we find ourselves in a tricky situation. If we take the governments list of social measures in order of their importance (ignoring of course free milk because god forbid we see any "Maggi Thatcher Milk Snatcher" styled rhymes) and say that, hypothetically any universal benefits sit at the bottom, then unemployment benefits, then disability benefits, and on the top sits the NHS (again hypothetical). If we give the government license to strike off the thing which they think is of lowest priority, we are simply giving them license to work their way up the list, once they take universal benefits we find that now the unemployment benefits are lowest on their list. When it comes to the welfare state we should never cede any ground because welfare is an absolute system. Your state either looks after all its members or does not, Britain used to be the former, now it is moving towards the latter and as a socialist this truly worries me. While I have no sense of patriotism, whilst in conversation with Americans i felt proud to talk of Britains welfare state. What is really left to celebrate without it.
The Coalition government is condemed. This is something that sooner or later will manifest itself as the masqurade will colapse surrounding the true nature of these cuts, ideology. Either these cuts will fail and we will have a double dip recession but rather then changing tactics they will continue down the same road or their cuts campaign will work the economy will grow (continue to grow), the debt will be reduced but they will refuse to spend again on things such as schools, general infrastructure and other public institutions. The problem is that even when control is rightly surrendered back to the progressives of the nation, it will be too late, the damage will be done and the social spending to rectify the problem will cost a fortune putting the nation back in debt again. If these cuts progress it will simply result in a continuation of the old boom bust culture something that was meant to be gone. I for one feel it was high time to stop turning to the pessimistic, elitist hypocrites in times of hardship. Because look what we the people have started by electing a regressive party, we made the hard time harder. Last time I checked, that is hardly fair.
The welfare state was first drawn up in 1942, as a way of dealing with the problems unrestrained capitalism had created. It worked because, while housing is in short supply, the majority of people today regardless of where they live, find it is of good quality, nothing like the slums of the laissez faire era of Britain. Similar to this, in the modern day, for all we complain about the state of our hospitals, nobody has to worry that they wont ever have health care when they need it and at least before this current government no one would worry that they would starve if they lost their job. The welfare state had seemingly done its job but with a coalition nibbling away at the outside, at what they call "excess" we find ourselves in a tricky situation. If we take the governments list of social measures in order of their importance (ignoring of course free milk because god forbid we see any "Maggi Thatcher Milk Snatcher" styled rhymes) and say that, hypothetically any universal benefits sit at the bottom, then unemployment benefits, then disability benefits, and on the top sits the NHS (again hypothetical). If we give the government license to strike off the thing which they think is of lowest priority, we are simply giving them license to work their way up the list, once they take universal benefits we find that now the unemployment benefits are lowest on their list. When it comes to the welfare state we should never cede any ground because welfare is an absolute system. Your state either looks after all its members or does not, Britain used to be the former, now it is moving towards the latter and as a socialist this truly worries me. While I have no sense of patriotism, whilst in conversation with Americans i felt proud to talk of Britains welfare state. What is really left to celebrate without it.
The Coalition government is condemed. This is something that sooner or later will manifest itself as the masqurade will colapse surrounding the true nature of these cuts, ideology. Either these cuts will fail and we will have a double dip recession but rather then changing tactics they will continue down the same road or their cuts campaign will work the economy will grow (continue to grow), the debt will be reduced but they will refuse to spend again on things such as schools, general infrastructure and other public institutions. The problem is that even when control is rightly surrendered back to the progressives of the nation, it will be too late, the damage will be done and the social spending to rectify the problem will cost a fortune putting the nation back in debt again. If these cuts progress it will simply result in a continuation of the old boom bust culture something that was meant to be gone. I for one feel it was high time to stop turning to the pessimistic, elitist hypocrites in times of hardship. Because look what we the people have started by electing a regressive party, we made the hard time harder. Last time I checked, that is hardly fair.
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