Judge the Left’s Effects, Not Their Rhetoric
It's easy to see why the left can paint themselves as the 'good guys' of the social mobility argument. Their policies often look like they're increasing the standards of life for the poorest, putting the burden of the country's running costs on those most able to pay and offer a safety net to the most vulnerable in society. What we need to do is look past this rhetoric and understand what some of their flagship policies actually achieve for the poorest in society.
I don't often talk about myself here because I want this blog to be about politics and not people, but I feel that I need to offer a small introduction in order to increase your understanding of the angle I'm taking on this. I grew up under a Labour government in a council house with a single mother who worked part-time at a local school. We lived in what the left would consider relative poverty, far below 60% of the average wage in the country between three of us.
The Welfare Trap Exposed
Something I often find myself discussing with friends in the UK is the current state of welfare in the country. For those of you who don't know, the welfare state in the UK is a mammoth, providing money for just about any reason you can think of, and quite a bit of it as well, straight from the taxpayer's purse. The belief of the left is that somehow this dinosaur helps the poor, but really all it seems to do is keep them poor and keep their productivity down. We're going to look at how.
Meet Dave, he's a 26 year old unemployed man. He left school at 16 with GCSE qualifications, and has never had a job. He claims benefits and lives off of those. You may deride Dave and tell him he's done all manner of things wrong, but has he? As an unskilled worker, Dave is probably only going to be able to work for around the minimum wage. This is £5.93 per hour. Let's assume Dave could work 40 hours a week, this would give him a total weekly income of £237.20, or £12,334.00 per annum.
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