That caps it off!!!

This is a post about the proposed benefits cap of £26000.

Now, I’m no expert in these things, numbers tend to make my head swim and, often, calculated projections are proven to be a massive waste of time, resources and (ironically) money. If you want details on that kind of thing then you are probably better off looking elsewhere.

This proposal however affects me, people around me, my community and many other people besides so, sod it, I’ll talk about it. Also, the idea of it really hacks me off and I want to get it off my chest.

Firstly, the very fact that this has been put on the table in the first place is yet another example of the ruling classes trying to offset the debt (that they made) by squeezing the poorest people in the country. It has been my contention for a long while that these policy makers are so far divorced from the impact their decisions have that they barely regard us (the poor)  as people at all and treat us rather more like “problems to be solved” or “items on a spreadsheet to be balanced.”

I feel that these policy makers should have to live directly with the results of their decisions i.e. high ranking members of the DWP should have to sign on (for a limited period) before they take the promotion. Not only should they have to suffer the “indignity” of signing on but also they must also have to live on the budget which they are prepared to advocate as an “expectable living allowance”. You watch how fast those little loopholes and discrepancies that drive people to despair  get closed up and sorted out.

Now, I don’t advocate welfare dependency and I get as angry as the next person when I discover someone has been claiming money that they don’t “need”, but this brings me to the second thing that has got me annoyed enough to start typing. The justification for this particular “solution” seems to be that it will “incentivise people and encourage them off of benefits” In a word… BULLSHIT. If you take the old adage of the carrot  and the stick, I feel this particular legislation would fall firmly into the “stick” portion of that arrangement.

Also, in the case of JSA, if it is to encourage claimants into work – it would be nice if there was some work to jump into. In the case of housing benefit, it would be nice to have some affordable housing to move into. In the case of Child Benefit, State Pensions and Disability Benefits, it’s just a matter of pride – is it not the reason we swallow the bitter tax pill (and thanks to VAT and various added duties, we ALL pay tax) so that the young, old and infirm can be taken care of? (or is that just a ridiculously old fashioned notion?)

So what are we to do about it? Well you could contact your MP. Hahahaha – I crack me up! Your MP doesn’t care about YOU – not unless you can sprinkle a few £££ under his/her nose (and if you are on benefits you are defiantly in the “expenditure” bracket of the spreadsheet and, therefore, your opinions mean nothing.)

So what are we to do about it? Well, simple, do what you are expected to do – bend over, take it and try not to cause too much of a fuss about it. Continue to pay for a situation that you likely didn’t cause and let them reduce your life to the bare minimum of existence. Allow the Orwellian steamroller to crush your aspirations while they build stadiums devoted to an expensive spectacle  of sport  and fight wars in the desert that no one can really remember why they started [“Viva Oceania!”]. Above all – remain powerless and voiceless in the face of the Ministry of Plenty (well, voiceless unless you decide to bellyache about it on the internet.)

So, in short, this post solves nothing – but then I’m not the one being paid (out of the public purse) to come up with solutions but, suffice to say, if you keep hitting people with sticks – they may eventually start hitting back. Just look at the evidence!