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You can be right/left wing and support/not support/support to a certain degree a state welfare system. Or you can turn it into a left-right argument.
I've never understood why child benefit is paid regardless of need.
Yeah as Stoner suggests, we once had what was called "the universal welfare state". Unlike Stoner, I totally support the concept - it's the bedrock of social democracy. Welfare "for the needy" is a neo-liberal concept.
In a universal welfare state/social democracy those who can contribute more, do, there is therefore no need to stop their entitlement.
I don't support safety nets for the needy, a universal social wage helps to maintain social cohesion and maintains higher standards. It is absolutely imperative imo.
ernie - I thought the original welfare "product" was specifically a safety net measure, pensions, nhs etc?
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PS, Ernie while you're in here, would you mind passing on the benefit of your experience over here pls
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/neighbours-have-fitted-power-shower-on-wall-adjoining-our-bedroom#post-3105036
ta 🙂
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Watching this on BBC2, it occurs to me that universal childcare and lots of social housing would be pretty handy..
In a universal welfare state/social democracy those who can contribute more, do, there is therefore no need to stop their entitlement.
If you do this properly with a progressive taxation system (or at least one which isn't too regressive) you should get the same result as with means testing without the social stigma. Then again child tax credits is mean tested, and whilst a lot of criticism can be levelled at the system it does generally seem to work OK - extending it to a level where it's not just the "poor" claiming it seems to have removed the stigma from claiming (just leaving the bureaucracy as the main disincentive).
It's not often I agree with ernie and disagree with Stoner - I must be getting old.