Dear Editor,
David Cameron proposes scrapping housing benefit for under
25's. He says he wants to discourage the feeling of entitlement and a
"something for nothing culture". Our Prime Minister shows he has neither
compassion for those affected, nor understanding of the consequences of his
economic policies.
Housing and other benefits aren't "entitlements", they are
first aid! Proof is available in stone that wealth inequalty is increasing.
The wealthiest get richer whilst the wages of the majority have stagnated
for years. Nobody working full time should need benefits and if social
housing programmes hadn't been scrapped, few would be at the mercy of
unscrupulous landlords.
The government have imposed austerity measures insisting that
there is no alternative to the cuts. Yet the head of the "millionaire's
cabinet" and his chancellor have made it easier for the wealthiest to avoid
taxes, for corporations to evade taxes and amass even greater profit, and
for the financial sector to walk away from the damage it has caused without
penalty or regulatory reform.
Our country continues to follow an economic model which rewards
the wealthiest by focussing on what the financial sector refers to as
"shareholder value".
Companies must perform to provide profit for shareholders, the
overwhelming majority of
whom, take that profit and move onto the next "investment" demanding short
term dividends which are achieved through job losses, low wages and more
difficult working conditions.
Through regulation of such predatory activity, government
must support business to enable it to refocus on stakeholder value whereby
companies are able act in a manner which consider not just shareholders but
employers, employees, suppliers, customers, the community and
environment in which it
operates.
Shareholders must be told that they can no longer contribute
nothing of substance and demand change for the sake of a quick profit. They
are not entitled to destroy jobs, families and communities in order to
swell their offshore accounts. The real wealth of this country is created
by those who live, earn and spend it here. Low wages and fewer jobs means less
tax paid, less spending, less growth, less profit !
If there is a "something for nothing culture", it is the
preserve of the wealthy.
