Reply #18: I'll try and avoid entering into ping-pong posting on this

[TheBaldyMan]

I agree with you about the social fabric of communities being destroyed but I disagree about the effects of welfare on a community. At no point am I saying that the job of government is to keep people perpetually dependant on benefits, ideally the local economy would regenerate over time organically. Some communities were in the position of losing everything - employment, self-respect and opprtunity. Any regrowth in the local economy was starting from a very poor baseline.

My surmise is basically this: What kind of society do you want to live in? The one I'd like to live in is one with a progressive tax regime that supports the less fortunate of our society.

Demonizing those on welfare only clouds the issue. There is not nor has there ever been a dependancy culture, it is a fiction touted as fact, no-one remains on welfare through choice. The recent 'reforms' of sickness benefits have nothing to do with welfare and everything to do with making the government look good. It is compassionate conservatism in action.