Why Are The Lib Dems So Intent On Giving Away Public Money?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-28339128
They originally backed these changes to the benefit system.

[TWR]

I do not belittle women, only people like her. end of.

[jackthehat]

It may not be a 'tax' but that it how it is popularly described......and whatever name is applied to it, it may be a laudable attempt to direct public funds appropriately but, as is so often the case, the implementation was poorly thought out.

[Gromit]

The election campaign has started.

The LibDems were part of the Government that introduced the Bedroom Tax. But they know it is deeply unpopular, so they are now trying to distance themselves from it has the election approaches.

They cannot change history. They introduced it, they will have to take the hit from the electorate for their actions.

[TWR]

Naomi, Labour did not throw Disabled people out of work, Remploy employed persons that was disabled, no-one would employ them due to their disabilities so what did this so-called caring shower do> have I to say anymore?

[naomi24]

TWR, Labour... closed... 29... Remploy... factories ....

Think about it.

[whiskeryron]

Must I remind you that her Ladyship Thatcher started the ball rolling re. so called bedroom tax when she encouraged council tenants to buy their houses & then made it a point of sale to councils that they could not use the gathered funds to re build new houses, bringing about the present situation where there are not enough houses for tenants to downgrade to even if they wish to move from properties they had brought up their families in.

[ludwig]

// TWR, Labour... closed... 29... Remploy... factories ....
Think about it. //

Stop muddying the waters with facts Naomi. It's easier when issues are black and white. You don't have to think about anything too hard.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, :o)

Ron, this might surprise you. //The Labour Party initially proposed the idea of the right of tenants to own the house they live in, in its manifesto for the 1959 General Election which it subsequently lost.//

... so not a Conservative idea at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Buy

[naomi24]

Oops - I'm not doing very well today. :o)

[New Judge]

"Why Are The Lib Dems So Intent On Giving Away Public Money?"

Because that's what they do. That's what all governments of all persuasions do to a greater or lesser degree. Government has just become a gigantic wealth distribution system taking money from those who have it and dishing it out to those who have less of it. (In fact, not even this principle holds good as some benefits are paid to people who have more than enough money already).

The original idea of taxation was to use pooled monies to fund things for the good of all which individuals would not be able to fund for themselves. That function is still carried out but to a far lesser degree and we are now in the position where more than one pound in every seven collected is paid out in the form of welfare benefits (excluding state pensions).

Messing about with the so-called "bedroom tax" and fiddling with benefits by renaming them is simply tinkering at the edges. No nation should be paying out 15% of the tax it collects in the form of welfare payments. A wholesale revision (resulting in a reduction in the bill of at least a third) is needed and none of the main parties will do that.

The LibDems are no different to their Coalition partners insofar as the overall amount being dished out goes. There may be some minor differences in detail but the total bill remains very much the same.

[Farriercm]

Was this idea thought up by Ian DH Smith, it seems like one of his Barmy IDS.

[mikey4444]

Nobody seriously doubts that council tenants shouldn't be given a chance to buy the house that have been renting. The huge error that the Government at the time made was to deny the Council the ability to use the funds raised to replace the rental housing stock. As WR has already said today, it is the principle reason why we have the housing problem we have today.

That is why we have characters like these two ::

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/10/fergus-wilson-property-tycoon-mass-evictions


Lets not forget why the Tory Government of the time brought about Right to Buy...it was a cynical attempt to bribe voters to vote Tory next time. They also stole the Water Board, Gas Board, Electricity Board, etc, etc away from the British public that owned it and then sold it back to us. Again, a bribe to make sure a big enough minority voted Tory at the next elections. And this policy worked, until 1997 at least. It was no more or less than gerrymandering, on a grand scale.