Wouldn't it be fair to break down these segments of society a little further though? For example:-
Poor - a large proportion of this catagory are poor because they are lazy, have no ambition etc.
Rich - a large proportion of this category are rich because they have worked their arses off for most of their lives, built up successful businesses that provide probably well over 75% of the job market.
Why should the 'rich' be penalised and the 'poor' be rewarded?!? I've never understood this?
I'm sure there are lots of people who would like to live in a society where everyone is totally equal but it just wouldn't work. With no incentive for those who have ambition, unemployment would skyrocket and the economy collapse very quickly.
It's so worrying how prevalent this attitude is. Poor = lazy, lack of ambition, rich = worked hard, got the rewards they deserved. It's an incredibly warped way of thinking and shows how out of touch people are with reality and how incredibly selfish we've become as a society.
I know people who do 50 hours a week on a picking line, stood up from 8am-6pm Monday-Fri, doing mind-numbingly dull and repetitive work - for minimum wage. They also often work overtime on weekends for the extra ££. They have to do this just to get by, to support their families (food, clothes, school supplies, bills) pay the rent, run their car. Are these people lazy to you?
And before you say "well why did they choose that"? why didn't they just a qualification, learn a trade, set up their own business? Because not everyone has those opportunities. Not everyone is as fortunate.
Not everyone has a supportive family for example (financially or otherwise). If you turn 16 and your parents ask you for rent or you have to move out, how do you go on to further education? You don't, you get a job that pays. If you're lucky and got a handful of decent GCSEs, you get a job at the bottom of the ladder of a decent company and eventually work your way up to a decent-ish wage maybe. But there are only so many of those jobs to go around, any many don't get so lucky. You go into low-paid, menial work with little opportunity for advancement and there you stay. You slog your guts out every day for little pay, little satisfaction, little praise, just to make sure that your kids have a warm house, food, school uniform, whatever. And then other, richer people on the internet log-on to Ibiza forums and say you're poor because you're lazy.
Perfect example of the inequalities - you know those lovely 'internships' that people can do in good businesses/professions, to get some experience, get their foot on the ladder? How can they afford to do this unpaid work unless their family is supporting them? It's really no coincidence how many people who are 'well off' also have parents who are 'well off'.
And anyway, the 'just get an education/learn a skill' argument doesn't work - look at nurses. There are nurses who put themselves through education, work long hours on low pay
saving lives, who are struggling to pay the bills. They're not lazy, they clearly have ambition, they're doing a far more important job than you or I, so why aren't they rich?
And all of the above is the reality for healthy, able-bodied people. Lets not even get started on the situation if you're disabled, or become ill (physically or mentally). You could go through all the above, get aggressive cancer, go through treatment (via an increasingly underfunded, unstable NHS), then get told mid-recovery by some government assessor that you're fine and you're fit to head back to that ol' picking line, no more government handouts for you
(during the period December 2011 and February 2014 2,380 people died after their claim for employment and support allowance (ESA) ended because a work capability assessment (WCA) found they were found fit for work.)
I'm so tired of this Tory government and of the people that vote them in.
