Work is the only way out of poverty

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c44729fe-dbc7-11db-9233-000b5df10621.html reported
that Jim Murphy, the UK employment and welfare minister said at an international conference on welfare reform in London that the welfare state could not and should not pay welfare recipient the £220+/week that is necessary to ensure a lone parent + 2 kids family has an income of at least 60% of the median income. 60% of the median income is currently the UK government's definition of poverty line.

Why such statement no doubt invite uprorar from the left, I think it is time for people to understand that one's honest effort, and not charity is the best way to improve one's condition. Theo Patities, the millionaire dargon den investor once said that making multi million is not difficult, but making the first million is. Charity (welfare payment), like pamper from parents surpresses one's natural capability and desire to improve one's conditions as it devoids one's of the challenges that keep the mind thinking of ways to move upwards.

Also the 60% of median income is absurd anyway (that is around £12000pa, a sum probably enough to feed an African family for a decade or so) otherwise a millionaire living among the billionaires in Monaco will still be needing handout !

Another quirk is that people earning up to £12k (especially singles) or on minimum wage has to pay tax. I don't suppose the Gordon can justify that on one hand these people are considered below poverty line, but at the same time consdidered to be earning too much such that they should be taxed.

So, how about those genuine cannot work (i.e. low IQ, insane, seriously disable)? Again, I think Mr Murphy got it right by saying that they deserve higher payment but not necessarily up to 60% of the median income. While the society should put in reasonable effort to ensure that these unfortunate one's live with dignity, it would be totally unfair to rob from other's who work hard, seriously degrades their standard of living simply to ensure that the unfortunate ones have a standard of living which is many times superior than those living in a developing country, simply because they are borned in the right place (UK) at the right time (post 1945).

There has to be a degree of fairness here. If UK is a society where food, milk and gold falls from the sky and plasma TV grows on trees, then the society should of course ensure that the unfortunate ones enjoy these free wealth. But the issue is that an ordinary middle class family in UK is struggling to pay its bills. It is a known fact that the middle layer of the society bare the most burden of UK taxation and any significant increase in welfare payment will indeed come from this middle (unfortunate) group. Requiring these people to subsidise the unfortunate one's a little more than beyond their basic needs would not be fair. It is not like these family has tons of spare cash under their pillow.

It is also worth noting that inner peace and happiness does not come solely from amount of money to spend. I would think that an African family with a warm house, a tiny TV and running water would be a very happy already.

Unfortunately, we are living on earth, not heaven.