Whose welfare is it anyway?

The Bard of Avon in one of his famous lines says 'the quality of mercy blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Given the state of today's welfare expenditure by the State he may have corrected himself to caution that the quality of mercy (welfare measures) blesseth him that takes and curses everybody else. Most modern nations pride themselves in being termed 'Welfare States' which broadly means that the State does not just govern and regulate but is deeply involved in the welfare of its people. But an overdose of welfare seems inimical to the welfare of the State as we in Britain are discovering belatedly.

It would be unfair to be critical in retrospect on what was started with a noble intention, but the bitter truth is that this whole business of welfare spending in the form of unemployed doles, grants and free medical aid has simply fleeced us white and spawned a detestable class of people who have no qualms of living off others like parasites with no inclination to stand on their feet. This is an absolutely dangerous and undesirable trend which not only drains off the tax payer's money into a non productive activity which seems to be demanding more and more and turning the State into some kind of rehabilitation home for the destitute or day care centre. This is nothing but rewarding people for being idle and living off others.

The only way to make welfare expenses practical and bring down expenses within realistic limits would be by bringing down the category of people eligible for such assistance. Like the dependent elderly, old people not being cared for by their children and children orphaned by the sudden death of their parents as being eligible for welfare assistance and striking off all other categories like unwed mothers, divorcees, unemployed youth who remain unemployed beyond a given time frame from its purview. When all such superfluous aid is stopped then people would realize that they cannot fool the State into giving them a dole for flimsy reasons and they would need to work for a living. Immigrants are one of the main groups which exploit the state into giving them aid which they simply do not deserve and are not entitled to. They misuse the faith that this country has placed on them and our ignorance of their customs. A majority of immigrants continue to avail unemployment doles long after being gainfully employed, worse still they get into fake marriage relationships and divorces so the divorced 'wife' becomes eligible for maintenance funds from the State, they fake bank transactions to mislead banks and avail loans and do the vanishing trick once they get the loan money in their hand. This is not a sweeping allegation on all immigrants but a good number of them who get away with cheating a well meaning foreign State trying to bail them out of their misery at considerable cost to its tax payers.

Too much welfare funds have gone down into the pockets of unscrupulous and undeserving beneficiaries for too long and it is high time that we put a halt to it, even if it means having to take some hard and repressive steps.

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