Tuesday 24 September 2013

The poor deserve what they get. Always



The bedroom tax is an increasingly bad move for the Tories, you know this when the government sends out no-marks like Sajid Javid (who?) to respond to Labour i.e. none of their big dogs wants to be seen to be standing up for it.

Yet, judging by "any questions" at the weekend, the notions of fairness presented in support of it still appear to carry some weight, this being people renting privately don’t get a spare room (am sure lots actually do), so why should those in social housing? Eh? Except, this is by definition yet another example of the mealy-mouthed, shit on thy neighbour cos someone bigger shat on thee mentality that politicians are playing up to as hard as they can right now.

By contrast, the facts of the bedroom tax are straightforward:

If you live in social housing, then by definition, you have a social need i.e. you are poor.

If you crank up the cost of social housing, then you are taking money off the poor.

There are not enough smaller properties for people judged to have a “ spare room” to move/"downsize" into.

So, again by definition, the bedroom tax simply takes money off the poor and the vulnerable who are effectively trapped. And because they are poor i.e. don’t have much if any spare money, the end result is a jump in rent arrears, an increase in suicides and all sorts of good fun.

And, because the bedroom tax is hitting people councils have an obligation to house - because they are poor and have a social need - it's creating all sorts of unanticipated costs, due to the explosion in rent arrears, of having to re-house people and move them into new housing, said people being mad skivers who reckon cerebal palsy justifies them getting state aid.

But, we’re talking “fairness” here, so lets be fair. Alongside the bedroom tax that’s supposed to save £505m in 2013-14, then £540m the year after, the Tories have also introduced the help to buy scheme, which has already set aside a £3.5 billion honey pot of taxpayer money to be used to give completely free loans (for five years) to people wanting to buy a house.

Now just chew on that for a few seconds. On the one hand, poor, disabled people are being evicted to save what was intended to be £0.5 billion a year, but will actually save less due to the costs involved at the same time as £3.5 billion is being pissed away to boost house prices and house builder profits so people with good jobs and good wages can get a completely free i.e taxpayer subsidised loan of potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds for up to five years.

You really couldn’t make it up. Like, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t strike me as fair. Or moral. Or civilised. Or decent.  Or good economics. Or moral.

But, it does make clear what the values of the modern Tory party are; they are disgusting, nasty, piss on the poor because they've the temerity to be poor cunts. And if the bedroom tax was put in its actual context, which is the broader Tory housing strategy, then the notions of “fairness” being presented in support of it simply melt away.

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