'Methinks they doth protest too much!'

Well, the chancellor. George Osborne, has really stirred up a can of worms in the UK with his proposals to reign in the benefit culture that has thrived for so many years under both Tory and Labour governments, although admittedly more so under the latter. 

Wilkins Micawber was quite right when he stated:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

For many years the UK has lived in the knowledge that it was spending far more than it was receiving, both from the point of view of Government spending and personal spending, and yet has continued to bask in the sunshine in the erroneous belief that 'everything will right itself one day.' 

For many years we have seen unsustainable property prices and even more than that, we have suffered from the culture of greed that has been personified by the obscenely high 'bonuses' paid out to management in industry and those involved in the Financial Sector. Even after the country was brought to its knees by the financial crisis caused by the greed of the banking sector, we discover that the same culture of greed continues today. It's obvious that no real lessons have been learned, except perhaps the ability to hide what's going on a little better than previously.

For decades we have read in the Press about the abuses of the Welfare system by hundreds of thousands of benefit recipients. Let me state here and now that I support the concept of the Welfare State, but at the same time, I cannot accept the abuses that have become common practise as a result of a lack of policing the system. 

Like it or not, what the Chancellor is proposing makes sense, and it had to come about sooner or later. In the Press today we read that the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt is calling on people to take responsibility for their own families. He says that it's not the duty of the State to fund an increasing number of offspring by the benefit system. I agree with him, as I'm certain, will every responsible person in the country. Of course, there will be many who disagree most vehemently. They will be the ones who have produced offspring without any concern for the financial responsibilities for raising them, having convinced themselves that it's their right to expect the State to pay for their foolish thoughtlessness. 

Well, the tune has been playing for a long time now, and it's finally time to pay the piper! Yes, it will be hard for everyone if we are to put things straight and balance the books, but as in so many things in life, it's a case of 'no pain, no gain.'

Perhaps, in addition to cleaning up the Benefit System in order to ensure that it is more correctly applied in future, their might be a Government bond issue which is mandatory for every citizen whose income exceeds £50,000 per year. Set at something like £250 per head, it could be repayable after five years with interest. Add to this a decision to limit the amount that an individual family can receive in benefits, and it would mean that all levels of society would be doing their bit towards reducing the national debt situation.


A few years of austerity will help to promote a more rosy future for our children and grandchildren, and surely that has to be worth putting up with it for?