Too late, that already happened. My house burned down and I lost everything. I got up, dusted myself off and went right back to work and recovered nicely, thank you very much. I didn’t whine and run to the government either.
It’s not lack of opportunity, it’s the lack of a work ethic. I mean really, if the socialist state is going to pay you to do nothing, why not take advantage, right? By the way, just read today that in merry old England, if a man has several wives he can get more benefits. Isn’t that great?
No, you are wrong. To the Christian the mere act of helping an old woman cross the street is as momentous an action as giving every citizen a million dollars. Your Christian thought process is the one that is out of kilter, not mine. Money, money, money and power, power, power that some people in this world have is your only concern. Forget about this place down here and set your sights on the next world where the true treasure lies.
Oh come on now, you are a big boy now deal with it. My words were tame compared to others I could have used.
You claim to be so concerned about disabled people now I will ask you, how many do you personally help on a daily basis? Why don’t you go out and start some non-profit entity with private funds that you collect from other people to help them? The fact is you leftists never do that, you just run to the government for more and more handouts and then raise holy hell when the money train ends, or continually say they are not doing enough. Stop depending on the government teat - private enterprise used by someone with the gumption to get things done can work so much better and accomplish so much more.
Life on the dole isn’t so easy now as it used to be. People have to prove they’re looking for a job and even have to work for nothing:
It is obvious that capitalist propaganda is just as widespread in the US as the UK, probably more so because the media are dominated by tycoons like Rupert Murdoch and, of course, Donald Trump. The Tory slogan that they represent “strivers not shirkers” is a smear tactic that fools many people - until they fall on hard times and grasp the cruelty of the ruling class. Even the self-employed have no guarantee they will succeed in a system where they have to compete with ruthless big business. In fact the odds are stacked against them, many go bankrupt and are not covered by National Insurance like other workers. The law of the jungle is alive and kicking until the next financial crisis when the public will be compelled by the government to bail out the banks who cheat them when things are going well.
At last there is hope now that the greed and selfishness in big business is being challenged from within by men and women who are appalled by the needless suffering that capitalism is causing throughout the world. Sooner or later truth and justice prevail in spite of the deep-rooted lust for power and wealth in human nature. There is no such thing as benevolent capitalism because it is based on ruthless competition in which it doesn’t pay to have moral principles if one is to be successful. Mrs Thatcher didn’t care about how many communities she destroyed to obtain her goal of destroying the Welfare State. No wonder her victims cheered when she died… independent.co.uk/voices/comment/one-of-the-biggest-battles-against-the-evils-of-capitalism-is-happening-in-the-last-place-youd-10125895.html
And Jesus never looked to any government here on earth to change things, that was to be done by each individual one heart at a time. It was Jesus who preached that our concern should be of the next world, not this one.
You are refuting nothing about capitalism, just spouting words that only you and your fellow travelers want to hear. Yes my friend, I am keenly aware that there is diabolical injustice on this earth - but that is part and parcel of what this world really is.
Glad to hear that some safeguards have been put in place. However, you failed to comment on the fact that an able bodies young man CHOSE to return to England to receive pay for no work rather than help himself when he had the opportunity! He is not an anomaly, rather a representative of the prevalent attitude. That attitude is the problem.
Facts are more significant than words. Capitalist governments are in league with individuals like Rupert Murdoch who dominate the media and with corporations like Amazon in whose warehouses people are treated like slaves and forced to work under constant surveillance and appalling working conditions:
Your knowledge of the UK is obviously defective. “a representative of the prevalent attitude”! What evidence do you have to support your generalisation? None whatsoever. The real problem is that even when people find work they cannot support themselves or their families. Zero hour contracts and abysmal wages make sure of that - as well as excessive rents, agency fees, train fares, gas/electricity tariffs, child care and house prices.
Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who exploited the poor and the tax collectors who cheated their victims. His concern was for everyone who is a victim of greed and injustice.The parable of Dives and Lazarus is a warning to the rich to change their ways here and now, not in the next world. His focus was not on heaven and hell but the misery and suffering that surrounded him everywhere he went. He supported the underdog not the rich and powerful and told us “Blessed are the poor…”
You obviously know very little about Jeremy Corbyn. Read more about him before jumping to conclusions.
Having lived in capitalist and socialist states (France, Spain, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Jamaica, Algeria and India) I don’t need to be told the difference! None of them has been at either extreme but without exaggeration the present regime in the UK is the worst I have encountered in a country considerably more prosperous than the others - except France where the poor are not so oppressed as they are here even though there are virtual ghettos. There is, of course, appalling poverty in India but in a vast subcontinent that is to be expected. Corruption is rife but there is no state policy that deliberately victimises the homeless, children, unemployed, students, single parents, disabled and mentally ill. There are few benefits but they are never reduced or taken away as far as I know. That privilege is reserved for those in my “homeland”. Even that word seems ironic because for many people now this is no longer home but a torture chamber in which they exist without hope. I don’t envy the rich; I pity them because they have never known what it is to be deprived and suffer. They are incapable of compassion because they live in another world. My mother suffered a great deal when she was bringing up her two children on her own without any help from the State but she was far happier than the rich I used to serve as a floor waiter in a five star hotel. She took nothing for granted and during the last months of her life she kept saying “God is good”. You can understand why I’m in favour of a Welfare State.
In other words, you’re not so much in favor of full-bore Socialism as you are having a reliable safety net. This is quite understandable. Unfortunately, as you quite well know, those who abused the safety nets are the reasons why the safety nets have been taken away (and why the small nets that are left are endangered). Safety nets were never created for able-bodied people to stay on them forever - they were primarily made for people who were too old to work or otherwise unable to work, generally due to disability. And they were made for people whose jobs did not pay them enough to feed their families to be able to buy food or rent an apartment. But what has happened is that, in a very few cases, people who did not need the safety nets took advantage of them - and were used as examples of the “rule” rather than the “exception”.
:clapping: Many thanks for your superb analysis! The big banks are also at the root of the trouble in the UK, aided and abetted by the government. Under Tony Blair the “New Labour” government was in league with big business. He visited Rupert Murdoch in Australia before he was elected and has become a millionaire since being deposed. The current Prime Minister, David Cameron, has frequent meetings with Murdoch but he never discloses details of their discussions.
Jeremy Corbyn, the current leader of the opposition was elected with a majority of 60% because he has fiercely condemned the diabolical injustice in the UK. He is being attacked with smear tactics from within and without the Labour party by those who are more concerned about feathering their own nests than the plight of the poor. It is an uphill battle against vested interests but in four months he has already caused a revolution in British politics with his courage in the face of jeers from his opponents. He has persuaded even Tory MPs to backtrack against their vote for cuts to benefits and given many people hope for the future. There is an interesting article about him in the New York Times: