it's the poor that gets the blame

I was reading the article in Saturday's Guardian about Jack Straw. It struck me that when we talk about benefits and lowly paid workers we always talk in terms of penalties, of punishments but when we talk about the wealthy and the well-qualified we always talk about rewards.

To get good MPs we have to pay them well, when we talk about chief executives and city slickers it is all about rewards and if we control the they will leave the country, as if that is the problem. however when we talk about the poor they must be punished but turning up late at work missing a day through ill health or having to look after their children when they are not well. people on benefits have their benefits cut if they earn money even on a part time basis however when we look at MP's they are allowed to earn as much as they like in other activities yet they claim that their job deserves a full time salary.

Surely it is time we changed the way we think and start to believe that rewarding lowly paid people and people on benefits is a better way to encourage them to work harder and to be more responsible than trying all the time to threaten them and punish them. I have always believed the carrot is better than a stick, I know that there are many who think that shouting at people and punishing them is a good way to behave, but it always seemed to me cruel and an inhumane way to behave.

Now is a good time to change the way we think since the government is so keen to cut and if we wish to cut without huge social damage to our society we must find ways to encourage people to change their way of living so that we are all happier, perhaps the best way to do this is to control the excessive wages and rewards at the top to stop thinking that those who were well paid somehow superior to those who not so well off.