The strivers and the shirkers.

If I was a conspiracy theorist I might think that our parliament of rich people had a plan in mind. I might think that they really wanted those of us more interested in our families, our homes and the question of how to put food on the table to be fighting among ourselves rather than wondering who the real enemy is.

Because we aren’t the enemy.

I might think that media headlines about scroungers could be written to divert attention from those scrounging from the country.

Every company who pays any employee so little that they need tax credits to get by is scrounging from the state. The taxpayer (that’s usually you and me) is funding that firm, and rather too often getting little back. Firms that are paying parent corporations money to use the name are tax dodging, and systems like that were set up to benefit the already rich, the shareholders, the board of directors, the very senior management.

I don’t think that’s fair. I think any company not paying their employees living wage should be penalised with a higher rate of corporation tax to compensate for the tax credits we’re having to shell out.

Now, bedroom tax. I suspect there are some people under occupying accommodation paid for by the state. I suspect some of those people are MPs. I think we should dock the expenses of any MP with under used bedrooms. That should help pay for rooms for disabled children to store their equipment in.

I think that any MP who hasn’t tried living on the minimum wage for six months should give it a go. Then we’ll see if they still think benefits should be frozen while their pay goes up.

We need to look around us. There are indeed strivers and shirkers in our society. They aren’t where the media would have us look.