Four in ten households in some parts of the country have their rent paid for by the state, Whitehall figures revealed yesterday.
They showed, on average, one in five homes is supported by housing benefit, the taxpayer handout which covers the rent for those on low incomes.
And in London, the figures revealed nearly a quarter of households are now reliant on the benefit.
The figures, disclosed in the Department of Work and Pensions’ spending tables, also show that in the North-East, the North-West and Scotland around one in four receive the benefit.
The payout, which was first introduced in 1992 to bring clarity to state rent payments, cost £14.7billion when Labour came to power in 1997.
That figure has since risen by 18 per cent to £17.4billion and is expected to reach almost £21billion next year.
I’m currently reading Theodore Dalrymple’s “Life at the Bottom”, which describes how the UK government promotes irresponsibility and immorality among the poor. I think we really need to be careful about moving in the same direction as the British. Things don’t seem to be working out to well for them. They seem to believe in taxing people who work hard and live morally in order to reward the most irresponsible people in society.
Each day in Minnesota and all across the nation, billions of dollars worth of products begin their journey to be sold overseas. American farmers, manufacturers, and businesses rely on exports to strengthen and grow both their bottom line, as well as our economy’s.
Free and fair trade agreements help spur economic growth; improve efficiency and innovation; create better, higher-paying jobs for hard-working Americans; and increase the availability of lower-priced products here in the United States.
Furthermore, the role of free trade as an expression of liberty and opportunity for all individuals signifies the very principles our country was founded upon.
Yet, the free trade agreements with Panama, South Korea and Colombia negotiated under the Bush Administration remain little more than words on paper. Despite having been carefully negotiated over a period of two and half years, these agreements have become bogged down by partisan divides. In the meantime, with an average tariff of 53% imposed on U.S. agricultural products by South Korea last year, for example, there is little wonder the United States International Trade Commission estimates U.S. sales of agricultural products could increase by as much as $3.8 billion once the U.S.–South Korea agreement is fully implemented.And while Congressional leaders seem content to leave these agreements on the back burner, America’s fragile industries are left hanging in the balance. The impact of depressed exports is fully evident to those who make their livelihood from them. In fact, Minnesota’s manufacturing exports experienced a 19% decline during the first quarter of 2009, mirroring a similar decrease nationwide. And our agricultural sector, especially our ailing pork and dairy producers, certainly needs no reminder of the importance of expanded export channels to the survival of their farms.
Reading this column filled me with joy and admiration, because Michele Bachmann shows how good a Christian woman can be if she puts her mind to it. It’s so good that she has an informed view of economic policy and realizes how prosperity is important to Christians who are trying to marry and raise a family. Money is the fuel we use to run our life plans, so we all need to have jobs and to make sure that our dollar buys as many useful things as possible, by keeping prices low.
By the way, for my female readers, the male equivalent of Michele Bachmann is Alfonzo Rachel. You can see his latest video which explains why Christianity is not compatible with socialism. He’s a devout Christian and he understands economics. He also is very entertaining in these videos he makes for PJTV.
A 12-year-old Yemeni child bride died after struggling to give birth for three days, a local human rights organisation said.
Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding on Friday while giving birth to a stillborn in the al-Zahra district hospital of Hodeida province, 140 miles west of the capital Sanaa.
Child marriages are widespread in Yemen… More than a quarter of the country’s females marry before age 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry.
[…]Youssef was only 11 when her father married her to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia, said Ahmed al-Quraishi, chairman of Siyaj human rights organization.
When a girl hasn’t gone through puberty, her hips often haven’t widened for giving birth. Such girls can easily die in labor, along with their babies. This is why girls who haven’t completed puberty shouldn’t be having sex. Unfortunately, Muslims are commanded to follow the example of Muhammad, who had sex with the prepubescent Aisha when she was only nine years old. The Qur’an also allows men to have sex with prepubescent girls (see Surah 65:4 and Muslim commentaries on the verse).
Notice that the reporter attributes the problem to “cultural” practices rather than to Muhammad.
I think that women should have a safe childhood, and the right to marry a man they are in love with.
WINTERY KNIGHT 