The way to make the rich work harder is to pay them more, the way to make the poor work harder is to pay them less.
This is the old argument of the right, which appears to have been embraced by this Government.
Hurting the poor and rewarding the rich looks to be behind every policy. It is often dressed up in moral argument.
For example cutting benefit is not to penalise people but to incentivise them. So then they can go out and get all those non-existent jobs this Government is creating.
The architect of this, Iain Duncan Smith, is described as a deep thinker and committed Christian, as if that is enough to convince us he means well.
Even if one was to take the most generous view of Christianity, that history has shown it has done more good than harm, it is still a bit like saying Hitler must have been a good guy because he was a vegetarian.
And, of course, apart form the misery created, the poorer sections of our society will have less disposable income and therefore will spend less.
What this economy needs is for people to spend more, not by borrowing but by having more disposable income.
Cutting away at the bottom of the heap not only looks unfair and immoral to all except Conservatives and committed Christians, it is also economically daft.
We are cutting too fast and we are heading back into recession because of it.
But we are not only cutting too fast, we are cutting away at sections of society and the economy, such as local councils, where income, industry and spending is most easily generated.
This Government is almost certain to make an economic u-turn, because it has little choice. It won’t admit that, of course and will claim it is only tinkering and responding to circumstances.
But what it has demonstrated quite clearly is where its heart is.
More importantly, when the country is being run by millionaires, even if they are clever and decent people, it is difficult for them to have any idea how the rest of us actually live.
Sadly there does not seem much in the way of opposition, apart from the unlikely source of the House of Lords.
Their latest rebuttal of a Government Bill illustrates where the Government really stands.
Hidden away in the Welfare Reform Bill is a section on the Child Support Agency.
This was set up by a previous Conservative Government to enforce absent fathers paying maintenance.
This was not only just but also made the single mothers less dependant on benefits.
A win-win.
This Government’s plans are that the Child Support Agency charges up to £100 to any mother who seeks their help and then takes a cut of any maintenance they mange to procure.
It is a morally bankrupt idea and will deter mothers from seeking help to get maintenance.
A lose-lose.
So – am I saying this? – long live the House of Lords.
It may be a cosy club but, at the moment, it looks much less of a cosy club than the House of Commons.
