But is it ridiculous or you just want to see it like that? People who have no children pay the same as you do if they are on the same salary. They are not entitled to child tax credit you possibly are. Based on your thinking not only should people without children pay less then those with children but also those taking child tax credit should pay even more. Reality is no matter how many kids you have you pay the same so their free NHS and school (free-ish I know) comes from your taxes that you are still paying. When they start working they will do the same pay for them self and their family. That is why in example you gave both parties have the same rights. I might add that looking at it like that immigrants are better value for many then British born and raised. Other country pay's for their school and health until they come here not UK.
Immigrants who come to this country are very lucky the British are a very tolerable bunch, No other country is.......!
Have you seen how many brits there are living in Poland? Admittedly not as many as Poles living in blighty, but it's still an eye-opener.
I watched a programme about Brits leaving the uk at a astonishing rate and taking all their money with them, savings, pensions the lot.
I can understand older brits who don't need to find work leaving, but Poland's full of younger brits going out there to work and live. And good luck to 'em I say.
There was a program on tv some time back about a London fireman living in Poland and commuting back for work.
Wow, this has really opened a can of worms!! Getting back to the original subject, I have been affected, like most people, by the current situation, there is no money left at the end of the month and although I work for BT we have received below inflation pay rises for about 15 years and I only take home1.5k a month after over 30 years with the company. Everyday costs continue to rise so I want things to change, but the big question is how? I agree we shouldn't be giving so much foreign aid, I also believe that we need to cut immigration and make those who aren't entitled, pay for their NHS treatment. We should also cut the tax loopholes that allow the mega-rich to escape paying their due, I pay my taxes and although I whinge about how much I pay I am grateful for still having a job. As for the rant about paying for grass to be cut, I can't see where the problem is, if you can afford what is a relatively small amount each month, and it helps keep someone from claiming then go for it and hold your head high, but I can see Katana's point re benefit cuts for the disabled. If you have a genuine disability then the assistance should be there, if you are a scrounger then you deserve a kick up the butt. That also applies to any benefit scroungers and I do speak from experience of this. No details but I know of people who are quite fit enough to work but are unwilling as they get more on the dole than if they took a job! It seems stupid to me that it is easier to claim for doing nothing, where as if you go out and work you get no help if the pay is low, wouldn't it be better to help someone on a lower income to be at work rather than let them sit at home? If everyone who is fit to work but claims was made to go out and do some form of voluntary work to get their dole I bet they would soon find a proper job. This would probably mean that there would be fewer jobs for people from outside the uk which would reduce the immigration!
My "gardener" was tongue in cheek he is a local guy earning a living cutting grass and all aspects of gardening so he can live. I can afford what I pay him and will continue too as it keeps him employed There are many genuine people who need disability help and people I'm close to are affected by changes but I wouldn't be so rude to form opinions of people that I didn't really know the circumstances of I genuinely misread the heading and answered the question accordingly although wrongly
Beam me up Lucas coz that leap you madethe was worthy of Cpt Kirk! With most of my immediate family, brother, sister, mum, 2 uncles, all claiming disability in one way or another I have a bit of understanding as to how those who deserve help, and those who dont, are treated. The disabled are provided for in the Uk, not going to live in luxury but not from a cardboard box either. Sometimes the hoops to jump thru seem to be flaming, but all can access the same fire extinguisher
What leap we were talking about accident at work and going to use hospital not disability. There is no leap there. We all pay the same NI if at the same salary. Having kids or not does not change the amount you pay. As such saying that your kids have more right to go see NHS because you and your parents, grandparents and back paid NI contributions then immigrant that comes here pays the same taxes is a joke. You got your free care as a child from your parents contributions, they got it possibly from theirs and that is where it started. Also when it started no one came about and said right we start this NHS thing and entire nation has to make a lump payment for their kids in advance so we can include them, then later they will do the same for their kids and so on and so on. It started, people started paying contributions and using NHS including their kids that had it free as long as parents were paying (aka as long as someone was paying).
I agree that nobody fully understands the "dismal science". Sometimes a clever chap discovers a rule or curve or equation which seems to describe and predict certain factors accurately - then after a few years, behaviour changes and it is discovered that the "rule" no longer works. Not like physics! For a government to spend its way out of recession by borrowing money and investing it in public projects works just fine (see 1930's in UK, USA & Germany) ... unless the starting point is an excessive overhang of public debt, in which case that option is sadly not available (see 2010 onwards, UK, Europe & Japan). Money is confidence. The usefulness & value of currency notes, bank deposits, bonds, even gold, depend crucially on most people having confidence in its usefulness and value to most other people, today and in the future. If confidence remains strong, ministers and bankers can pull the levers and solve problems with the figures, if they're clever enough. But if confidence weakens, there is no simple procedure for restoring it - it's more a matter of political will & belief than of financial calculation. You've gone a bit far calling it an "illusion" IMHO. Confidence comes and goes, and is hard to measure, but it is real enough. Free will is an illusion - but that's another story. Market economies are always susceptible to cycles and "bubbles". It's easy to recognise a bubble in hindsight, but almost impossible to distinguish a bubble from real growth while it's happening. Many guys have tried. While a bubble is inflating, the guys who are making a fortune really don't want to listen to anyone saying it's a bubble.
The very large multinational I worked for is similar to most, I suspect. It needs to keep profits rising continuously, whatever the economic climate, in order to keep the City of its back. Then the share price will increase and the bonuses of those at the very top. To do this, it cuts costs. The biggest cost is salaries, so it throws people out of work and expects those left to do their jobs for no extra pay. It also cuts all sorts of things that makes working there pleasant: less travel, fewer expenses, fewer junkets and perks, smaller or no pay increases. Europe has slowed right down, the growth is in Asia, so it slims down its European operations massively and focuses on China and the Far East. Essentially, the sort of job I was doing will be done by an Asian over there. The multinationals and major companies are not in recession (just look at the FT companies information website). Their austerity is self-inflicted in the sole search of greater profits for casino shareholders. I personally lost my job 3 years ago (after 12 years with the company) and am now working 2 days a week for less pay per day than I got in 1990, and spending 3 days a week on no pay (eating savings) while I try to make a start-up happen. You can have a Cambridge degree, an MBA and 25 years experience with blue-chip companies, when you hit the big 5-0 your CV is filed vertically after a cursory glance at the birthdate. You either invent your own job, or it's no job. You are condemned to be rich, because the alternative isn't a cosy middle-class life; it's a cardboard box on the pavement. This scenario will only be exacerbated over the coming years. Incidentally the share price of the company that dispensed with my (and a lot of very talented people's) services has increased 50% in the last 3 years. Shows what a wise plan it was.
Keynes is often (mis)quoted as a justification for increased government spending to stimulate growth in a recession but what he actually proposed was using surplusses from good years to spend in the lean years to even out the economic cycle, which I am sure you knew. In order to grow we need to consume ever more stuff at a time when we are struggling to pay for the stuff we already have. Resource depletion, increased environmental costs (some justified, others not) and financial instability are strangling growth, but the current economic model demands growth to survive.
Sounds similar to the company I still work for. The top multinationals will become (are?) the new global elite above sovereign governments, think 'Bladerunner'. Good luck with the start up, I admire your optimism.
