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Original poster

Confused re attitude to benefits and work experience

460 replies

catontheroof · 07/03/2012 12:17

Your thoughts please - why has it become so politically incorrect to suggest that fit adults in this country should be expected to work for a living?

I believe that we need a safety net but cannot understand why people should not have to take jobs that they are qualified for if those jobs exist. I also cannot understand why people "deserve" tax credits etc.

If large chunks of our population do not work then our GDP is low. The only way that we can afford to have so many on benefits with a relatively high standard of living is by importing goods from other countries where the workers live and work in atrocious conditions.

Why do we think that it is right and proper that people in this country sit around being paid not to work whilst tens of thousands all over the world work in sweat shops to provide them with a lifestyle?

If our fit population all worked then we'd increase GDP and have money to help people in other countries where there is real poverty.

OP posts:
Original poster
catontheroof · 07/03/2012 15:48

....You don't put into a tax "pot" and then it gets distributed as YOU like,

I know that - I am simply asking why people in this country feel entitled to such a high standard of living. Ie why do people say things like "I'd be no better off if I got a job" - why is this relevant?

Surely they should get a job simply so that they are less of a burden on the tax payer. This would free up more money to go to people who are really badly off - so badly off that they are spending all their time working, often taking their children with them or sending their children to work. Some of these people do not even have computers Grin Maybe more of the worlds children could be educated if we in the west were all prepared to work harder rather than expecting to be handed a relatively high standard of living on a plate..

OP posts:
SerialKipper · 07/03/2012 15:42

"when I would rather pay for vaccines or fresh water for people who have neither?"

Oooh, is that a yes to paying for the irrigation system?!

ShirleyKnot · 07/03/2012 15:41

The more the OP posts the less I think she understands.

You don't put into a tax "pot" and then it gets distributed as YOU like, if that were the case I certainly wouldn't be happy for bundles of my Hard Earned Tax to be spent on the things I don't agree with. Confused

What a pointless argument.

TheRealityTillyMinto · 07/03/2012 15:41

compared to that experienced by millions of people worldwide.....who if they want anything have to work for it.

and if there arent jobs, they work at creating their own.

SerialKipper · 07/03/2012 15:41

"I do work so I am at least trying to do my fair share. I pay tax."

There you go then, you've answered your own question.

I didn't feel ashamed receiving Incapacity Benefit because I still pay tax, and I worked (paid) before I was ill and now work in unpaid and very tiny ways because that's what I can do to contribute to society.

Original poster
catontheroof · 07/03/2012 15:37

Hecubasdaughter - you can clearly afford some sort of computer and broadband access - why should I pay for this for you when I would rather pay for vaccines or fresh water for people who have neither?

By definition anyone online can afford to be online - that seems like a pretty high standard of living to me compared to that experienced by millions of people worldwide.

OP posts:
MrsHoarder · 07/03/2012 15:34

FFS how long have those 400 000 jobs been advertised for? There is churn in the jobs market, the 2.6m unemployed this week are not all the same people as the people who were unemployed 6 months ago. People get jobs, but other people are made redundant or have contracts end or finish courses or one of a multiude of things which puts them back out of work.

And Jobseekers does require you to apply for jobs, to show evidence of this and sometimes even the job centre will check up that you have genuinely applied for a job. If someone cannot find a paying job, how is it helpful to donate their time to a big company who are making massive profits for them to do an unskilled job?

This just takes still more demand out of the labour market without providing anything useful in exchange. Tescos et al could all afford to pay minimum wage on a short term contract and then take on everyone who has worked hard, rather than taking people's time for free and throwing most of them back to unemployed at the end of the "placement".

Voidka · 07/03/2012 15:34

So do most people that get TC's.

Original poster
catontheroof · 07/03/2012 15:33

why aren't you ashamed of all the free education, free medical care, child benefit, etc you've personally received from strangers as I have said - I do work so I am at least trying to do my fair share. I pay tax.

OP posts:
TheRealityTillyMinto · 07/03/2012 15:30

Hecubasdaughter hysterical not hysterically funny. you must know they are v different.

Hecubasdaughter · 07/03/2012 15:29

Who says I'm not ashamed?

SerialKipper · 07/03/2012 15:28

"Why aren't people on benefits ashamed to be living off strangers?"

Dunno, why aren't you ashamed of all the free education, free medical care, child benefit, etc you've personally received from strangers, caton? And that you now receive on behalf of your family?

If you are ashamed at this, I can help.

Write out a big cheque - it doesn't have to be the full amount you've received from strangers - and I will use it install solar power and a borehole for a small-scale farmer I know in a developing country. She's desperate for irrigation: she lost most of her crops this year because of poor rains. By the way, her family don't get free education or healthcare: when one of the children gets ill she has to pay for the clinic out of the funds she's trying to save up for a pump.

Though mind you, then she'd be receiving money from strangers. Maybe she'd have to feel ashamed as well?

Hecubasdaughter · 07/03/2012 15:26

Yeh I find it so fucking funny tilly.

Voidka · 07/03/2012 15:26

Hecuba Why dont you stay away from threads like this, you posted the other day about how they make you feel awful so be kind to yourself and hide them.

Hecubasdaughter · 07/03/2012 15:25

My tenancy agreement doesn't allow a business to be run from home.. Never mind OP once I'm homeless maybe they'll let me CM from a cardboard box, then again......

TheRealityTillyMinto · 07/03/2012 15:24

So because other countries have it worse I should lose my children? FUCK YOU!

thats really hysterical.

TheRealityTillyMinto · 07/03/2012 15:23

what i think is very telling is how much 'the rich' are hated. but its the top 10% that pay 40% of all income tax.

Hecubasdaughter · 07/03/2012 15:21

So because other countries have it worse I should lose my children? FUCK YOU!

ShirleyKnot · 07/03/2012 15:19

BINGO!

Bored now.

ClothesOfSand · 07/03/2012 15:19

Cat, you do seem to be out of touch. Many people who are on benefits can't work as childminders not only because of the qualifications required but also because their houses don't meet the minimum space or safety standards required of a child minding business.

The number of people registering as childminders is likely to go down because many work full time but don't get the minimum wage for doing so. Other universal credit rules they would thus be considered to not be working full time, so would be made to stop childminding to complete things like job seeking and workfare instead.

ShirleyKnot · 07/03/2012 15:18

Oh and the reason there are those 450k ish vacancies can be explained by normal job turnovers.

Original poster
catontheroof · 07/03/2012 15:17

Hecub I do think that everyone should have a roof over thier heads, basic health care and food. However beyond that I would rather that my money went to help though in other countries who are far, far worse off than anyone in the UK.

What I cannot understand is why anyone in the UK feels entitled to a standard of living that is so much higher than that experienced by the majority of people in the world

OP posts:
ShirleyKnot · 07/03/2012 15:17

"2.6 Million unemployed
463,000 jobs.

so why don't we just have 2.2 million unemployed?"

Say we did - what then?

TheRealityTillyMinto · 07/03/2012 15:15

catontheroof Wed 07-Mar-12 14:46:51

i completely agree with this post.

Original poster
catontheroof · 07/03/2012 15:11

Folkgirl why don't you work as a childminder?

OP posts:
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