to be fed up of George sodding Osbourne and his Knobbish Ideas

[avivabeaver]

The economy is proving harder to fix than he first thought

Solution- suggest cutting £10bn from the benefits budget and "limit the number of children people can claim for". So- are you supposed to choose your 2 favourite and just feed them then? Or what?

I haven't had a pay rise in 6 years - nor have we recruited new staff to replace leavers - but then I work in the greedy public sector ...helping young people access things like housing and benefits mwwwwahahaha

Well my childhood certainly wasn't like that, so no I am sorry, that is not how I remember it. I haven't got time now to find links but you really should do some research....profits rose, output rose but wages in real terms have fell and continue to do so.

That is what has caused the debt bubble, companies like GE in the states went from investing in core business and manufacturing to going into banking. Heard of GE capital?

The fact that at the end of the 70's onwards most families started to need to two incomes seems to have escaped you Bunny?

see Glitter - 'deserving poor'

fabsmum you have put it so eloquently I couldn't have said it better bravo

no, no, no.... nobody is talking about the disabled are they?
fuck the fact we're directly affected!!!!!!!
bangs head

mini how has that escaped my notice?! I am well aware of what it takes to run a household. My partner works evenings and weekends so he looks after out children during the day so I work. How has it escaped my notice?!

Is this a bit short sighted? One of the biggest problems facing the country is the aging population. One of the contributing factors is that the birth rate is too low. Apparantly the birth rate needs to be 2.1 to maintain a stable society. The UKs is not high enough (1.96). We need more children, not less, otherwise I'm never going to get to retire :(

Bunny, I assume you are happy with this arrangement. That's great it really is but what will you do when two wages are not enough?

but we need more of the 'right' children Sadpanda ...naice ones

but I don't think people ARE undeserving - that is like 'good AIDS and bad Aids' there are people, legally claiming and being poor ...

mini in an ideal world it would be me at home with the children but hey Ho it's not an ideal world is it?

My DP is just doing what we have to dentine self sufficient taking a job way beneath his qualifications just to have a JOB!

Cinnamonnut

This carping about deserving and undeserving is idiotic. some criteria for eligibility for benefits will always have to be decided upon, and endorsed by society at large. And most people will not endorse others expecting the benefits system to absolve them from the consequences of their actions in all possible circumstances. They will place those whose financial hardship is the result of circumstances outside their control in a different category. No amount of Guardianista sneering will prevent this, I'm afraid.

it's not carping - I work with people who are poor and on benefits - it's my experience - but yes I do read the Guardian - rather than the Daily Fail

People have a right not to be homeless or starving in the UK in 2012 - therefore we allow people to claim benefit if they meet the criteria - I have no issue with that

I'd rather that than people abandoning their kids and sleeping rough like they are in Greece for example

have I said it is?

It's not a binary choice between the guardian and daily mail you know, much as it might suit you to smear those who disagree as all at the intellectual level of the DM ... I think you need to think a bit more carefully about what you mean by a "right." I'm not sure anyone has the right to be supported no matter what they do or how irresponsibly they behave. I personally have skin in this game, I have a child with a disability who is unlikely to be able to support himself and I don't want the country's wealth to be pissed up the wall bailing out people who could perfectly well support themselves before I get round to kicking the bucket and leaving him on his tod.

could you show me where I have smeared anyone please karlos - I think anyone who has a legal right to claim should - if the alternative is starving or falling into arrears with rent mortgage

there are more people unemployed than their are JCP vacancies at the moment ...so what should happen?

Sorry if this has been covered already, I haven't read the whole thread.

I'm not sure the solution is to limit the number of children someone can claim for - hate the thought of children suffering.

Wouldn't it help to 'means test' child benefit somehow. I know it's been discussed before. I don't know how it would work, am not clever enough, I'm sure other people are. It just seems unfair that money is being paid to all and sundry instead of being concentrated to people who really need it.

Apologies again if this point has already been raised / explained by someone more informed and eloquent than me.

PS George Osborne apparently recommended Andrew Mitchell for his post as chief whip. Irrelevant here I know, but it says something about his lack of judgement.