To think that this woman is a greedy bitch?

[TheHairyDieter]

Greedy Bitch here

I believe that state handouts should be for people who genuinely need them. There is just not enough money to go around without giving them to people who are well-off. If Child Benefit was means tested, people on low incomes could be given more. That might be enough to get them off the dole and into work.

Honestly, this article had me seething. I hate greed

divide and rule divide and rule.

There was a report earlier this week showing that the more a woman earns the less she sees of it due to childcare costs. It was on the Guardian.

It also showed that people who are on £90 a week have the same amount of disposable income as those on £500 a week.

Is it a Daily Maul linky? Those should always come with a warning.

A three bed house in the north west cost £250,000. London isn't the only place with high house prices so what are those relying on CB to pay their mortgages or rent going to do, they are running out of cheap places to move to, especially cheap places with jobs.

mums I wasn't at all saying the current system is right! I was just saying that it would be slightly easier to work out what financial position a household is actually in if you factor in the value of a SAHP at around 20K a year.

I think most people accept that if you have young children your job needs to be around 20K a year before you break even on going back to work.

I also think it is valid for the government to acknowledge and factor in the huge economic and societal benefit that SAHP bring to the country.

mums ah, ok, so we're down to £275 per month. Until you'd told me that I was incredulous that £970 per month wasn't enough.

I don't think anyone said you were rich. It's as I said earlier, there are regional variations.

£300 sounds a lot on petrol per month. I'm not judging or criticising, just wondering how far you live from your places of work. I do around 600 miles per month, get 55 mpg from my car, so pay out around £50 per month.

And I'm not being critical, just asking, honest. It's interesting.

There are rich people and poor people. And then there is a huge mass of the rest of us in the middle, struggling to get by whilst bringing up our kids, working and looking after elderly relatives. We work hard, don't ask for anything, and are quite happy to just get on with our lot. But we would like our hard earned cash to spent fairly.
So, either scrap CB for all households over a certain limit, or keep it as the universal benefit it has always been. This current system will save no money, cause huge resentment and is frankly stupidity unfair.
We have 3 kids at Uni and 2 at home, and before you shout that I am irresponsible, 3 of them are my sister's. She and her husband died years ago and we took her kids on as our own.

Agree with divide and rule, as my last post states they are weakening us.

When will people get it? What do they need to do? what happens when they take away peoples NHS or our pensions? Are we going to sit arguing about how those on 50 K should be able to afford it?

Stop thinking about youself and consider the bigger picture...

plus @mums mortgage of £1000 a month is a lot lower than someone buying a house that you can fit 7 in now, in the SE. So actually her housing costs are lower than many other people in a similar situation.

Sorry Voice, missed your post. My husband drives 100 miles round trip a day (used to live very close to his office, but they closed that and he has to travel to the HQ now). I work in various locations and also have to travel to Clients houses. It costs us both £70 for a tank of petrol and we do about 330 miles on a tank. So we both fill up twice a month on average.
What car do you have that you can do 600 miles on £50 !!!!!

I'm with mumneedswine. What bothers me most about losing CB is that most of it will be spent on admin. I think it should either be left as it s or based on household income. People would object less if it was perceived that cuts were fair.

If CB had been cut 2 years ago I would have had to give up work as having 2 in full time nursery left me with £80 a month (before petrol, work clothes etc). By working I paid a lot more into the system than I got out of it. It isn't always as cut and dried as if you earn x then you don't need it. I made a lot of sacrifices to return to work. I would not have bothered without CB and the public purse would have been worse of. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

yes I am wondering what miracle voice has too :)

miracle car....

Im sorry but if you earn over 100k you do ,have choices about where to budget accordingly to lose CB, those working at a lower income do not.

Im fed up of the word benefits being linked with unemployed, many people who rely on cb, hb, tax credits are working, and paying tax its just that government refuse to up the minimum wage to the 'living wage' (think its about £8:30)

this woman and her family does not deserve sympathy for losing their CB seriously does anyone actually think they 'need' it?

Violet77 is right

The bigger picture is the most important thing. Once the principle has been established they'll just tweak the levels for ever and a day. One day CB will end up entirely means tested and it will be the loss of a fundamental part of our welfare state.

The loss of CB must surely stop people aiming to earn more. If you lose CB for two children out of household income then you need to earn nearly 3k more just to stay at the same level. This will place a ceiling on salaries at this level which surely can't be good for our economy.

mums - oh, mine is a small Citroen C1, totally useless for a family but great for a single or a couple. Of course, I suspect petrol where I am is also cheaper than the SE, which helps. Actually, just checked - my figures are wrong, it's more like £60 gets me anywhere between 540-600 miles depending on the journeys involved.

Does your work not reimburse your petrol when you are visiting clients' houses? That seems pretty piss poor if they don't.

Citroen C1 - 35 litre tank. I get, on average, 450 miles on a full tank. That's 12.8 miles per litre. 4.54 litres to the gallon = 58 miles per gallon.

Not a miracle, just a lightweight small car. Which also has lowest insurance and zero or £20 road tax per annum depending on age. But as I said, useless for a family.

I get 15p a mile back from work !! The joys of working for the charitable sector.
Love the sound of your car - mine has had to act as a minibus at times !!!

We'll loose it all, we will be so busy arguing with each other!!!!

We will lose CB, yes my DH earns just over 60K a year, we have 4 DC, we get just over 3K a year CB. To earn that amount he would need a 5K pay rise (utterly no chance hasn't had one in 3 years).

Yet my neighbours who earn 75K between them will keep it even though they already pay less tax than us as a family, 2 personal allowances and no HRT.

If I could I would love to work 2 days a week, in effect job share with DH we would be much better off.

I know people say ah but if you have 2 working then you need childcare, very few people I know pay for childcare, it's all parents etc. I can't afford to work right now because of childcare costs.

The amount people pay in childcare hasn't been taken into consideration.

The Tories have been so clever, cut it for the middle earners and if they dare complain everyone else will tell them to shut up its their own fault for earning too much anyway.

Nah. Can't blame any of you for what this stupid bunch of public school boys are doing to my kids. The last lot were rubbish too !! Us MNers should rule the country together - would be fair, safe and we could discuss all problems over a glass of wine

mums I work for a charity too but even they give me more than 15p per mile if on the rare occasion I have to use it for work.

violet I'm, 38. I suspect the retirement age will be at least 70 by the time I hit it. And my pension will be negligible, I'm already expecting it. Despite the fact I'll have paid my tax and NI all my life, I'm pretty much resigned to it.

Yes there is a bigger picture. Support should be given where needed. If you are earning JOINTLY over £70,000, I don't believe you should need assistance from the state after your first two children.

Sadly even on mn people can't stick together! I wouldn't vote for us.

Everyone thinks 50 K is a magic everstretching amount of money. I can see why. Years ago i would have done. If its double your household income in unfathomable that people could moan about money.
Thing is life just gets more expensive. It just does.