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Original poster

To be raging at Dispatches "rich and on benefits"

475 replies

crashdoll · 18/03/2013 20:10

It's talking about pensioners and all they get from the welfare state regardless of income or savings. Cue clip of David Scameron saying he won't touch their benefits.

OP posts:
MrsKoala · 19/03/2013 18:45

i remember the baking crisis - i couldn't get an apple pie for love nor money Wink

the problem with these kinds of debates is they turn into the yorkshire men sketch from monty python. the facts are people are struggling now and everyone needs to chip in.

Kazooblue · 19/03/2013 18:46

No the next best thing would be to get rid of wasting all benefits on wealthy pensioners.

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 18:46

expat - where did I say we should be exempted?

What a straw man argument.

PS it is clear that many on this thread don't care how it was then from reading the comments. Fortunately your lack of care is not reciprocated by many in my generation or we wouldn't be bailing our sons and daughters out....

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 18:47

Plenty of assumptions, too, about how everyone under 60 is feckless, has gadgets, breeds at will, don't work hard, blah blah blah.

It comes down to this: if we're all in this together, then no one is exempted from the cuts.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 18:48

'What a straw man argument.'

My only argument is that everyone should bear their fair share of the cuts.

FasterStronger · 19/03/2013 18:49

no we aren't all in it together - you just said you dont care how hard people had it in the past.

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 18:50

Re Dispatches by the way to go back to the OP - there should be health warning on this programme. Whenever Dispatches used to come on to us years ago (I worked in a charity and Dispatches love to have pops at charities) we knew there was an agenda and the programme was angled and cut to fit that agenda. The only programme we were happy to empty chair.

MrsKoala · 19/03/2013 18:50

the thing is Grimble, it's lovely you help your kids, but lots of people don't/can't, which creates an uneven playing field. it would just have been better if it weren't so fucking hard to do it on your own rather than rely on the lottery of benevolent parents.

FasterStronger · 19/03/2013 18:52

I can understand being priced out of the housing marketing if you are in your twenties but if you are in your mid/late thirties or older, you really need to look to yourself.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 18:52

'no we aren't all in it together - you just said you dont care how hard people had it in the past. '

And? We are in the here and now, Faster. It doesn't matter what happened in the past, we have this to deal with no. And right now we are not all in this together.

infamouspoo · 19/03/2013 18:53

what does that meanFasterstronger?

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 18:53

*My only argument is that everyone should bear their fair share of the cuts.

Quite right too - so I am not sure why you are taking a pop at me for pointing out that posters ranting at pensioners were making sweeping generalisations about a generation that, contrary to their views, were not necessarily rolling in a land of milk and honey.

Kazooblue · 19/03/2013 18:53

No Grimble this is an issue which has been festering for a while.Many people are getting mighty hacked off with the unfairness re protecting the grey vote. Paxman wrote a very good article on this very subject last year.Ths has come up a lot on threads.

If te gov carry on doing this the resentment will grow and said Dispatches show(which I thought was quite mild) will only be the tip of the iceberg.

FasterStronger · 19/03/2013 18:54

It doesn't matter what happened in the past it doesn't to you, but it does to those who went through it.

and older people vote.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 18:56

'I can understand being priced out of the housing marketing if you are in your twenties but if you are in your mid/late thirties or older, you really need to look to yourself.'

Here we go again . . .

At any rate, this government will not cut any of these universal benefits any more than they will end their £130/week grocery budget they receive in addition to a heavily-subsidised bar and canteen and all the other perks with tens of millions they get.

So the only solution is to get rid of them in 2015.

MrsKoala · 19/03/2013 18:57

I was the only one of my friends who bought when i was 25 after saving massively when i left uni. we had 100% mortgage at the height of the market (the 6k we saved just covered the fees :( ). We have only just sold the flat which was on the market for 3 years and sold it for much much less than paid for it. We just broke even with fees etc. So i don't see how being mid 30's makes any difference.

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 18:57

MrsKoala - I agree, but that has always been the case. It's a fact of the economic boom/bust cycle.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 18:59

A pop at you? Get over it! It's not All About You.

Original poster
crashdoll · 19/03/2013 19:00

I'm not sure how relevant it is how it was then, this is now and we are all in financial crisis. The welfare state was never about who puts the most in, gets the most out. If it was, we wouldn't help disabled people, some of whom will need 24 hour care and may never be able to put in. So, I'm not sure why people keep saying "I paid in for 40 years"?

OP posts:
FasterStronger · 19/03/2013 19:01

if you were 25 in 2007, you are 30-31 now.

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 19:01

Kazooblue - I don't see why protecting the grey vote is right either.

My post - which seems to have raised a few hackles - was me being fed up with the unfair stereotyping of pensioners. It seemed only fair to point out that life was not all hunky dory for us either. We had our struggles just like younger people. It seems that ageism is about the only ism that is not taboo.
Well, I shall continue to challenge ageism just like we challenge sexism and racism.

grimbletart · 19/03/2013 19:03

You now what expat - It's not All About You either. Get over it.

MrsKoala · 19/03/2013 19:05

no i'm 36, but the flat i bought peaked in 'value' when i bought it. It never went up, it reached a ceiling (some local projects had been in the pipeline and were cancelled i think that was why). Anyway, we paid way too much, my parents kept saying, you've got to buy/rent is wasted etc.

expatinscotland · 19/03/2013 19:05

I never said it was. You made out like those who disagree are having a dig at you personally. They're not. Welcome to MN.

And Get Over It, well, I've already stated, this government will do nothing about these universal benefits, so if you disagree with them, best vote them out in 2015.

MrsKoala · 19/03/2013 19:07

altho actually now i think of it i was probably 26. so much for the end of the boom and bust cycle - cheers Gordon :(