"Benefits are a lifestyle choice for so many these days"

[Bellerina2]

I'm on the bus and two women behind me are having a long conversation about perceived benefit cheats and one of them just said the above phrase. WIBU to hit her over the head with a rolled up copy of the Guardian??

But seriously, it's so depressing that people think this. Well done to the government and likes of the Sun and Daily Mail for convincing people that those on benefits are leading some sort of charmed life

i have Bipolar and other physical disability's and am on Esa and Pip do i count

and to add bring up 3 children with no help and no maintanance

I went away to help dd with her Maths, came back and we are talking fiction now, so am completely lost.
To the point about prostitution and being dependant on dh, I can only speak for myself but this isn't my experience.
Both dh and I decided to have a sahp, he believes I am his equal. In terms of finance he believes i have saved him a fortune in saved childcare costs and he appreciates what i do at home. he does more than 50% of the workload and has always been here for the dc. We work well as a team and support each other well.
Maybe some dh see their wives as the hired help, but not mine

We hear so much about welfare benefits and unemployed scroungers. It is idiocy to blame the poor on unemployement benefit,product of job shortage and unsustainably low pay. Welfare benefits are now being made to carry the burdens of a dysfunctional society whose malaise needs fundamental analysis and change. Playing the blame game is superficial, long-term counter-productive and despicably unjust. And such a blame-game ignores the fact that benefits don’t only benefit the poor.Apart from the pension bill, it’s not only the poor who gain from welfare benefits: ‘In total 32% percent of all benefits paid last year went to people who are wealthier than average, a total of 53 billion pounds...SHOCKED?.....the get richer yet the poor remain on minimum wage. 'When it rains , it pours , money for wars but cannot feed the poor' .

Both dh and I decided to have a sahp, he believes I am his equal. In terms of finance he believes i have saved him a fortune in saved childcare costs and he appreciates what i do at home.

If you and your DH decided to have a SAHP, and you have freely admitted that you have claimed benefits to enable this then you are one of the many people evidenced on this thread that has chosen to live on benefits.

I can understand why you'd do that as long as the government offers it as an option, but I for one am glad that in the near future, you won't have that option.

So am I. Most of the country is behind benefit cuts. it's popular with Labour and Tory supporters.

Ptole

The cuts won't change my options at all, I was a sahm before tax credits existed.
However, my circumstances are changing in sept anyway as our presently H.ed dd will be going to boarding school anyway.
No, I won't be working for an employer, but probably continue working with my dh.

Oh, forgot to add my last post was in response to the comments about prostitution up thread.

yes YABU.

I agree with the woman on the bus to be honest.
Many benefits claimants are genuine but there are also a lot who just milk the system so they can sit at home. Before anyone jumps on me, I know of a couple personally so yes they DO exist - I'm not just going on Daily Mail headlines!

I'm on ESA due to mental health issues. It's unlikely I would ever get a job that would pay my rent and council tax because I've been out of the job market for so long.

many get caught in a trap

many detest being on benefits, i hated it when i signed on

but yes it is a choice for some, i think more needs to be understood why there is no desire or little desire to move on in life i think that is very sad

If the cuts to tax credits won't change your options, doesn't that tell you that you're getting too much money?

I can show you someone who's decided to live off taxpayers' money, pop out kids and do fuck all in the way of work - Kate Middleton.

An economy that was run properly would be able to support the tiny minority of people who really have no interest in working, and it should do. There is no inherent virtue in being employed for the sake of 'being employed'. (as distinct from doing an essential job such as caring for the sick/disabled, or waste disposal, or firefighting...)

Is being a tax evader/avoider a lifestyle choice, or does cheating us tax payers come with the territory if one is mega rich?

unemployment is at 2 million. Most of those people want to work. The country does not need them to work. This is very bad for them as society judges them and they judge themselves...

Why chase a few people who don't want to work when we don't have enough jobs for those who do?

Benefits are meant to be a safety net - not a lifelong provision that may stretch out for generations.

DH and I had to think hard whether we could afford to have kids. How come some people who never worked and whose parents never worked breed like rabbits? Maybe castration of the men who don't work and are never planning to work is due , and we can stop this endless cycle.

Benefits are meant to be a safety net. Not a lifelong provision. Unless you really can't work (severe disability). How come there are families where no one has worked for generations?

SGB - I believe North Korea is pleasant at this time of year?

I do feel the system is sometimes abused but what is the alternative?

Although my system is different from the one we're talking about since I'm American.

I was just in an almighty Facebook row over someone using food stamps to buy 96 Cadbury Eggs, actually.

Most people are behind changes which help people back into work and ensure work pays. Labour and the Tories both support plans to that effect as do most people in the Uk and now the economy is improving and more and more jobs are becoming available it will all get easier again.

Why chase a few people who don't want to work when we don't have enough jobs for those who do?
Because few question the ideology which tells us that we must all engage in paid employment in order to secure the things that we need / want.
Furthermore that said employment should occupy most of our waking time and be central to our identify.
Pursuing personal interests, learning for pleasure must all take second place to earning money.
That is how the system works and we must be trained to be part of the machine.

The fact that there is not enough useful work to occupy everyone is brushed aside, there is enough to go round we just need a better system to distribute resources.

(I fail to see the relevance of North Korea Gracie, or are you attempting to pull off a 'false dichotomy' maneuver?

It's definitely a lifestyle choice for some, I only need to look at my facebook page, I break my back all week and there's more than a handful I know who don't work, have more kids than me and can afford to have their nails done, go to euro disney and other assorted activities I neither have time or the money for

SGB An economy that was run properly would be able to support the tiny minority of people who really have no interest in working, and it should do. There is no inherent virtue in being employed for the sake of 'being employed'. (as distinct from doing an essential job such as caring for the sick/disabled, or waste disposal, or firefighting...)
I can only imagine this is being said tongue in cheek, you really can't mean this but just in case you do....
We, the taxpayer, should support those without question who choose to sponge off the State as a lifestyle choice? You say there is no inherent virtue in being employed - what about a sense of self worth, what about passing down a work ethic to your children, what about using the money for those really in need?

The last true bastion of Communism, Suzanne.