Emergency Budget

[Wouldloveanother]

What are we all thinking?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62920969

A discussion thread…

Agreed.

So following the OPs strange illustration of pensioners subsidising each other, but Ken gets to stay in the nice wing when his money runs out because he put some in, but there is still enough overall to subsidise him and June and May and Barbara - the only way this seems able to work out financially with those millionaires contributing enough to subsidise the others (a lot of people in care homes run out of money before they die) is if on entry to this imaginary social care system all residents put all their money into a pool and essentially surrender it to pay for social care for all of them. (Guess it saves on inheritance tax if there's nothing to inherit right?)
Sounds like a financially questionable form of communism to me... but rather than all having an equal standard of living it's 'all animals are equal but some are more equal than others'. Ken, Barbara and Doris (the millionaire) get nice care. June (who you describe as lazy having never had a job but actually has spent her life caring for a severely disabled child) and May (who worked 50 hour weeks on a minimum wage as a single parent and could barely scrape by) live in squalor.
But then they do say politics is a circle and far right joins far left.

Did they though? 60% of women didn’t work in the 1970s.

I read that the plan is not to cut benefits but focus on trying to get some those on benefits on low hours to work more hours. I think its up to 15 . That is not an unreasonable thing to expect at all surley?! ( not meaning those who hv çaring commitments etc . I mean those who can )

No, there’s no disabled child in the picture. 60% of women didn’t work in the 70s so it’s entirely plausible that June was a SAHM who chose not to work.

Bollocks. Even when talking just about just mothers, 50% worked in 1975. The employment rate among all women of ‘prime working age’ (aged 25-54) was 57% in 1975.

Plus think of how many of those women not working in the 1970s did work in the 80's, 90's etc. And unpaid caring work....

What would you like to happen if you become disabled? I mean should working people be squeezed so you can have a decent standard of life? Hopefully it doesn't happen but what if you have a child with severe disabilities, would you expect some support? How about if people without children don't want to pay for schools, or hey I live in a low crime area why should I be paying as much for policing as people who live in high crime areas? I want a reduction in what I pay to the NHS as I can't get a NHS dentist.

Or is it just the elderly you want to target? I wonder if you attitude will change when you get old because you probably will.

You also need to remember that pensioners pay tax, I do, my DH does, my elderly relative in a care home does. I hope we aren't subsidising you.

I've started another thread in AIBU but essentially...

Abolishing the upper income tax bracket of 45% which applies to incomes of £150,000+... I mean WTF? WHY? Do these people need help? Why blow a hole in the country's tax revenue to help high earners??? I know the answer, of course... because it's the Tories. But goddammit, this is so blatantly favouring the wealthy at a time of crisis, it's absurd.

... Instead, I would have thought the threshold for the lower limits need to be upped to reflect the cost of living. Keep more money in ordinary working people's pockets, not just the wealthy.

I also have to add that, in fact, my DH is one of those who'll benefit. Honestly, we do NOT need the 5% saving, though of course it's nice. It's quite embarrassing knowing we will have more net income coming our way at a time when people are barely able to feed their kids and the NHS is on its knees for lack of investment.

Plus, we are not ones for buying flashy cars, clothes and luxury items (the sort of spending this tax cut is intended to stimulate, I suppose). It'll go into our pensions.

@ancientgran of course! Disabled people are unable to work, they’re not choosing not to work then expecting the state to look after them in their old age.

This is how the system has been sold to us, but I’m not sure it’s going to work for further generations. My generation is looking at 55 years working life with far inferior pension packages than current pensioners receive. I dread to think how long my children will have to work, and I expect decent pensions will be a think of the past for them.

So with the burden on today’s working age individuals to plan for and fund their own retirement, why should they also fund today’s pensioners? This is the generation who are also being stung by over-inflated property prices, university fees, and increasing cost of living.

I’m not saying this is right - I’d far rather we had a gaiters society where it wasn’t possible to become ultra-wealthy at the expense of the poor, but this is the reality our governments have led us to.

@Waroftherosesithink they should be looking at the barriers to increasing hours such as childcare, transport, etc, including actually finding out the reasons people don’t already increase their hours, rather than assuming that people are being idle.

I've been working and paying tax for 54 years, NI a bit less because you stop at pension age so I've only been paying that for 50 years.

I don't believe 60% of women didn't work in the 70s. Where did you get the figure from?

I’m all for a tax system that enables more aspiration but the major income tax cut being for those earning over £150K is obscene. What happened to lifting the threshold for the 40% rate above 50K? Or how about getting rid of the idiotic 60% effective rate between 100 and 120K?

This is not an aspirational budget at all, it’s hyper rich Tories looking after themselves again.

And neither are many of the people who are old and poor. But you've written them off.

Thats how I interpret it. However they're are people that are physically unable to work, sadly they will not benefit.

And of course the ones that don't want to work, then that's their own choice to not have as much income.

Comes down to the old age problem of identity the genuine from the lazy

You said, Or are working people merely there to be squeezed to death to look after society’s dependants? If disabled people can't work aren't they society's dependants? So if you become disabled and one of society's dependants why should you be supported?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43919090.amp

50%, my apologies. Still very low.

Great budget if you're Xenia.

Xenia will keep Onatopp of things.

I think choosing not to work, and being unable to, are very different scenarios that should be treated differently.

Are they? Tell that to someone living on the basic state pension of less than £10k. Pensioners are as economically diverse as any other group.

So tell us what that would actually look like.

Mary didn't work and now needs care and a home
Jane did work and now needs care and a home.

What are YOU proposing happens to Mary and JAne?

If they’re living on the basic pension then they have made no provision for their elderly care.

I don’t know what posters like you want - every person to be looked after completely and totally,
despite never contributing or saving or making sensible decisions? For work, and planning ultimately not to be worth it? For there to be unlimited money somewhere for every cause that needs it? Ain’t gonna happen.

Last response about this because it’s distracting from the point of the thread.

They both go into basic care homes.

It's not unreasonable and I'm sure people working a few hours a week would love to earn more if they could afford childcare. The Tories want to increase productivity and boost the economy, they need to stop ignoring the massive barrier that's staring them right in their faces.

It didn't work in the 70s, it didn't work in the 90s, and it won't work now.

This is purely the Tory's ensuring they can transfer as much wealth from the public to their own pockets as possible before they're ousted at the next election.

They've truly destroyed the UK other the last 12 years and this is them making sure nothing can grow from the rubble.

Good luck to those who are stuck here, you're going to need it.