To , just once ,ask is anyone else fed up of being the squeezed middle?

[Wildandallthatjazz]

Thats it really. !

Yes , on mn , its seen as a privilege to have a mortgage, a job etc .

But sometimes it feels hard and you just wish that you got a break . Recognition of the hard slog maybe .

I am not begrudging those on benefits who got the extra payment support, its more about just wanting to have a treat / a bonus/ etc .. a spare bit of money.. a boost .. the heating on … or maybe recognition that the middle can struggle too ?

I totally accept that people can struggle and need help , sort of also feel the struggling middle are invisible ? ( and not seen to have the’ right ‘to have a little moan as it does you good sometimes )

I do think we are incredibly lucky to live in a county with a welfare state, nhs, free gp care I really do .
But sometimes, it just would be nice not to feel you are paying taxes , working as much as possible, and to be able not to feel squeezed all the time and the need to just have a grump about it .

sometimes it is good to let of steam .. when you cant IRL

and then you move on in a more positive fashion .

@MooseAndSquirrelLoveFlannel does he not get overtime for working extra?

And the media seems to enjoy turning them into the bad guys.

I think it's more the behaviour of a few that has done that!

The problem is that the ‘middle’ is, by definition, the majority. It’s where the government gets the majority of its tax revenue and that leaves little room for manoeuvre. I feel strongly that there are wealthy companies and individuals who are not paying the taxes that they should but they’re the same ones that are big donors to the Tory party.

We do need more police though.

No, because of his rank. You only get OT up to Sergeant.

Nah, who needs crime investigating, kids with knives dealt with, car criminals, drug dealers, paedophiles, terrorists etc etc off the streets.

I mean, clearly the crime free utopia we are living in now demonstrates perfectly that we dont need more police. Cant remember the last time someone moaned that ther house was broke in to & police weren't able to attend 🤔😒

I think it depends…
we have been on benefits, renting… and had to constantly put up with massive rent increases ( like we are seeing with mortgages now ) ALL the time! £100+ a year.. there is no protection, yes the ‘bonuses’ were nice, but over all in a much worse position than now we have a mortgage. It’s a shock to a lot of people who have never been there, yes, but when you have been at the bottom ( always worked btw but needed help still ) life feels much better with a secure home, mortgage, paying your own way, even when it is sometimes tight and technically don’t have any more spare income!

No, because of his rank. You only get OT up to Sergeant.

That makes sense, I used to get OT but don't at manager level.

The police have got a tough PR campaign on their hands to recruit though as they've not being coming across as great for a long time!

Yep this is it

@MichelleScarn I know! Paying out my arse for childcare, left with 150 quid of my 30 hour per week wage once childcare is paid. Not entitled to Scottish child payment because I don't claim benefits.
Yet there is a friend of mine who has four kids under fifteen, on every benefit going - gets free childcare and 25 quid extra for every child plus child benefit! She's left with more money than me and I'm
Busting a gut.
Didn't help she posted on Facebook her brand new shoes she bought and seeing her take all her kids out for dinners out, says out and we can't afford any of it.

Whilst in income tax, nics and vat are the 3 biggest sources of government income it isn't the squeezed middle paying most of it. Although I suppose it depends on what 'middle income' is defined as. The top 10% of income tax payers pay 60% if the total income tax take with the top 1% paying nearly 39% if the take. 50% of households contribute 78% of the total take.

Lower income households pay disproportionally more vat in relation to income.

I think the issue is more that the benefits system is so messed up and more and more are receiving uc when actually if people were paid properly this wouldn't be needed. We should not have a system where the difference between benefits and work is so small.

It is true that if something was closed it here was bugger all you could do, unfortunately (understatement)

But you only had to look on here to see constant cries for harsher restrictions, it’s what many wanted

I honestly don’t know what stopping anybody with children just go in on the dole. It seems as if you’re hamsters on a wheel, no better off for it.

Why don’t you go part time and do 16 nice hours a week, claim the difference ?

But you only had to look on here to see constant cries for harsher restrictions, it’s what many wanted

Of course they did because people were scared as they were meant to be. The population had to be generally behind restrictions otherwise they wouldn't comply. The fact is we locked down, whether you support that or not you have to have financial support to facilitate a lockdown & support peoples jobs.

Yep I don’t think we disagree. Once you lockdown you need furlough.

Universal credit in no way will ' make up the difference' !!

“”m working this Saturday 7.30am until 6pm for just under £100. How many people on here would give up their Saturdays for that?””

lots of people earn that every day of the week and not just a Saturday.

Yes, while the initial desire for lockdown didn't come from the government, once that policy was adopted then the state deliberately tried to stoke people's fears. So the public attitude can't be separated from that. And of course once there is lockdown there has to be sufficient financial support to keep enough of the people who are now excluded from earning a living at home and complying. There also has to be some mechanism for people who are still working and who relied on school for childcare, otherwise sooner or later they have to start using cobbled together unofficial networks and increasing contacts that way. There's just no point in a lockdown if the state isn't going to pay enough of the population to stay out of the way.

Obviously there are still lots of other expensive decisions they made that have fucked us over, as @Tigofigo points out. I don't know of any pro lockdown person who thought the handling of T and T, contracts to their mates etc was ok.

Obviously the ppe, track & trace was a racquet but it's no surprise

Justthisone12 you ask why dont we all just go on the dole and claim top ups ?
because then who wd pay for it all ? Its not a magic money tree. Society needs full time workers.
Collective responsibilty!

I just did the maths on entitled to and yes it most definitely would if you were renting.

Well no. It didn't come as any great shock.

You don’t seriously believe the money exists do you ? It transpires there is in fact a Money Tree. It gets rolled out every single time it is deemed to be required.

covid obviously exacerbated it but I think this was coming regardless. We still had the ageing population, low productivity, wage stagnation. We never really recovered from 08 & Brexit not helped