Is there now a lack of personal responsibility?

[niknak1234]

Is there now a lack of personal responsibility?

Another thread inspired me to ask this question.

Now don't get me wrong there have been events over the last few years that have increased the cost of living. COVID, Truss budget, Ukraine/Russia, Iran etc.

Now I am by no means denying they haven't had a big impact, but are people using them to avoid failings in their lives?

Of course there is. I’m not surprised. Atm there seems to be a particular bandwagon of everyone is lazy, entitled, lacking resilience, alphabet soup, mean, lacking empathy, have no personal responsibility, young people bad , old people bad etc. … everyone except OP/ particular random poster , of course.

Personal responsibility means to me not being an undue burden on others, be that environmentally (litter, noise, etc), not being selfish (trying to park 4 cars in a terraced street etc) and on state finances (only have kids you can afford to house and feed yourself, use up ALL other options before claiming any benefits - treat them as a last resort of a first resort. try your damndest to be self sufficient!

The really scary thing is, the scapegoating and punching down on benefits claimants will have the desired effect before too long. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people will eventually become so impoverished and displaced that their lives won't be worth living. But - the rot in politics, big business and the media will not end, and the 'taxpayers' currently baying for blood will find that they're no better off than they are now. So who'll be next?!

And all because, as a national community, we are so divided and deluded that we can't see the real problem, much less find the guts to do anything about it. People seem to think that othering and standing apart is preferable to standing together for one another, standing up to the real criminals and bullies who are poisoning us against one another.

It's tragic and sad. But the people screaming for 'taxpayer justice' will find out, although whether or not they'll ever admit it to themselves is another story.

When the dole was first introduced, someone from the job centre would go to your house and point out stuff you could sell before you would get any money.
Would you like a return to those times?

When was this exactly?
The Dwp conduct home visits for compliance fraud prevention and to help the vulnerable
If they start suggesting assets that could be sold, they’d be in hot water

It was called the Means Test, and was introduced in the 1930s.

Depends what it is though. A £20k Rolex? Of course you should sell it before claiming benefits. Do you think otherwise?

Swap foreigner for whatever other group that is the “enemy” du jour.

No.
You can't eat a Rolex. You can't pay bills with it either.

Forgot to add pic. Might take a while to be approved.

You were on the dole in the 1930s. Crikey you’ve had your money‘s worth out of the system than haven’t you?

Yes, obviously 😂

But that was how it started. Clearly (and rightly), things are different now.

Is there any need to be so snide?

Read Love on the Dole and decide if you'd prefer things that way. Reading great literature can really help expand one's thinking.

Ha, flew over my head that PP actually thought I was on the dole in the 30s.
I am in my 40s 😆am an 80s baby.

Yep, Love on the Dole mentions it too.

You have to look at ages of homeowners, I picked 30 at random and googled it, you were more likely to be a homeowner by your 30s in the 70s than you are today. Average age for first time buyers has increased by about a decade in that time.

Apparently 75% of over 65s own their home (up from 45% in the 1970s). 66% of homeowners in England are 65+.

So home ownership has increased for older people but decreased for younger people.

I am very widely read thank you and well versed in socio economic history.
I don’t believe there was ever a policy where people needed to sell items of value before being eligible for government support.
Of course one always has rogue Dwp employees, they exist even today, they usually out themselves quite quickly and are swiftly exited.
In the 1930s people were likely to under claim than over

Yep, my grandad bought his house outright in his 20s. Cost him £350 (and he had to borrow some of that).
He lived in it for his whole life. Brought up 5 kids in it (one of which was my DM).
It was worth about £250k when it was valued when he died (but not in a liveable state), but he never saw that. He was on Pension Credit etc.

That wont even cover rent for a garage nowadays.

realistically why is it the billionaires at fault ?

how do pensioner's and medical costs cost quite alot to society with little return on investment ?

Well technically they’re getting a return for keeping things going while they were working. Education, NHS, defence , policing etc. , plus paying the pension of those before them.

A pensioner today paid for your(general you) education , medical costs, child benefit , other benefits if your parents were entitled to them and so on.

One thing for sure - you are a boomer.

This, basically. Most young home owners had a leg up from parents. As always in life, it’s much easier if you’re born into money and also if you’re well connected. We don’t live in a meritocracy, as much as we tell ourselves we do.

The pensioners that I know of in my immediate circle and I appreciate obviously that is confirmation bias. First family, mum didn’t work from the age of 19 onwards after they had children produced children of which only one out of three works. Who now have children of which only one out of three work.
So do in the maths the father of that family who did work in a self-employed capacity so we will pretend that they paid full tax for the entire time period. Although we know that’s probably not true.
But even so that’s one 70-year-old taxpayer
In a family of 6 non taxpayers.
And now they’ll get their pension for minimum 20 years.
There must be millions of these examples up and down the country otherwise we’d be quite literally booming

People today seem to expect to ‘live independently’ always and if they can’t afford it the get the state to pay, whereas if they had some personal responsibility they’d move back in with their parents (like by brother just did age 35 after leaving the armed forces). His friends take the Mickey but he’s taking personal responsibility not taking the piss.

How is moving back home and sponging off parents at 35 taking personal responsibility? It’s quite the opposite. What about those people who no longer have parents? Should they ask a friend if they can sleep on their sofa for a couple of nights and then never leave? Is that a responsible thing to do?

There is an ex soldier on Instagram who’s literally living in his van whilst working as an electrician up and down the country.

Barring serious health issues for yourself or closer family you care for it should be your personal responsibility to budget well and pay your own bills.