To think we can't afford the triple lock

[paddleboardingmum]

Things seem very weighted against young people right now in terms of tax, student loans, and then there's the cost of mortgages and childcare. I know there are some older people struggling and I do feel sorry for them. But plenty are not and I think we just can't afford the triple lock at the moment. AIBU

Quite

Tell me you've never had to try to live on minimum wage without telling me you've never had to try to live on minimum wage.

You are clearly not a person who has ever earned enough to have anything to lose. It is very easy and cheap to claim that people are too greedy to pay their taxes. Most people who earn enough to be liable for higher rates of tax actually have a well-defined view of what is worth paying into (education and health, and now defence) and what they don't want to pay for. For me, I do not want to pay for dysfunctional idle anyone to stay home asleep all day and play videogames all night smoking weed. Call me conservative.

State pensions are the benefits bill

My DC earns NMW, and lives in Guildford in a house share. On an apprenticeship wage. He manages because we subsidise his rent and utilities.

“I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”

30 Priceless Quotes from the Great Thomas Sowell

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In 2025 alone Amazon sponsored 1323 work visas, 450 out of which are in 20k-50k bracket, so not exactly high skilled. 162 of these visas were in storage and warehousing. I'm struggling to understand why these roles cannot be filled by unemployed Brits.

A few years back there was an attempt to unionise Amazon warehouses here in UK. It failed because Amazon offered those who reject unions to support their visas. This means that a lot of warehouse workers are on visas, even if not sponsored by Amazon. These aren't the most desirable jobs for sure, but why imported labour and not local NEETs?

I used to work in hotel services in a hospital. Many of my collegues would absolutly fall under the umbrella of ND and mild learning disabilites, although not diagnosed as many were middle aged, and several still living with a parent.
They were poorly educated, if at all.
They were also doing a job that was vital such as cleaning the wards, or moving patients about.

Some people are simply not capable of more than low paid work. But the low paid work should pay enough to have more than a substinence life style.

But the aid budget can pay for everything! All the defence costs, all the pensions costs, again and again. It's the hardest working 0.3% of GDP you'll ever see.

Incidentally, I don't think anyone thinks that pensioners "have it too easy" and so don't "deserve" a reasonale pension.

But the reality that we have to contend with is that of an aging population. People are living longer and having fewer kids.

It's one thing to have a demographic pyramid where there's 5 taxpayers to support every pensioner, it's another thing when that ratio becomes 2:1, or less.

Particularly given that forcing more and more working people into poverty is only likely to lead to more people foregoing having children.