To be so sick of anyone who earns a 'decent' wage being demonised by those who don't?

[sickofthis]

OK, I am very probably REALLY going to regret this, but it is getting to me, the number of threads at the moment that seem to think if anyone earns a decent wage (over £50K) they are somehow responsible for the downfall of the economy and are greedy etc.,

It's cobblers.

The truth of the matter is the housing market has grown too far too fast and too many people have borrowed beyond their means on the back of thier houses (which now aren't worth what they thought they were)

Yes, some banks took too many risks and are paying the price but this does not mean ALL bankers are greedy, horrid people. Just like all property developers (who, by the way, have made lots of money from the property boom) aren't either.

But, some people took far too many personal risks to buy material stuff they didn't need. That makes them JUST as culpable.

The housing market needs to cool off. When ordinary good people can't buy a reasonable house, there is something wrong with the pricing strategy and, one way or another, it's going to be corrected.

hmmm

I didnt take those threads like that really, it was the moaning abut making ends meet that grated with a few people

The whole issue is far more complex than houses or credit now; as employers seem to be going out of business so quickly you can be in a rented house with no credit and worried (oh that'd be us then, esp. those silly new proposed benefiit rules)

tbh i don't muchy care what anyoe earns though do admit to some having had my earning capability removed. ho hum.

Do they say that they are the only ones that work hard, though?

I have never seen a post like that.

'Bear with me: You turn up at your bank... How do you expect to see the manager? In a hoodie? Saying: 'Att, att, att, att... Nuh Wha I mean???? ack ack ack?' '

pardon?

what on earth does att att mean?

I neither am well paid nor guilty of this stereotyped existence- quite the reverse, I have a degree and am able to converse intelligently.

amerryscot they do indeed. repeatedly.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!! It's turned up on "threads I'm on"

People demonise people who announce on the interweb that they work harder than other people because they earn more.

OK?

Have you got that, troll? Weren't you reading the last twelfty million posts on the subject?

Can you hide a thread you're on?

How unpleasant

I think it needs to be said that there isn't necessarily a correllation between working hard in a challenging job and earning high wages. Of course that's sometimes true, but there are also many cases where it simply isn't.

And I know that from experience, because I used to work in a profession which paid more highly than the work I do now, yet wasn't as intellectually challenging. In fact, it just wasn't such hard work, end of!! But what I do now is more interesting to me, and definitely more useful and worthwhile to society.

I guess a lot depends on how you define hard work.

Working hard physically is not the same as working hard mentally.

Or working hard over many years to gain marketable skills vs what anyone can do.

hmmm. Is your husband a banker, sick?

you can work extremely hard in any way and be low paid. DH is averagely paid (for here) and his job is both- logistics planning then when finished he does whatever need doing- it work (from a former life) or lorry loading- whatever it takes. Many self employed jobs are like that as well ime, if it needs doing you do it. Last job was for a charity and actually often impossible- worked with struggling famillies and the amount of energy stress and brainpower I used trying to do the impossible was incalculable! And not that well paid either.

Some people of course slog all day every day for £50 a week with no breaks, physically and mentally draining work, and often have degrees, post grads etc. I know several of those upset n the 200k thread were like this- at least one a phd- but because they're labelled 'carer' its not considered work.

Wasabi, why on earth were you flamed for saving child benefit?

amerryscot, not everybody who has had to work hard over many years to gain qualifications will end up with correspondingly high wages. But some of them still manage to produce ground-breaking research, so I would argue their work is just as valuable even if it is not highly remunerated.

"Why is it so difficult to explain that, if you DO happen to earn £200k (or similar, that's just an example) you are expected to dress and act accordingly so your expenses are naturally higher."

I found that very funny. It's probably true too.

But you don't expect sympathy if you're well off and then have extra costs. I wouldn't have a mortgage if I hadn't had to divorce my ex husband because of his abuse so instead I'm paying over £88k interest a year. Obviously that's quite a difference even on my income but it certainly doesn't mean I'd expect any sympathy from anyone. Even those on benefits are like millionaires for the poor souls in Zimbabwe at the moment. It's all relative.

And £50k isn't that high an income. I think my daughter's starting salary is going to be over £60k. People should think smart when they pick work rather than think minimum wage.

But what if you are thick and can't go to University?. Then you will have to look after kids for snooty peopel like you.

possibly, cocoa. And your point is?

Xenia on Tue 02-Dec-08 21:58:00
"And £50k isn't that high an income. I think my daughter's starting salary is going to be over £60k. People should think smart when they pick work rather than think minimum wage."

Errr...I think we've been here before. Any society needs more low-paid jobs done than high-paid jobs. This means that it would be an impossibility for everybody to pick highly paid work. Even if every single person worked 24 hours a day upping their qualifications, the workplace could never consist of 100% jobs in higher management. So pretending that everybody has this chance is just that- pretence.

otherwise I agree with what you say about relativity- and that goes for all of us, not just those on a wage above the average.

i agree xenia.

i hope you remember that when the agency nurse who is earning less than your nanny is patching you up after an accident.

you should tell her not to bother and instead get her training for a job in the banking industry.

but those low paid people are the helot class, so that's as it should be. All's right with the world.

There is a lot to be said for the old attitude of keeping your income details to yourself, in general conversation. It saves arguments.

I do take issue with anyone who claims that high earners have the monopoly on hard work, though. Also, anyone that believes that you can do whatever you want to do, if you only believe and try hard enough is deluding themself.

The problem I had with the threads being referred to was that they were about how much the person's DH was earning, not their own salary. Personally I have no time for women who don't work posting 'Woe is me, my husband only earns £100K' if you want a greater income, work...

Have a feeling I'm about to get flamed... Xenia might agree with me though!

i am not well conversed in these things, but isn't the extra tax on high earners becuase the bankers fucked up royally (globally) and now we are in a recession - rather than becuase you are paying for poor people.

nice little bomb there xenia - toasting oyour marshmallows on it i hope - you rarely come back to asnwer specifics anyone writes just pop in an BOOOM.

ameriscot - marketable skills verses what anyone can do? what skills are these pray tell? becuase on your figure of 200k - well can you do what a nurse does, or a paramedic? can you teach? be a policeman who tells families their 12 year old son was stabbed or a fireman who goes into a burning building.

no, ofcourse the people who make that kind of money have a skill - its called lucky bastard skill it doesn't make you better, or work harder or more educated than anyone else.

and dear, if you are feeling the pinch and have to lay off the nanny or the cleaner then diddums.

Well yes it's tantatmount to prostitution, or so the old analogy goes, if you live off male earnings obviously.... women should earn their own £200k a year in 2008, not rely on some man to keep them circa 1880.

But obviously some people won't be able to take the better jobs because they aren't clever enough to get the A levels or they can't play football like Beckham or whatever the talent required is.

On an individual basis it probably is better for women if they try to fulfil their full potential and earn a decent amount. I wouldn't say - we need cleaners therefore I want every woman to become a cleaner, or man for that matter but there will obvioulsy always be some of us who have to earn money that way. In some countries they import the domestic staff from abroad like in Saudi. In many cultures men use women to clean their houses even in the UK.

As for who works harder on average the very high paid in all sectors do tend to work pretty hard. It's the deal they have the pact they make the devil. You work a 20 or 24 hour stretch because some of those jobs demand it or you work for a local authority like the lady I was talking to yesterday who goes home at about 4.30pm every night. And some people work very hard for fairly low pay too so always look into those things when you're deciding how hard to work as a teenager, whether to forgo the parties then for the jam tomorrow which your AAA might bring you etc

holy god xenia

please, please change the record

I know you are a real person but please try to add some other dimensions to your answers