So who are the biggest losers from today’s spending announcement

[Paul2412]

Well done to your Uncle. I don't begrudge him a penny.

 

I might be wrong, I know nothing of your Uncle's case, but did he really do it on his own?

 

No free night school? No parent or Aunt who lent him 100 quid to get started, pay for equipment or resources, or helped him out when times were tough? Or did he have savings built up from a regular job?

 

An unemployed (very capable) relative of mine has started his own business, and it's cost me a fortune helping him to get it started.

The 'grants' etc that we are told are available either didn't materialise, or came with such strings attached as to make them too expensive.

 

There were also the licences etc to pay for which are a nice little earner for the authorities, and he's also starting in one of the most difficult economic times.

He's working 18 hour days and is just keeping his head above water. Only time will tell if he succeeds.

 

Someone from a long term unemployed family with no savings or access to money of any kind would have found it next to impossible.

 

That's the way lots of people start a business.

 

You'll actually find that the price's trust grants are specifically aimed at people from deprived backgrounds.

[Anna B]

Thankfully I do not know of anyone starving or living in abject poverty in Britain today,only possibly if they are here illegally!............if you do,please quote an example as it need not be so.I do know of plenty abroad!

 

The poor tend to be those on benefits with no children. (Children tend to bring in many extra benefits.)

 

Basically those living on round about £54 a week. If they have somewhere to live they may get housing benefit to cover rent, but no more.

Others squatt in buildings, or sleep on a friends floor, or live rough.

 

The £54 has to pay for everything from food, heating, clothes, bus fares etc. Often something has to go because there isn't enough money for everything so they may eat every other day, or go without electricity because they haven't enough for the meter. A bill of any kind can cause endless problems.

They often become seriously depressed because there seems no way out.

 

A lot of them tend to be young men just starting out who cannot get or have lost a job, and have no family support, or victims of divorce where the children are independant.

 

Unable to get a job they sometimes resort to crime as the only way to get enough money to live on.

 

Starving no, Hungry and cold yes.

 

There are thousands of these people but they rarely have computer access to forums such as this, and they do not tend to mix outside their own similar circle, so they have no voice, unlike the press who like to emphasise only the benefit scroungers.

[Worjackie]

The poor tend to be those on benefits with no children. (Children tend to bring in many extra benefits.)

 

Basically those living on round about £54 a week. If they have somewhere to live they may get housing benefit to cover rent, but no more.

Others squatt in buildings, or sleep on a friends floor, or live rough.

 

The £54 has to pay for everything from food, heating, clothes, bus fares etc. Often something has to go because there isn't enough money for everything so they may eat every other day, or go without electricity because they haven't enough for the meter. A bill of any kind can cause endless problems.

They often become seriously depressed because there seems no way out.

 

A lot of them tend to be young men just starting out who cannot get or have lost a job, and have no family support, or victims of divorce where the children are independant.

 

Unable to get a job they sometimes resort to crime as the only way to get enough money to live on.

 

Starving no, Hungry and cold yes.

 

There are thousands of these people but they rarely have computer access to forums such as this, and they do not tend to mix outside their own similar circle, so they have no voice, unlike the press who like to emphasise only the benefit scroungers.

 

And yet the poor people you speak of always seem to be able to find the cash to buy booze, fags and takeaways and own massive plasma TVs, Xboxes, mobile phones and the latest designer trainers.

 

Get real - there is no genuine poverty in the UK. We all have enough money to pay for food, shelter and clothing, it's just that some would rather spend their money on something else.

[L00b]

I might be wrong, I know nothing of your Uncle's case, but did he really do it on his own?

 

No free night school? No parent or Aunt who lent him 100 quid to get started, pay for equipment or resources, or helped him out when times were tough? Or did he have savings built up from a regular job?

My dad's dad, 1st generation immigrant, drove locos in a pit. My dad, baby-boomer, studied to become a mechanical engineer, partly sponsored by a bursary from the DeWendel family (who owned the pits). Note that the DeWendel were paternalists, and they would sponsor any kid from any pit worker who had the brains to go on and do well.

He went on to set up, on his own, a string of construction businesses over the years. I'll pass on the successive successes (trappings...) and failures (...bailiffs) over the decades, but what you described is the norm for any self-made entrepreneur I know, who started from not very much at all and got their fair share of big knocks along the way.

 

Contrary to popular belief, setting up a viable (never mind successful) business doesn't happen overnight, and entrepreneurs don't have money handed out to them on a plate - at the beginning, in the middle or at the end.

[RonJeremy]

And yet the poor people you speak of always seem to be able to find the cash to buy booze, fags and takeaways and own massive plasma TVs, Xboxes, mobile phones and the latest designer trainers.

 

Get real - there is no genuine poverty in the UK. We all have enough money to pay for food, shelter and clothing, it's just that some would rather spend their money on something else.

 

There are some genuine hard up people, it must be said. Life must be very difficult on benefits. However some people, intelligent enough to work, play the system for their own gain. Sometime this is a large gain, but you cannot blame the claimant (totally) for getting what they can as long as it is legal.

It is the system which sucks. It is a system that has been mis-managed for a long time, but particularly badly during the last 13 years of Labour misrule that has landed us in this (Brown) mess.

Hopefully Dave and Oik will sort out the mess.

[mossdog]

The poor tend to be those on benefits with no children. (Children tend to bring in many extra benefits.)

 

Basically those living on round about £54 a week. If they have somewhere to live they may get housing benefit to cover rent, but no more.

Others squatt in buildings, or sleep on a friends floor, or live rough.

 

The £54 has to pay for everything from food, heating, clothes, bus fares etc. Often something has to go because there isn't enough money for everything so they may eat every other day, or go without electricity because they haven't enough for the meter. A bill of any kind can cause endless problems.

They often become seriously depressed because there seems no way out.

 

A lot of them tend to be young men just starting out who cannot get or have lost a job, and have no family support, or victims of divorce where the children are independant.

 

Unable to get a job they sometimes resort to crime as the only way to get enough money to live on.

 

Starving no, Hungry and cold yes.

 

There are thousands of these people but they rarely have computer access to forums such as this, and they do not tend to mix outside their own similar circle, so they have no voice, unlike the press who like to emphasise only the benefit scroungers.

It was like that in the sixties.........just that you didn't get the £54 per week.But I was lucky enough to get a job at £3-17-6d working on a machine for 50 hours a week!

[Guest sibon]

There are some genuine hard up people, it must be said. Life must be very difficult on benefits. However some people, intelligent enough to work, play the system for their own gain. Sometime this is a large gain, but you cannot blame the claimant (totally) for getting what they can as long as it is legal. It is the system which sucks. It is a system that has been mis-managed for a long time, but particularly badly during the last 13 years of Labour misrule that has landed us in this (Brown) mess.

Hopefully Dave and Oik will sort out the mess.

 

Very true Ron. I hope that the coalition do indeed make the benefits system difficult to defraud. I also hope that they put an equal amount of effort into closing the tax loopholes that are (legally) exploited by those at the other end of the social scale.

[mossdog]

Very true Ron. I hope that the coalition do indeed make the benefits system difficult to defraud. I also hope that they put an equal amount of effort into closing the tax loopholes that are (legally) exploited by those at the other end of the social scale.

Can't not agree with that sentiment!

[Guest sibon]

Can't not agree with that sentiment!

 

Blimey:D ......

[Anna B]

Can't not agree with that sentiment!

 

That's all I've been saying.