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

[TeaFan]

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.

 

It's a shame that you've bought into the stereotype that the Tory press have been peddling to soften people up for the cuts. There are a lot of people who don't fit your (well, someone else's) stereotype; people who are genuinely not well enough to work (i.e. the overwhelming majority of disability and sickness benefit claimants), those who care full-time for disabled and ill partners and relatives, people with learning disabilities, a lot of care leavers who got shafted by the system and came out very damaged, and those people who are always going to find it hard to get work no matter how hard they try because even basic jobs tend to be relatively complex these days.

 

Those people are going to be hit very hard, and their lives are already very difficult. These people are my daily bread in my job, and I can tell you their lives are no cheerful free ride on the benefits train, more grinding unhappiness than anything else. I wouldn't swap places with them for one minute. You've been fed the line that they're all feckless, workshy layabouts because then you won't stop to question whether what is being done is right. I on the other hand, will get to see the reality up close and I'm really not looking forward to it.

[Anna B]

I don't know where to start with this. What a complete load of rubbish. Every word.

 

The Unions - now there's an example of parasites

 

Far from being parasites, the Unions have got the working man, (including you) every single benefit, (like fair wages, safe working conditions, reasonable hours etc) he's ever had.

If it wasn't for unions we'd still be working in the same conditions as 19th century mill workers or coal miners. I don't recall the coal barons thinking they really ought to be nicer to their workers and pay them a bit more.

[Guest]

I don't know where to start with this. What a complete load of rubbish. Every word.

 

The Unions - now there's an example of parasites

 

 

 

Marvellous how everything you don't believe is rubbish.That's because you don't actually have an argument to present about it.

 

You can also drop the con about how all the super rich employ people (many of them don't) and pay lots of taxes (many of them avoid paying most of it - as per Osborne).

 

I also wonder why all those who side with the rich seem to think that no one else pays taxes. I don't have the governments figures giving the percentage of government income but, I'd guess that income tax, from the super rich alone, isn't the biggest money raiser and we all pay every other tax such as VAT, motoring taxes and the endless "duties".

 

As for the unions, if we hadn't had so many slave driving, tight fisted, super rich employers, the unions would never even have come into existence - it was the rich who caused them to be created and ultimately brought about the Labour Party.

 

You are so bigoted and entrenched in your views that you draw a line down the middle of every argument and ALL on your side are good - All on the other side are bad. So, lets also dispel the myth that all those with a job are "hard working" - In my working life, I've worked with loads of idle layabouts who just about made it to work and did little else.

 

There are industrious rich and industrious poor, honest rich and honest poor and those who are good for nothing - both rich and poor so, don't polish your halo yet.

[Grandad.Malky]

All benefit claimants are a drain on the economy.

 

Oh dear were do we go from here …………

 

I have worked for over 30 years paid my stamp and god knows how much tax but as soon as I get made redundant I am a train on the economy.

 

And as for “net contributors” I wonder how long I could claim for and still be in credit so to speak.

[mossdog]

Total benefits paid to working age people £43 billion pounds, money paid to people with health conditions, in work benefits, those who can't find work. Those who won't work, will be a small fraction of that.

 

http://campaigns.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/index.php?page=medium_term

 

The Inland Revenue's own underestimation of the Tax gap £40billion...

 

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2010/09/17/the-tax-gap-getting-worse-even-by-hmrcs-appallingly-inadequate-measure/

 

Therefore.... you think wrong.

Illegal Tax evasion costs £70 billion, Legal Tax avoidance costs £25 billion..................tell us where the guilt lies!

[L00b]

I have worked for over 30 years paid my stamp and god knows how much tax but as soon as I get made redundant I am a train on the economy

 

And as for “net contributors” I wonder how long I could claim for and still be in credit so to speak.

Don't go crying too loud...At least you're British. Think about what would happen to us, equally long-term net-contributing 'furreiners', and how we would be 'perceived'

[Grandad.Malky]

Don't go crying too loud...At least you're British. Think about what would happen to us, equally long-term net-contributing 'furreiners', and how we would be 'perceived'

 

I wasn’t crying I was speaking hypothetically as I am still working but silly statements like “All benefit claimants are a drain on the economy” deserve an answer don’t you think?

[mossdog]

Don't go crying too loud...At least you're British. Think about what would happen to us, equally long-term net-contributing 'furreiners', and how we would be 'perceived'

Whatever happens LOOb,I bet bet the benefits will be infinitely better here in UK than wherever you have come from.The whingers have no idea how well off they are in this country,never satisfied if they know of someone getting more than them!

[Anna B]

The retirement age has been put up to 66 because 'we're all living longer.'

 

However, statistics show that men in deprived parts of the country have 13 years less life expectancy than a man in a richer area, so with male life expectancy currently being quoted as being 79, that means the poor shmuck will die at 66.

 

Solves the pension problem nicely...

[Worjackie]

It's a shame that you've bought into the stereotype that the Tory press have been peddling to soften people up for the cuts. There are a lot of people who don't fit your (well, someone else's) stereotype; people who are genuinely not well enough to work (i.e. the overwhelming majority of disability and sickness benefit claimants), those who care full-time for disabled and ill partners and relatives, people with learning disabilities, a lot of care leavers who got shafted by the system and came out very damaged, and those people who are always going to find it hard to get work no matter how hard they try because even basic jobs tend to be relatively complex these days.

 

Those people are going to be hit very hard, and their lives are already very difficult. These people are my daily bread in my job, and I can tell you their lives are no cheerful free ride on the benefits train, more grinding unhappiness than anything else. I wouldn't swap places with them for one minute. You've been fed the line that they're all feckless, workshy layabouts because then you won't stop to question whether what is being done is right. I on the other hand, will get to see the reality up close and I'm really not looking forward to it.

 

 

Ah, yes, I knew someone would bring up the incapacity benefit claimants.

 

The people off sick with a "bad back" who can quite happily pop down the gym or do a few odd jobs for cash-in-hand payment. Or the people off sick with "stress" or "depression" who can be seen down their local every night having a laugh with their mates. Be honest, we all know people like that.

 

What the cuts have made clear is that a life on the sick sitting on your backside at home all day while the state funds your lifestyle is no longer an option. There may be a handful of genuine incapacity benefit claimants, but just because a disability prevents you doing some kind of job doesn't mean you're unable to do any job. Even someone in a wheelchair is capable of working in a shop or an office.