200,000 children worse off because of Tory polices

[andygardener]

Not really. The government knows what the consequences of its policies are. So it is the fault of the government, in part at least. The other aspect is that living costs are beyond what most people could have reasonably expected 5, 10, 15 years ago when planning families. The goalposts have been moved so to speak.

 

My folks bought a nice sized house when me and my sis were nippers, then interest rates shot up to 14%...my old man worked 3 jobs for 80 odd hours a week and him and my mum lived on liver casserole for a good few years to make sure us kids had a reasonable standard of living.

 

Goalposts can move, how people react to them moving is still within their grasp.

[I1L2T3]

Families (whether one parent or two parent) have been given tax credits over the last decade or so. They are about to see this benefit stripped away from them under the present government over a period of time. The real problem is that they were led to believe that tax credits were their money....they were never that. But without arguing the pros and cons of it they are about to get a financial education......good luck!

 

Lots of interesting angles to this.

 

Some financial institutions counted tax credits as income for mortgage purposes. That is for 25 year, sometimes 30 year mortgages. It wasn't just the government that encouraged this.

 

Labour were wrong to allow it. But I didn't see the Tories moaning too much either.

 

---------- Post added 17-01-2013 at 20:22 ----------

 

My folks bought a nice sized house when me and my sis were nippers, then interest rates shot up to 14%...my old man worked 3 jobs for 80 odd hours a week and him and my mum lived on liver casserole for a good few years to make sure us kids had a reasonable standard of living.

 

Goalposts can move, how people react to them moving is still within their grasp.

 

Well he did you and your family proud. Not everybody can react in that way. There isn't enough work to go round to give everybody 3 jobs and 80 hours of work every week.

 

We are just at the end of the beginning of this mess. Interest rates are going to rise. Fuel costs and food costs too. It's going to be very messy.

[gnvqsos]

It is all relative anyhow due the the rather stupid definition of child poverty which is based purely on a comparison of a families income with the average. So if the standard of living in the country doubled for everyone there would still be the same number in poverty.

 

Do you have a better definition than the one accepted in all nations by all academics?I think the word stupid could be replaced by the term confusing.

[Vague_Boy]

I agree that living as become more expensive but don't think that is the fault of this government

 

Currency debasement went on for most of the last century under governments of both the left and the right. This chart [LINK] is a pretty sobering indication of why, 100 years ago, £12 would have bought you a nice ocean cruise whereas now it just about covers a taxi home.

 

And to those who think that inflation is just a fact of life, look at the chart again, particularly the years from 1750 to 1914. Practically no loss of purchasing power (inflation).

 

Inflation is theft, plain and simple.

 

To make plans that exclude future loss of purchasing power (or to ignore its effects) is plain foolish.

[I1L2T3]

Currency debasement went on for most of the last century under governments of both the left and the right. This chart [LINK] is a pretty sobering indication of why, 100 years ago, £12 would have bought you a nice ocean cruise whereas now it just about covers a taxi home.

 

And to those who think that inflation is just a fact of life, look at the chart again, particularly the years from 1750 to 1914. Practically no loss of purchasing power (inflation).

 

Inflation is theft, plain and simple.

 

To make plans that exclude future loss of purchasing power (or to ignore its effects) is plain foolish.

 

To be fair most people's plans would include wages tracking inflation to some degree. For most people that was practically all the planning that was required along with some saving for a rainy day.

 

Now we have a situation where wages are not increasing, inflation is high but higher still if you can see through the imperfect way of measuring it, and people are not saving.

 

People must not lose track of the fact that we are now in extraordinary times economically. One of the biggest financial crashes in history, many sovereign states in semi-meltdown, some sovereign states already completely melted down, huge parts of the global banking sector are insolvent. You can't blame (or punish) people for that but that is exactly the strategy of the political parties.

[Anna Glypta]

Do you have a better definition than the one accepted in all nations by all academics?I think the word stupid could be replaced by the term confusing.

 

So a child brought up by parents who are considered reasonably affluent in one part of the EU could be considered to be in poverty in another because 55% of average income in Rumania is far less than 55% of average income in the UK.

I would consider poverty to be being deprived of the basic requirements of a healthy upbringing and education. Not simply to be deprived of a 40" plasma TV.

[Happ Hazzard]

The government are not responsible for individual children, their parents are. Tax credits are utter nonsense, the government should be cutting tax for everyone.

[Mecky]

I find it strange why people always mention children. It's like those begging adverts for Charity donations on TV, they always show pictures of children and animals. They are used as political pawns for want of a better phrase. It's as though adults never face hardship.

[alchresearch]

What a misleading title. Surely it will push the parents into poverty, not the children.

[max]

The government are not responsible for individual children, their parents are. Tax credits are utter nonsense, the government should be cutting tax for everyone.

 

I agree, but until such time as employers pay living wages these tax credits will have to remain.