Benefits Street

[santa claus]

Honestly they to right wing me, required help.

Have an early night Animus.

He (who is able) and refuses to work should not eat. (St Paul)

Slave driver . What did St Paul say about the impoverished who could not find work?

[TeePee]

I think optional work houses are a great idea. If someone who is able bodied wants the taxpayer to fund their existence, then giving them the choice to work 20 hours a week and receive basic sustenance is a good idea. Provided there is still a motivation to find better work and improve themselves, along with the free time pursue employment.

Of course, I'm against child benefits as well...

[santa claus]

You're too kind. My guess is that there are hundreds of thousands of able-bodied people who want to work and would like a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, but they won't get that in the work house.

[TeePee]

You're too kind. My guess is that there are hundreds of thousands of able-bodied people who want to work and would like a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, but they won't get that in the work house.

I can only speak for the USA, but there is certainly no shortage of jobs here. There just aren't enough people who are willing to do them.

[g8ina]

OK , having just caught up with this thread I see it may be getting a little personal for my liking so let's all keep it amicable eh chaps ??

[wasabi]

Something like this ?

Trouble with benefits is all people get to feel entitled to them very quickly. So middle class Britain feels it is entitled to 16 percent of welfare spending for spewing out children into an already overpopulated country, while getting angry about a (relatively) small group of workshy loafers.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There seems to be too many Daily Mail readers in this thread,who think they are not Daily Mail readers. Probably a few sociopaths who also think they are not sociopaths too.

Something like this ?


Showing around 10% of benefits going to the unemployed, I wonder how many people violently venting their spleen over this show happily accept Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and/or Income Support.

Finally some figures.

LOL,so only 10% of welfare funding is towards people looking for work and all of a sudden it is work houses for people looking for work,during the worst recession for a century. Only 3% of that is JSA too. 4% of that is income support for people who are working but their jobs pay too little.

I assume lets blame them all for the recession,right?? They deserved it didn't they??

Lets chastise everyone who is looking for work then,including those who are genuinely looking for work??

Most will pay back the loan they have been given through the taxes they pay anyway as they will find a job at some point. It is not free money for most people.

Why do some feel the necessity to tar all job seekers with the same brush?? Yes there are the con artists,but guess what?? There are people out there defrauding everything they can defraud.

Guilt by association then??

Why is helping people find voluntary work relevant to their qualifications not good enough now?? Or training?? No,its branding them and plonking them in the poor house so they can be made a public spectacle.

Some of the people in this thread are on some other planet. All this is about is feeling better about themselves, and gloating about how they are better off when compared to people worse off than them.

Yawn.

Anyway,I will let the crazies go back to their "it was always better in the old days" crap.

[Smudger]

I'm a sociopath, and so's my wife.

[TheAnimus]

Have an early night Animus.

Actually I needed one!

What I was trying to say is, you consider me right wing, so even for someone right wing, like me, these addicts clearly need help and support they are not getting. You can ignore any social arguments and just be purely economic, they need money spent on curing them because of the damage they cause.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'm a sociopath, and so's my wife.

You wouldn't be married.

[Smudger]

You wouldn't be married.

Ha ha, good point.

[g8ina]

Last warning guys, be nice.

[santa claus]

Actually I needed one!

What I was trying to say is, you consider me right wing, so even for someone right wing, like me, these addicts clearly need help and support they are not getting. You can ignore any social arguments and just be purely economic, they need money spent on curing them because of the damage they cause.

Of course they need help and support; pushing them out into the street and starving them isn't the way to do it. And never mind the economic argument, they are human beings.

I receive nothing from the pie above (nor should I) but I pay into it and I don't mind if some of it goes to the poor buggers trying to live in James Turner Street.

[herulach]

Of course they need help and support; pushing them out into the street and starving them isn't the way to do it. And never mind the economic argument, they are human beings.

I receive nothing from the pie above (nor should I) but I pay into it and I don't mind if some of it goes to the poor buggers trying to live in James Turner Street.

Firstly that pie chart doesn't show you anything about the percentage of benefits that go to unemployed people. As I imagine you could dump a lot of the child support and housing benefit in that pot as well.

This thread does rather well illustrate the point though, I assume most people on here are middle class, or at least on decent incomes and reasonably educated and people are still swayed by things like this.

There are some people who take advantage of the benefits system, I'm originally from a pretty deprived area, and a good few people I went to school with would fall into that category. I'm not sure I necessarily blame them for it, as why would you slog your guts out in asda stacking shelves when you can (by the time you add child benefit & housing in the mix) earn about the same on benefits and sit on your arse all day. However, there aren't nearly as many as people think. Just like benefit tourism etc, its a much smaller issue than people make out.

The problem seems to me to be more to do with an attitude thing, and this will only get worse as times go on. I've never seen any statistics, but I would bet that if someones parents have spent their life on benefit they are much more likely to (I know the plural of anecdote isn't data, but that certainly seems to be the case with people I know personally).

What really gets my backs up is the whole 'people have entitlement issues' thing. Suggest to most people saying that they reduce their pension, or don't get child support etc and you'd think you'd crapped on their foot. Fundamentally its a cultural thing that has nothing to do with the level of benefits. There are plenty of countries with much more generous benefits and lower unemployment, simply because of peoples attitude to it. We seem to want american levels of taxation with scandinavian levels of public services, and end up with an underfunded mess.

[ik9000]

I live on a council estate. I have family on benefits. I have relatives looking for work and getting job seekers allowance. I know of what I speak. I witness daily those who get everything for free, have a better lifestyle than I do, and who are quite able to work. They just won't. I do 12 hour days, pay my way and see my wage evaporate in bills and rent while these folk have the latest everything, season tickets and free time they actually can enjoy. I'm lucky if I get an hour a day to sit down with my family. So go ahead, sling accusations of daily mail at me. I have studied this subject and sent you links to texts on Rumfords historical workhouse. you come back with? Hyperbole and assumptions. Get some facts and back up your arguments then let's debate. Til then, I stand by my post.

[peterb]

Given the relative seriousness of the discussion, please keep posts constructive.