Interview With Dr Mandelbrot... The End Of The Middle Class

SingleSue

brummybloke wrote: »

labour got rid of the middle class and traditional working class due to their stupid policies of rewarding the lazy.

the working class are now people what used to be the middle class, your teachers, nurses, police. most shop work is part time staffed by working mothers or young people under 20 on minimum wages, most restuarants are staffed by students.

people now dont work, they get more being on benefits having banged out a couple 'investments' or children as normal people call them.

these would have been the working class, where the mother may have had to get a couple cleaning jobs to help the fathers manual labour job.

the problem is that previously 'working' class, were in general, decent people working as hard as they could with limited skills or education, trying to get by.
in general they had strong values and a working ethic, normally working harder than the middle class, in hours and physical demands. strong community spirit, and decent morals, the qualities these people had has been eroded from todays 'bottom rungs'.

excuses galore from the majority, there are genuine people out of work, of course there are, but i doubt more than 30% of claimants are truely genuine.
a large portion of claimants typical day is as follows...
home is council house/ flat in disrepair due to lack of any kind of respect for others property, wake up at ooh, mid day, light a ciggy, watch jeremy kyle ( the later version apparently on itv2 in the afternoon) , text like minded people on latest mobile telephone , play video games on latest console, have a domestic with current wife / partner, drink some cheap alcohol.. bang out a couple more 'investments' to make sure they get a top up in 'pay'. go down town, either to benefits office to shout loudly and complain they want more for less or hang around mcdonalds / blockbusters annoying anyone vagualy normal. get into the only pub left in town they are not banned from, drink a few pints, start a fight, cause further problems on their way 'home'. smash property up on arrival.

of course these people are 'entitled' to everything for nothing, it is 'their right'.

maybe once labour who are a shower of rubbish, are out, someone brave enough to stop this nonsense and either raise inflation AND wages, thus reducing the value of benefits, or merely slash benefits and make certain things voucher only. things like cigarettes and alcohol should not be able to be got with benefit money, lottery tickets also.

no doubt if i checked it would be people who dont pay into the UK tax system who use the facilities more than people who do pay into them.

maybe looking after the workers and the old instead of spending millions upon millions to scroungers, criminals and financial migrants who pretend they are asylum seekers, ruining it for genuine people in need then we can build the country back up from the socialist mess created by phoney b.liar and his cronies.

and the mugs that pay for this?

So glad you didn't put everyone in the same basket there, people are very apt to generalise.

As a single parent on benefits (not by design) my day goes as follows :

Wake at 6.45am
Get children up
Wash, breakfast, dress them and myself
7.30 See eldest son off to school
8.10 Leave the house for the school run
8.25 First drop off after battling through the morning rush hour
8.35 Second drop off and handover after again battling with the traffic
8.45 Leave the school.

Now this is where is gets complicated and no one day is the same as another, this week for example
Monday - Course between 1 and 3 whilst also contending with a sick child

Tuesday - Appointment at 11am - 12 midday, Appointment 15 miles away at 1pm - 2.30, parents evening at middle son school from 4.30 through to 6pm.

Wednesday - Appointment at youngest son school from 8.45am to 10.20 am, course between 1 and 3pm, parents focus group (school procedure meetings not a parent/teacher association) at middle son high school between 5.30 and 6.45pm.

Thursday - An easy day!

Friday - 9.30am - 12 midday volunteering at a local special needs group.

The evening routine is usually along the lines of, 3.10 leave home to do first school run, arrive at the school at 3.25 then onto the second part of the run, arriving at 3.35 (traffic is a nightmare!), then we have clubs, after school events etc which makes me feel like a taxi driver!

At night time, there is the bedtime routine to go through and with autistic kids, this is easier said than done, especially with my youngest who also has a regimen of medication to get through, sometimes right through the night.

On top of all this, my youngest son has been off school all week so far with severe asthma and I have just started a degree plus I am also looking for and applying for jobs and somewhere along the line the housework has to be fitted in!

The last time I was in a pub for a drink was years ago, in fact so long ago, I can't even remember apart from I was still married then.

And this is a fairly easy week....some weeks I spend chasing my tail and trying to find the time to fit going to the toilet in!

Give me full time work anyday....it was much easier then (for me that is, I know some people put in as much in not more hours than I do as a carer)

Edit - I don't drink, I don't have the latest games system (middle son does have one but he saved for over six months and asked for money for birthday and christmas from all relations to get it), I abhor violence, MacDonalds and blockbusters and I am still waiting for someone to tell me what Jeremy Kyle is!

I attend all the parent appointments at their schools and work closely with them, my children are not failing in their education - my two youngest are on the gifted child programmes, they are respectful, polite, well mannered and have been taught right from wrong. Vandalism is a big no no in my family, the children are taught never to damage other people's property and if by accident damage occurs, then they are expected to pay for it out of their own money.

SingleSue

Yes I do, I was pointing out that not all people on benefits live the easy, laying in bed until midday lifestyle.

I should also point out that 6.45 is a guide, my alarm is set to that but most nights can be spent sorting the children and their disabilities out...I average approx 2-3 hours sleep a night.

There is also the potential of everything going completely boobs up, I have regular phone calls from the schools to sort out one of the children or I struggle to get one into school plus my middle son can become aggressive at times (against me mainly, not seen at school at present), which of course means that I also have to contend with being hit or punched...not many parents of normal children have that.

I used to get into work for 7am when I was working and didn't finish until nearer to the 8 or 9pm.

zarazara

were doomed ! doomed!

amcluesent

Clown has stolen, at Net Present Valuation, something in excess of £500,000,000,000 from the middle-classes.

That's £120,000,000,000 from future pension payments, the remainder being multi-generational taxation for his PFI wheezes, losses on stock market investments, losses on capital value of housing, opportunity costs from means testing, student debt and fees, private health care, stealth taxation and increases in NI.

olly300

Dooooooooooooooonut wrote: »

I agree with you that not everyone on benefits has an easy life. But there are enough that do to !!!! the rest of us off

That said, in the very near future we are simply not going to have the money to pay for them, and I fear that worthy individuals like yourself are going to suffer as well.

And whose fault is that?

Successive Tory and Labour governments who shove fit and healthy people on to incapacity benefit to hide the number of people who are unemployed and the fact that lots of employers are ageist.

zarazara

so, do we all start needing to hoard pasta?

piggeh

Potatoes I guess then. Or just invade Ireland maybe. Potato & Guinness diet, wouldn't be too bad.

tomstickland

Is that Mr Fractal Mandlebrot (as in Mandelbrot set). Not to be confused with Mandelbot, an automated fraudster robot.

stevsand

brummybloke wrote: »

labour got rid of the middle class and traditional working class due to their stupid policies of rewarding the lazy.

the working class are now people what used to be the middle class, your teachers, nurses, police. most shop work is part time staffed by working mothers or young people under 20 on minimum wages, most restuarants are staffed by students.

people now dont work, they get more being on benefits having banged out a couple 'investments' or children as normal people call them.

these would have been the working class, where the mother may have had to get a couple cleaning jobs to help the fathers manual labour job.

the problem is that previously 'working' class, were in general, decent people working as hard as they could with limited skills or education, trying to get by.
in general they had strong values and a working ethic, normally working harder than the middle class, in hours and physical demands. strong community spirit, and decent morals, the qualities these people had has been eroded from todays 'bottom rungs'.

excuses galore from the majority, there are genuine people out of work, of course there are, but i doubt more than 30% of claimants are truely genuine.
a large portion of claimants typical day is as follows...
home is council house/ flat in disrepair due to lack of any kind of respect for others property, wake up at ooh, mid day, light a ciggy, watch jeremy kyle ( the later version apparently on itv2 in the afternoon) , text like minded people on latest mobile telephone , play video games on latest console, have a domestic with current wife / partner, drink some cheap alcohol.. bang out a couple more 'investments' to make sure they get a top up in 'pay'. go down town, either to benefits office to shout loudly and complain they want more for less or hang around mcdonalds / blockbusters annoying anyone vagualy normal. get into the only pub left in town they are not banned from, drink a few pints, start a fight, cause further problems on their way 'home'. smash property up on arrival.

of course these people are 'entitled' to everything for nothing, it is 'their right'.

maybe once labour who are a shower of rubbish, are out, someone brave enough to stop this nonsense and either raise inflation AND wages, thus reducing the value of benefits, or merely slash benefits and make certain things voucher only. things like cigarettes and alcohol should not be able to be got with benefit money, lottery tickets also.

no doubt if i checked it would be people who dont pay into the UK tax system who use the facilities more than people who do pay into them.

maybe looking after the workers and the old instead of spending millions upon millions to scroungers, criminals and financial migrants who pretend they are asylum seekers, ruining it for genuine people in need then we can build the country back up from the socialist mess created by phoney b.liar and his cronies.

and the mugs that pay for this?

What a rush of !!!! to the head,pity you shared it with us.

PasturesNew

The thing I have against working is:
- low wages, still taxed on them though
- having to sit and be watched for a minimum of 8.5 hours/day, sometimes not daring to go for a wee in case you're thought of as slacking - and wishing you could have a lunch hour without getting bad looks
- spending about 2.5 hours/day travelling to/from work in rush hours at a cost of £100-200/month
- getting very few annual holidays, can't reduce your hours or take unpaid leave. Having to be there day in day out .... for 50 years.

Well, I've done over 30 of them and quite frankly I've had enough of it. You're either getting ready for work, getting to/from work or being at work about 12-13 hours/day (before you put in the free overtime) ... then you get home kn4ckered and have to cook your tea and wash up and sort out the post and all the other 101 normal life things.

Then at weekends it's rushinig round doing things you couldn't do in the week (because you work and places are shut when you're available). Many places are only open Saturday mornings, so you end up on Saturday mornings trying to juggle any combination of: going to the Post Office to send something, having your hair cut, visiting the dentist, seeing the doctor, getting a garage to listen to the odd noise your car's making, get new tyres/puncture mended, get new exhaust fitted, have car MoT'd, go to the parcel office because the postman left you a card...

Then there's all the other stuff, too numerous to mention here that's just "doing it all".

And, quite frankly, I've had enough of it. I've had just over a year off - a year when I could please myself what I did, or not. It's marvellous. For the past 30 years it's been slog, slog, slog, with nobody doing anything with or for me. It's been utter !!!!!!.

The problem with working is: it takes up far too much time when other people have most/all of the day to call their own without a master beating them from every angle and I am fed up with seeing how other people seem to work less and have a LOT more.