"Summer of Rage"

bubblesmoney

lynzpower wrote: »

Yes, I think that is interesting.

Does your area have higher claimant rates than other places?

I fear that this is a cynical plot for the likes of asda to attract claimants to shop there?

i dont know. it is an ex mining area but that was 25y ago. cant be that much sickness going around. was shocked when saw the parking at the nearby tesco, either the local tesco manager needs their heads examined or the system will go bankcrupt if indeed there are so many claimants for disability let alone the rest of the claimants. and the worst bit it the cars and 4w drive parking there look snazzier and always in good shape unlike the rest of the parking lot. the govts coffers must be loaded for them to afford vehicles like that. i would think twice before buying vehicles like that and even then wouldnt probably buy costly vehicles like that. but then thats why the people who work need to pay higher and higher taxes i guess.:o

lynzpower

donaldtramp wrote: »

As an example, 1 in 4 people of working age in Liverpool and Glasgow are on Incapacity Benefit.
How is this possible???

Its possible, because I dont know if youve read about this, but when the Tories were in power, they moved a huge swathe of people off job seekers ( as was) and to put them as incapacity, to muddle the figures so we had less " jobless" . What this did to people, who were log term unemployed is to tell people that they are not fit to work adn throw on scrapheap. The problem is the 2 areas you highlight have never been powerhouses of the economy, and always have had fairly high unemployment

Labour has taken steps NOW ( long overdue IMO) and have obvioulsy stopped incapacity benefit and it no longer exists.

vintage1977

donaldtramp wrote: »

As an example, 1 in 4 people of working age in Liverpool and Glasgow are on Incapacity Benefit.
How is this possible???

DonaldTramp should look up the figures on white collar crime (even pre bank crisis). You and/or your fellow ivory tower residents pinch an awful lot of pens from the workplace.

A_fiend_for_life

lynzpower wrote: »

Its possible, because I dont know if youve read about this, but when the Tories were in power, they moved a huge swathe of people off job seekers ( as was) and to put them as incapacity, to muddle the figures so we had less " jobless" . What this did to people, who were log term unemployed is to tell people that they are not fit to work adn throw on scrapheap. The problem is the 2 areas you highlight have never been powerhouses of the economy, and always have had fairly high unemployment

Labour has taken steps NOW ( long overdue IMO) and have obvioulsy stopped incapacity benefit and it no longer exists.

That's astounding that figures can be manipulated in such a way. I agree with dt's post re tax credits too: it is a finanacial carousel designed to create jobs and inefficiences to boot imho.

If they focussed on an efficient system there would be more money spare to fund other areas of development.

Makes me wonder what ethical checks are done before changes are made.

shewhoguards

bubblesmoney wrote: »

i dont know. it is an ex mining area but that was 25y ago. cant be that much sickness going around. was shocked when saw the parking at the nearby tesco, either the local tesco manager needs their heads examined or the system will go bankcrupt if indeed there are so many claimants for disability let alone the rest of the claimants. and the worst bit it the cars and 4w drive parking there look snazzier and always in good shape unlike the rest of the parking lot. the govts coffers must be loaded for them to afford vehicles like that. i would think twice before buying vehicles like that and even then wouldnt probably buy costly vehicles like that. but then thats why the people who work need to pay higher and higher taxes i guess.:o

Mining area 25 years ago? Prime area for the old folk to have asbestosis I'd say. Disabled people don't neccesarily have to be YOUNG. And yeah, you get a lot of money in compensation if it is that.

(And if anyone wants to have a go at people suffering from asbestosis for the compensation culture? My grandfather died of it. That sort of death isn't worth all the money in the world.)

baby_boomer

Had to feel sorry for the two people who turned up to demonstrate against the government's explicit policy of shafting savers and anyone without a public sector pension.

The demonstrators were absolutely right. But they couldn't persuade their fellow savers, private pension investors, private sector employees and pensioners to join them.

We need another twelve months to digest the horrific reality of this financial crisis - so the demos and the rage won't be this summer, but next. And in the meantime we'll have a chance to express our opinion about Gordon and his government.

drc

I think the problem is that it is a grey area.

There are benefits scroungers and there are those that are in genuine need funded by the welfare state.

Likewise there are greedy bankers and there are hardworking ordinary Joe's in the private sector.

Obviously both Socialism and Capitalism DO NOT WORK.

So what is needed is either a realistic mixture of the best parts of both systems or a completely new system.

StevieJ

lynzpower wrote: »

Its possible, because I dont know if youve read about this, but when the Tories were in power, they moved a huge swathe of people off job seekers ( as was) and to put them as incapacity, to muddle the figures so we had less " jobless" . What this did to people, who were log term unemployed is to tell people that they are not fit to work adn throw on scrapheap. The problem is the 2 areas you highlight have never been powerhouses of the economy, and always have had fairly high unemployment

Labour has taken steps NOW ( long overdue IMO) and have obvioulsy stopped incapacity benefit and it no longer exists.

Labour have also been playing the incapacity benefits game, they can't afford it now though :cool:

StevieJ

drc wrote: »

Obviously both Socialism and Capitalism DO NOT WORK.

So what is needed is either a realistic mixture of the best parts of both systems or a completely new system.

The economists call it a mixed economy and that is what we have

beingjdc

donaldtramp wrote: »

As an example, 1 in 4 people of working age in Liverpool and Glasgow are on Incapacity Benefit.
How is this possible???

As of November 2007, 38,330 people were claiming Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Benefit in Liverpool. Of them, 4,685 were over retirement age. So that's 33,645 working age people on incapacity. There were, at that time, 271,830 people of working age in Liverpool. So it's a big number, but I have no idea where 1 in 4 has come from. I make it about 1 in 8.

I guess it will be higher in places like that, both because we know health is worse in deprived areas, but also because if you go on fixed-rate benefits for whatever reason, you're more likely to stay somewhere cheaper to live, aren't you? £78 a week goes a lot further in Liverpool than in London.