Karmacat: To Infinity And Beyond!

gilligansyle

Karmacat wrote: »

but the truth is that since those retirement ages were established, 100 years ago, life expectancy has increased by 25 - 30 years. People were *old* at my age then, not just middle aged (and I've only just accepted that I *am* middle aged, lol).

All I can do for me personally is make sure that I repair the damage to my own plans as much as possible, and make sure that the people I care about aren't suffering either .....

It feels incredibly heartless to write that, but having looked at the history of this thing, thats the outlook I have

Reading through this made me think, I have photos of my Nan when I was small, and she looked really OLD, but actually was younger than I am now. And its not that she had a particularly hard life, she never needed to work etc. but maybe it was the war and stuff.
I am one of the people like se affected by the original change, should have retired in 2019, now its 2024 - or is it 2025?. But I do have a half way decent pension, that has now been frozen.

I can go days without watching the news, its not deliberate, but I'm not an indiscriminate tv watcher, only switch on if there's something I want to watch. But I do have the radio on sometimes in the car....until I find myself in the car park shouting at John Humphries :rotfl:

macgirl

Pippajo wrote: »

This was the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 and the member of public was in the minority but so very out of order. The one that made me laugh was the guy who was retiring this week who felt that all working people should donate a weeks wages to the government to clear the defecit. :eek:

I didn't hear that, but was listening to Jeremy Vine one day this week. I'd had to rush back home one lunchtime and was particularly stressed.

They were discussing the older generation using the internet and Stuart Hall was on, I love him he always brings a smile to my face (think it takes me back to It's A Knockout ), so it was exactly what I needed at that moment. He was talking about history in his usual articulate and robust way - I could listen to him all day!

Firewalker

Thank you guys, I found my home here now. I have been going on about very similar concerns (and obvious anger) on my diary and occasionally on the Matrix website. Problem is that we are dealing with neo-liberalism here; and in such cases I doubt that traditional means of protest will be effective. But if substantial proportion of people change their behaviour - then we can neutralise these upper class ignorant people.

Interesting thing is that they are very good in convincing ignorant normal people that what they are doing is necessary - it isn't. It is mainly macho posturing combined with the attempt to show that all that Labour did was wrong. People have forgotten the begging young people that lined the streets of big cities in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Firewalker

MrsMoo2U

I tell you what, Seax - I think there's really something in the "news junky" thing - since I moved, I haven't had a tv, and thats the route I get most of my news from. So the main influence for me over the last few months has been Stargate DVDs and fanfiction and MemoryGirl's matrix thread. I'm making a bit light of it, but its actually completely true. And those two things have let me bounce up and up and up, even in the middle of the chaos that is my new house, I've felt wonderful and given true thanks for the opportunity I've been given here. Crazy stuff is out there, and won't go away, but I won't let it touch me. So much more craziness goes on behind the scenes, that even the most avid news junky won't get to hear about, that I don't think it makes any difference what we do and don't know about.

I am so sorry for my rant before. I agree completely with this KC. I no longer own a tv, tend to switch the news off on the radio and rarely read the guardian. I have noticed that my OH is so much more centred when he spends time here rather than working away and he gets so worked up when he stays at his parents and is exposed to tv news. I have come to agree that building something is far more conducive to a happy life than protesting. I am too tired to rally against things these days but I do despair when I hear idiots just repeating rubbish from the news without thinking things through or investigating further before jumping on the bandwagon.

Love that you told them to bog off at Barclays. I just found out that they have messed my credit rating up. They failed to operate my DD last month, charged me a late payment fee, cancelled my O% deal and (I discovered this week) sent a penalty notice to Equifax, which in turn caused them to reduce my credit limit as my scoring had reduced, which made me right on the brink of my limit :eek::eek: To add to all of that, they tell me that I am the one who has to write to equifax to sort it out. I did however get my interest rate reinstated and the £90 interest they had charged over the last two months refunded. :T

Enjoy your stay at your sisters, but enjoy the new bathroom even more when you get home.

ZTD

Karmacat wrote: »

I'm really not sure about campaigning ... on balance, I don't think I would, tbh ... I certainly *feel* like I'm getting shafted, no two ways about it, but the truth is that since those retirement ages were established, 100 years ago, life expectancy has increased by 25 - 30 years. People were *old* at my age then, not just middle aged (and I've only just accepted that I *am* middle aged, lol).

Always be careful about life-expectancy statistics. If a child dies at birth and a bloke lives to 100, live expectancy is 50.

Karmacat wrote: »

I know people complain that there are lots of rich people and they should do their bit .... well, there've always been rich people, and just like always, most of them try to get away with paying as little as they can out of their money, thats just the way things are with human beings. Its a very rare person like Paul McCartney who could be helped by being a tax exile and decides not to be.

If you were to take away the rewards for taking risks and being successful, then you will stop people from taking risks and being successful.

Karmacat wrote: »

Along with the longer living span is the lessening number of children being born, in spite of the increase in the last couple of years. Fewer workers funding more pensioners - remember that the government funds pensions out of *current* income, not out of investments. Something had to give, somewhere, and I understand (even if I hate it!) that it ended up being the pension age.

Right...the pension scheme is a pyramid scheme. No ifs ands or buts. There I've said it. It even freely admits to being a pyramid scheme, that's why you said what you've said above.

What I find amazing is that people still think it'll last forever, even knowing that it's a pyramid scheme. It will collapse - there is no doubting that. There are two ways you can keep it going

1. More new entrants - who will lose everything of course
2. Reduce the payments to those already in the pyramid

The Government are currently doing the latter, and the previous government were talking about making private pensions compulsary (and hence doing the former).

It will still collapse.

Karmacat wrote: »

All I can do for me personally is make sure that I repair the damage to my own plans as much as possible, and make sure that the people I care about aren't suffering either .....

It feels incredibly heartless to write that, but having looked at the history of this thing, thats the outlook I have

The best thing with a pyramid scheme, if you're going to mess with one, is to be one of the first in. That way you get yours and it's the jonny-come-latelys who get shafted. Of course with this one based on date-of-birth - that's not really possible...

ZTD

cherisong wrote: »

Love that you told them to bog off at Barclays. I just found out that they have messed my credit rating up. They failed to operate my DD last month, charged me a late payment fee, cancelled my O% deal and (I discovered this week) sent a penalty notice to Equifax, which in turn caused them to reduce my credit limit as my scoring had reduced, which made me right on the brink of my limit :eek::eek: To add to all of that, they tell me that I am the one who has to write to equifax to sort it out.

Invoice them for your time. They have breached your contract, and any costs you incur to remedy that breach, they are responsible for.

Don't forget any income tax you will have to pay as a result of receiving their payment.

macgirl

Firewalker wrote: »

Interesting thing is that they are very good in convincing ignorant normal people that what they are doing is necessary - it isn't. It is mainly macho posturing combined with the attempt to show that all that Labour did was wrong. People have forgotten the begging young people that lined the streets of big cities in the late 1980s and 1990s.

I think the problem is FW, that a large portion of society aren't at all engaged with what's going on. For many, the enormity won't kick in until the middle of next year. X Factor carries far greater weight in this country than politics. Sad but true....and scary.

MrsMoo2U

ZTD wrote: »

Invoice them for your time. They have breached your contract, and any costs you incur to remedy that breach, they are responsible for.

Don't forget any income tax you will have to pay as a result of receiving their payment.

Well, I never even thought of all that Z thank you so much. I might just do that.

Pippajo

macgirl wrote: »

They were discussing the older generation using the internet and Stuart Hall was on, I love him he always brings a smile to my face (think it takes me back to It's A Knockout ), so it was exactly what I needed at that moment. He was talking about history in his usual articulate and robust way - I could listen to him all day!

He was head boy of the school DH went to and DS is hoping to go to next year. He has a fab voice.

Pippajo

It is so refreshing to heat the debates that always happen on KCs diary. Too many times there are people just repeating the news and not understanding.

Z - pyramid scheme, so true.

and yes, the way to go forward is to build a way out, find a route that suits yourself and your families. So simple.......

anyone got an A-Z, the dog ate mine, and I need some directions .

Have a wonderful weekend all, x