Tories are certainly getting stuck into our benefits system...

carolt

mattcanary wrote: »

For your information, you ignorant blockheads, I moved from a flat with quite a high rent to a council flat in February. I was lucky - I had been on the council waiting-list for 4.5 years so got offered a council flat.

What's so good about lying and cheating just because you are in work? (like my example of double-glazing salesmen do virtually all of their working days).

I pay £5.00 a month on my internet connection and roughly £5.00 a month for a pay--as-you-go mobile phone. Hardly excessive.

I have found a job - fingers crossed- starting towards the end of this month. I live in an area of relatively low unemployment, compared to many parts of the country. I have been applying for many jobs without success until recently. Haven't you heard about the unemployment problem in this country?! Haven;t you ever considered there are more people looking for work than there are jobs available??! Have you ever heard of the Depression in the 1930s - when no state benefits were available??!!

You could say that people accepting below minimum-wage level employment, are cheating the system. They are allowing rogue employers to get away with this practice (& often getting paid cash-in-hand, thus paying no tax or NI) thus bringing down the average level of private sector wages (as well as obviously breaking the law).
I refuse to apply for jobs in this illegal sector of the economy - and why shouldn't I?

Could you stop feeling quite so sorry for yourself? You have a council flat - they're like gold dust - meaning that you have security of tenure that most tenants could only dream of, and a low rent likewise.

You're starting a job.

I've faced not having a job, but as I have a family to support, I didn't sit around feeling sorry for myself - I set up as self-employed, to fit in with my very limited hours (due to childcare responsibilities) and geographical mobility (we live in the country).

If you have to do it, you just do it - you find a way.

You're not unique - in fact you actually seem rather lucky (council flat) - you just appear to moan more.

mattcanary

No, I just object to the government making cuts to people that can afford cuts the least.

I know I am lucky in having found a council home. Where have I said otherwise? What happens though if I hadn't? And for people that are out of work and have a mortgage to pay or live in the private rented sector?That is my point. Unlike you, I don't just think about myself when considering what the government should be doing. It's the I'm all right Jack that exists within so much of society nowadays.
Besides, if you have a family, you are entitled to far more benefits (both in actual monetary and real terms) compared to if you don't.

pop_gun

carolt wrote: »

Could you stop feeling quite so sorry for yourself? You have a council flat - they're like gold dust - meaning that you have security of tenure that most tenants could only dream of, and a low rent likewise.

You're starting a job.

I've faced not having a job, but as I have a family to support, I didn't sit around feeling sorry for myself - I set up as self-employed, to fit in with my very limited hours (due to childcare responsibilities) and geographical mobility (we live in the country).

If you have to do it, you just do it - you find a way.

You're not unique - in fact you actually seem rather lucky (council flat) - you just appear to moan more.

self employed usually means you're making a loss and sticking it on a credit card. though at least you can tell your friends you're gainfully 'employed'.

p.s. aren't you a little hypocritical in suggesting the original poster is moaning, when in fact you've done the same in telling us about your childcare situation and your deprived location.
if i were, to take your stance, my advice would be 'you shouldn't have irresponsibly gone out and had children you can't support' and 'you should move to a city where employment is more plentiful'.

mattcanary

Mbga -
The minimum wage is not a rubbish idea. Everyone should be entitled to a certain level of pay when working. If employers aren't prepared to pay what is a low amount anyway (certainly in the south of the UK), they are skinflints that should not even be in business.
Low pay results in people not being able to afford basic living expenses, such as their home (and no, I'm not talking about palatial palaces in the middle of Westminter). And it puts them at risk if governments introduce cuts in spending, due to the state of the country's finances - as we are currently seieng.

mbga9pgf

Well, if you want a minimum wage, don't compliain about therebeing no jobs out there. Minimum wage is one of the main reasons. If I were unemployed, I wouldn't be so picky.
Minimum wage was always for the tree hugging wallahs who want a free lunch. And if you think running your own business is so easy then, why don't you get off your unemployed !!!! and give it a try?

pop_gun

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Matt, ever started to think the minimum wage is a rubbish idea? If it wasn't illegal, would you consider those jobs?

would you work for £2 an hour?

carolt

mattcanary wrote: »

No, I just object to the government making cuts to people that can afford cuts the least.

I know I am lucky in having found a council home. Where have I said otherwise? What happens though if I hadn't? And for people that are out of work and have a mortgage to pay or live in the private rented sector?That is my point. Unlike you, I don't just think about myself when considering what the government should be doing. It's the I'm all right Jack that exists within so much of society nowadays.
Besides, if you have a family, you are entitled to far more benefits (both in actual monetary and real terms) compared to if you don't.

I do have a family, but we aren't entitled to anything bar child benefit, because we both choose to work. We live in the private rented sector but pay our own way, so I do rather resent people who choose not to work so I can pay their rent on top of my own.

carolt

pop_gun wrote: »

self employed usually means you're making a loss and sticking it on a credit card. though at least you can tell your friends you're gainfully 'employed'.

p.s. aren't you a little hypocritical in suggesting the original poster is moaning, when in fact you've done the same in telling us about your childcare situation and your deprived location.
if i were, to take your stance, my advice would be 'you shouldn't have irresponsibly gone out and had children you can't support' and 'you should move to a city where employment is more plentiful'.

Why would I care what my friends think? Some 'friends', if that were the case! I don't think that there is any more status to working than not as a mother to 3 young kids; that could (and indeed I'd argue ideally would) be a full-time job on its own. No, I set up as self-employed to earn enough to support my family. Why else?

I don't really get your later point, as I don't have children I can't support. I blatantly do support them - we're not rich, but I'd not noticed them starving or going without any essentials, either.

mbga9pgf

pop_gun wrote: »

would you work for £2 an hour?

If it meanT I didn't have to face the shame of the dole and benefits, yes I would. But then again, I don't believe the world owes me a living.

pop_gun

mbga9pgf wrote: »

If it meanT I didn't have to face the shame of the dole and benefits, yes I would. But then again, I don't believe the world owes me a living.

what sector do you work in. private or public and if you feel up to it what is your job title? to be as smug as you are must mean you're sitting in lofty office somewhere, with none of the cares of the world to worry about.