Let's help Duncan Smith - how would YOU improve the benefits system?

marklv

weehev wrote: »

this reminds me of a program i watched about 2 months ago. a number of companies hired some uk unemployed to do the jobs that are normally done by foreigners - it was asparagus picking, waiting in an indian resteraunt and a factory job.

it was so embarrassing to see the uk slobs moaning and not bothering to turn up for the jobs - working along side those from poland etc who were there day in, day out and never complained.

did anyone else see this program?

So what? Would you want to do these jobs at the pay rate on offer? No, well don't cast the first stone then. I certainly wouldn't do these jobs and would never even consider them.

bendix

marklv wrote: »

Benefits are there to keep people just about fed and housed, not to provide a lifestyle.

And yet there is widespread evidence all around us that benefits do just that - provide a more than adequate lifestyle to hundreds of thousands of people who have embraced it as a way of life. For years and years.

They are all around you in the High Streets, marklv. They are the kids on the streets. They are even the people on this forum asking for advice on how they should sign on when they go off on holiday.

Am not saying people shouldnt have holidays, but if that's not evidence of a lifestyle, i dont know what is.

It's a lifestyle of choice for hundreds of thousands.

bendix

marklv wrote: »

So what? Would you want to do these jobs at the pay rate on offer? No, well don't cast the first stone then. I certainly wouldn't do these jobs and would never even consider them.

And there's the rub, isnt it? Our parents when they were struggling to support young families or gain their first steps in the world wouldnt have thought twice about it. They might not have liked it, but they would hve done it.

Now we have somehow got the notion we're better than that. We all want everything now, and quickly.

It's the 'because you're worth it' mentality.

We consider these jobs below us, yet complain bitterly when immigrants come and do them for us.

How ironic.

weehev

marklv wrote: »

So what? Would you want to do these jobs at the pay rate on offer? No, well don't cast the first stone then. I certainly wouldn't do these jobs and would never even consider them.

so what????? :mad:

it emphasises my whole stance on the benefits problems! there are jobs, but people in the uk think they are too good to do them!!!!!

if folk from other countries, living in the UK, can live on the wages from these jobs, why cant you?

bendix

weehev wrote: »

so what????? :mad:

it emphasises my whole stance on the benefits problems! there are jobs, but people in the uk think they are too good to do them!!!!!

if folk from other countries, living in the UK, can live on the wages from these jobs, why cant you?

And . . as an addition to your last comment . . if you choose not to do them, stop bloody complaining when immigrants do decide to work for a living, while you're too bone idle yourself to do them, and prefer to skive on the dole.

JonnyBravo

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'm a quarter Romany. How do you plan to execute a quarter of me?

He doesn't. The fact that a woman is even talking to him is enough to make him dribble.
You may have inadvertently now egged him on to further such rantings in the hope one of you hits him with your handbag.

michaels

Now I would do them if it meant I could feed my family and provide for them if there was no other choice. However if there was another choice called benefits and doing the job made be better off by all of 25p/hour (after benefits were withdrawn) then I would probably try and find something cash in had to pay the 10 quid extra a week that working would pay above being on benefits and claim the benefits. And I think this is what the benefits debate is about.

marklv wrote: »

So what? Would you want to do these jobs at the pay rate on offer? No, well don't cast the first stone then. I certainly wouldn't do these jobs and would never even consider them.

marklv

In my opinion the only way to get people off benefits is to increase the minimum wage to a level that makes work worthwhile. We need to peg the minimum wage to the Western European average, which I guess must be around £8.50 an hour or so. Anything less makes it difficult for people on family-type social benefits to give them up.

ILW

marklv wrote: »

So what? Would you want to do these jobs at the pay rate on offer? No, well don't cast the first stone then. I certainly wouldn't do these jobs and would never even consider them.

The bit that annoys me about that stance, is that you were prepared to take money off the people that were doing these jobs. I would stop any unemployment benefits to anyone that refused to apply for or take any paying job. (Subject to disabilities etc.)

neverdespairgirl

weehev wrote: »

so what????? :mad:

it emphasises my whole stance on the benefits problems! there are jobs, but people in the uk think they are too good to do them!!!!!

if folk from other countries, living in the UK, can live on the wages from these jobs, why cant you?

People who think they are too good to work for a living in a job they don't fancy should feel free to sit on their !!!!!! for as long as they like - so long as I'm not paying for it.