when you reach breaking point

rising_from_the_ashes

bluebag wrote: »

While we don't have to pay for these things at point of use, we have paid for them.National Insurance, Income tax, VAT on everything but the most basic of foods, community charge, road tax, TV licence, prescription charges, dental charges and now university fees.

The thing that upsets many is the support system is skewed, it should be an insurance system, where paying a premium into the fund entitles you to claim if you fall on bad circumstances.

What rankles, is many make excessive claims on the insurance without having paid any of the 'premiums' which means those who continue to pay are subsidising those that never have.

To add insult to injury the payout on the 'insurance' often results in a better standard of living than those paying for it.

Ohhhh don't get me started!:o

I've worked since I was 17 (low income jobs) and never had a penny from the state - I need 2 crowns but at £600 each :eek: there is absolutely no way in h*ll I'm ever going to be able to afford to have one, let alone both done but someone I know who is on benefits & has never worked has had 5 (yes, 5) done in the last year and hasn't paid a penny :mad:

As for education - I didn't have the opportunity to go to uni when I was young but I've been trying to get a degree (self funded & doing it in stages, getting a qualification at each stage). I've a year left to do ...... if I went to uni FT I'd get my fees paid (but how would I be expected to live!) but if I went PT (which would let me keep my job, keep paying my taxes etc), I'd get nothing:mad:

System's carp and needs fixed ....... maybe we should be more like the US - do they not having something that you can only claim benefits for so long?

I've been advised by my consultant to cut down to PT hours (medical condition) but was refused DLA and simply can't afford a reduction in my income (no rise since 2009 & things are tight) ...... yet others I know who appear perfectly fit for work (and indeed are working "on the side") seem to get it & other benefits no problem!

rising_from_the_ashes

Rant over ........ - boy, do I feel better getting all of that off my chest!:o:)

Popperwell

Most are genuine and the few give the rest a bad name and also some a reason to hate those who should be helped and I can understand why it happens...there really are fewer fiddlers than the media etc...would have us believe and most do get caught...

*zippy*

I think the government is quite happy that people argue over benefit cheats and immigration it's makes nice headlines for the papers and focuses our anger away from them, I haven't seen enough articles of normal families where both are working and struggling to pay for basics like food and heat.

It's been has interesting today reading this thread and some posts have made me tearful, why are we not making a fuss?

We had a mortgage when the interest rates were sky high, we were both young and on low wages, but I don't remember ever being worried like I am now.

Popperwell

*zippy* wrote: »

I think the government is quite happy that people argue over benefit cheats and immigration it's makes nice headlines for the papers and focuses our anger away from them, I haven't seen enough articles of normal families where both are working and struggling to pay for basics like food and heat.

It's been has interesting today reading this thread and some posts have made me tearful, why are we not making a fuss?

We had a mortgage when the interest rates were sky high, we were both young and on low wages, but I don't remember ever being worried like I am now.

Thank you Zippy...another great post echoing what I have been saying for a long time. The media(phone-ins on radio and stations like LBC, local radio)fuel such thoughts and allow often people on the air that are vocal and sprout hatred against certain sections of society and are often ill informed but their views are rarely challenged, lots of assumptions often the presenters encourage the reaction because it gets a reaction and increases the amount of calls...

The media often creates problems...more than ever I don't take everything as gospel and do question what I am told more...one word can change how something is perceived. Today a lot of news is opinion rather than straight reporting.

sjprmc01

Thinking about it I guess there is a difference between the 'modern poverty' that some people here experience and poverty in some of the third world countries

Yes folks here may be selling off their belongings and downshifting and struggling to make ends meet 'in private'. Yet I bet a lot of those same people have TV's, mobile phones, Internet, computers etc. I guess if it really, really came to it I'd get rid of the lot! (if completly necessary). Although I pay the tv license, I do have the majority of the satellite channels (I don't pay for them). I choose to pay for my bb service I could switch to free but I'd have to pay for a bt compatible phone line to be installed and rented though I currently don't have a LL and with a young family need a phone for emergencies but guess id have to switch from a (reasonably cheap) contract to PAYG and be sparing with it (I text A LOT) there are lots of places most of us can still make cutbacks (even those on here already using OS ways). But really, in this day and age, should we REALLY be having to be forced to be making these kinds of choices?

Eta : a lot of the child poverty also is through parents not being good with money/having their priorities wrong etc. I mean my mum was on benefits, but there was always enough food/heat/clothes/security. Etc. sometimes I think there should be a way of forcing some people to spend wisely and not on drink or cigarettes which, whilst I understand these can be addictive, are still a luxury......OH and I both work and I must say I couldn't afford to smoke (not that I'd want to)

bluebag

*zippy* wrote: »

I think the government is quite happy that people argue over benefit cheats and immigration it's makes nice headlines for the papers and focuses our anger away from them, I haven't seen enough articles of normal families where both are working and struggling to pay for basics like food and heat.

It's been has interesting today reading this thread and some posts have made me tearful, why are we not making a fuss?

We had a mortgage when the interest rates were sky high, we were both young and on low wages, but I don't remember ever being worried like I am now.

I don't think the government has a clue, too detached from ordinary people now. Mixing with the rich and famous, Captains of industry, other world leaders and bankers.
Totally lost touch with yer average Joe.

But you know what they say about climbing too high. Icarus and all that....
Sometimes it's OK to be at the bottom of the heap, you ain't got far to fall and it hurts less.:)

Popperwell

We have to judge poverty in the context of the country/culture that we are living...my entertainment if I can continue is the internet, the phone and radio(not sure what the energy used is but)I get all this for approx 90p. I could not go out, drink, smoke etc...for that!(not that I smoke and I only rarely drink)

Poverty to me is if you cannot stay warm, eat reasonably well and the worry of keeping a roof over your head.

lilmisskitkat

sjprmc01 wrote: »

Eta : a lot of the child poverty also is through parents not being good with money/having their priorities wrong etc. I mean my mum was on benefits, but there was always enough food/heat/clothes/security. Etc. sometimes I think there should be a way of forcing some people to spend wisely and not on drink or cigarettes which, whilst I understand these can be addictive, are still a luxury......OH and I both work and I must say I couldn't afford to smoke (not that I'd want to)

Completely, 100% agree with this :T

K xx

GreyQueen

bluebag wrote: »

I don't think the government has a clue, too detached from ordinary people now. Mixing with the rich and famous, Captains of industry, other world leaders and bankers.
Totally lost touch with yer average Joe.

But you know what they say about climbing too high. Icarus and all that....
Sometimes it's OK to be at the bottom of the heap, you ain't got far to fall and it hurts less.:)

There's also a saying from elsewhere in the world; the higher the monkey climbs up the tree, the more you can see of it's bottom!:p

I bumble along towards the bottom of the economy, being £29 a week better off in work than on the dole. I find a lot of people are not much better off in work than out of it, but I'm glad to work and (mostly) enjoy what I do. But we won't operate a successful economy off the backs of people on £6.08 per hour as we'll be spending all our mite on surviving and the luxury end of life will go unsupported.

As it is, I never eat out and go to the cinema about once every 3 years.

I enjoy my £3.24 a month broadband access very much, and it costs me a quarter of a TV license, which I don't need as don't have a set. My 10 y.o. desktop PC is worthless on the secondhand market and many of my belongings are the same; useful and servicable to someone unfussy but not capable of being turned into cash even to keep the wolf from the door. If I liquidated everything I own, I doubt I'd get enough money to cover my rent for 3-4 months.

Ach well, I have stocked up on cheap teabags and am bunging the pennies into the penny jar to save for my Kelly kettle so I can boil water for twigs when I can't afford to pay that shower at the utility company for their gas.