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George Osborne warns £25bn more cuts needed
Comments
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Graham_Devon wrote: »Why would they have done so already?
SMI means they don't have to. That's the whole point.
Has it occured to anyone that not paying SMI would involve obliging the household concerned to move into rented accomodation, and that the cost of paying HB might possibly be more than the SMI?
Just asking.0 -
How much is the Foreign aid budget ?
I mean the real one.
I would have thought he could find a lot of this at the stroke of a pen and gain support of most of the country in one move.
Let India and Pakistan pay for their own space rockets.
We are supposed to be skint.Be happy...;)0 -
Hopefully. Though benefit spending increased vastly during the previous boom... can't think what party might be responsible for that.
And why id that party feel the need to pump money into the system?"If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....
"big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham0 -
grizzly1911 wrote: »And why id that party feel the need to pump money into the system?
In order to win elections. Why else would you increase benefit spending during a boom?
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P.S. If the payment of child benefit is really a government bribe to produce children, what can we expect in return from pensioners in respect of their government bribe?
I am not against child benefit (which has been capped anyway) but what is the government bribe to pensioners? The triple lock? Are you saying pensions should be reduced?"If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....
"big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham0 -
grizzly1911 wrote: »I am not against child benefit (which has been capped anyway) but what is the government bribe to pensioners? The triple lock? Are you saying pensions should be reduced?
That's the very question I was asking - If the payment of child benefit is really a government bribe to produce children, what can we expect in return from pensioners in respect of their government bribe?
I'm not really expecting a serious answer to that question. Merely making the point that child benefit is no more or less a government bribe than the state pension.0 -
Taking this logic further, do you not feel it's fair to treat any benefit as a loan? For example, job seekers allowance could be repaid at a few quid a month once the person was back in work. Sickness benefit repaid once the patient is cured and back at work, etc.?
Not interested in responding to this, GD?0 -
Unfortunately recent history suggests it does not happen 'naturally'. In the recent past the UK, in line with other European nations, has not been producing a "sustainable number of children to replace the old". Which is why there is a problem.
P.S. If the payment of child benefit is really a government bribe to produce children, what can we expect in return from pensioners in respect of their government bribe?
Chalk and Cheese.
Pensioners (who had children) already received their child benefit, although years ago it was less generous and only applied from child 2 onwards.
Pensions are a different type of benefit altogether. Paid to everyone, subject to having met NI qualifications. Pensioners, as a group, have already been "dealt with" to an extent, by raising the retirement age.
Birth rate (per 1000 of population) runs in the order of 11 to 12, although it ramped up 16% in 2010 and is now running above 12.
Death rate (per 1000 of population) runs at below 10, although was above 10 at the start of the century.
That looks perfectly OK to me.
If we believe that birth rate will susbstantially continue without child benefit (as I do) do not need to fear removing child benefit.
If we believe that birth rate would significantly drop without child benefit, then we are effectively admitting that many people have children for [short term] economic reasons. I happen to believe this is not a good idea.0
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