Osborne to give the poorest yet another good kicking

[joe_bloggs*]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/29/george-osborne-benefits-tax-credits-conservative?com...

he announced that a re-elected Tory government would hit 10m households with a two-year freeze on benefits and tax credits.
Same old tories

[lambsy_uk]

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@bankhaunter wrote:

Fair enough but there is no two year wage freeze in the offing so why should there be one for benefits?

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Because we have a deficit to tackle!

[bankhaunter]

Because we have a deficit to tackle!

Then perhaps at least they should be honest and call it a benefit cut and not try to make out they are being fairer.

I would suggest anyone that thinks JSA should be frozen should try living on it for a while, that's if of course they can avoid losing it by being sanctioned for such as going to a job interview when they should be signng on.

[twohelmets]

Fair enough but there is no two year wage freeze in the offing so why should there be one for benefits?

There HAS been a wage freeze caused by economic reality, wages not keeping pace with inflation for several years. Why should there not be one for benefits claimants?!

[lambsy_uk]

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@bankhaunter wrote:

Because we have a deficit to tackle!

Then perhaps at least they should be honest and call it a benefit cut and not try to make out they are being fairer.

I would suggest anyone that thinks JSA should be frozen should try living on it for a while, that's if of course they can avoid losing it by being sanctioned for such as going to a job interview when they should be signng on.

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One is not supposed to live on JSA they are supposed to get a job!

[twohelmets]

Nobody should be comfortable on JSA, period. It should be hard, uncomfortable, and an incentive to find work. Sadly, that work will be taxed to death to pay for benefits that have out stripped wages.

[evoman3957]

I'm biting My Lip, because there's some so called socialists on here that are nearer to being communists...........perhaps they should go to China and see what being out of work THERE gets you and as for benefits; they've never heard of them.........and that doctrine is supposed to be the ultimate in equality........Laughable!!

[astrologica]

Apparently, the maximum benefits anyone will be able to receive will be £23.000 p.a. My OH and I both worked hard all our working lives, right up to retirement age, and we would be thrilled to have £23.000 p.a to live on.

[tommy.irene]

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@astrologica wrote:
Apparently, the maximum benefits anyone will be able to receive will be £23.000 p.a. My OH and I both worked hard all our working lives, right up to retirement age, and we would be thrilled to have £23.000 p.a to live on.

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My pension is £550 a month for Irene and i..

[bankhaunter]

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@astrologica wrote:
Apparently, the maximum benefits anyone will be able to receive will be £23.000 p.a. My OH and I both worked hard all our working lives, right up to retirement age, and we would be thrilled to have £23.000 p.a to live on.

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You would have to compare why a family was receivng £23,000 a year, just what their circumstances were compared to yours in order to know whether or not they were better off than you.

Don't forget that the vast majority of benefit is paid to people who are in work.

[astrologica]

Yes...I agree that there are variations in circumstances, but I suspect that a large part of this benefits bill goes to irresponsible parents. As Two helmets said in post 5, practising birth control would be a big help for some, and then maybe they wouldn't need so many benefits. How often do we hear women, and girls, say 'I 'fell' pregnant..as if something came out of the sky and knocked them down, and when they got up they were pregnant? No one should be having children that they cannot afford to keep themselves.
There will always be some families who hit hard times and need a helping hand temporarily, and no-one should say that they shouldn't be helped. But there are also some people who make it a 'career' choice to keep having children and never work. Irresponsibilty is a big problem in society today, and some people bring their problems on themselves.

[twohelmets]

I've never had a problem with the State (me, the taxpayer) helping out those in genuine need. However, what this has become is just plain wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNyQHDxR6UY

Booo hoo, it's sooo tough for us! Blargh!

[joe_bloggs*]

Andrew Neil: The reason why you’re not able to cut the deficit is because income tax receipts are barely rising … because ordinary people in this country are going through a huge squeeze on their wages. They’re falling in real terms. They’re not paying the tax you thought.

People are suffering. That’s the reason.

Sajid Javid: No, I don’t accept that."

Its not that benefits are too high,its that wages are too low,The biggest benefit recipients are landlords and companies paying poverty wages that have to be topped up by tax payers money.The tories have always hated the poor,as has been said they probaly don't vote for them,The wealthier pensioners are the tories core voters,they couldn't win without them as well as some of the "I'm alright jack" brigade who think of themselves as somehow different and better than those with less than themselves,Let them try to survive on £72 JSA and come back and report on living the life of Riley,This whole attack on the poorest has nothing to do with reducing the defecit,if it had they wouldn't have reduced the tax on millionaires,as one tory said "The poor? something you step over when leaving the opera"

[fallen-archie]

The fact remains that some people ( a considerable number) choose to exist as charitable subjects rather than relying on work to survive.
Why does government need greater receipts, why do local Authorities spend so little on infrastructure and so much on social security. Why are our hospitals so full and our GP surgeries so busy. Why do parents take kids out if school to go overseas on holiday thus undermining children's education, What about the woman from benefits street recently on big brother who wants to be a politician will she encourage an expansion of the welfare state or take the more radical stance seeking greater opportunity. Come on, you get out of life what you put in, it isn't perfect but neither is it so bad. Let's debate with a spoonful of open mindedness and a large dose of fairness.

[twohelmets]

The tories have always hated the poor.

This kind of language destroys any credibility the speaker may have been hoping to gain. And AGaiN, yet more whining about how tough it is on JSA.

It darm well should be!

[Anonymous]

Over the past say 5/6 years loads more people apparently seemed to have chosen to live off benefits....no idea anymore what the cause was, but they can't have liked their jobs very much, they must be just lazy.........It's of course a great life.... fancy holidays, fillet steak on their plates every night...nights out in town.....lots of alcohol and fags.....designer clothes.....the latest phones...oh and of course the plasma tv.................

[fallen-archie]

As we get closer to an election, the hate speech will become more commonplace, posters will come on here to advertise their wares again and again but they will not debate. The overriding image I have of your average Brit is a person who loves a competition and acknowledges success, a good sport if you like. These political types know better, they come on, annoy you with biased garbage or refer you to some academic thesis which is far removed from reality. Then they expect you to vote for them. Sorry I just don't buy stage managed tripe.

[bookhunter2007]

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@twohelmets wrote:

 "The poor" have had an enormous run under the last Labour Government, one that has come close to bankrupting the Country.

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Hmmm. So the cast of Benefit Street are responsible for the banking crisis? Interesting take. I never knew chavs had much to do with derivatives trading, but I guess you learn something new every day!

Now, who can we blame for the Phones4U collapse - thus creating a few thousand more "scroungers"? Disabled people? Single Mothers?

[twohelmets]

You are diverting from the issue, and of course you would. The benefits culture is what it is, it has nothing to do with the banking crisis.

[joe_bloggs*]

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@twohelmets wrote:

The tories have always hated the poor.

This kind of language destroys any credibility the speaker may have been hoping to gain. And AGaiN, yet more whining about how tough it is on JSA.

It darm well should be!

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It’s certainly an impression they’re doing their best to portray

[fallen-archie]

Never mentioned the banking crisis, Benefits st was an interesting insight into present day life for some. My point was to ask if Dee does become a politician what will her take be on the social benefits we as a nation provide to those in need and others beside.
Those in the banking industry driven by greed are parasites.
I don't know what a Chav is but if it is a lifestyle choice and they lay for it I don't have a problem.