The Conservative Party

[blue for life]

We really are mugs the lot of us.

Totally convinced she is not a full shilling

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Totally convinced she is not a full shilling

She’s insane.

 

[BrianW]

'But Labour...'

That's what they say. They are still obsessed with Gordon Brown selling 'our' gold, though I do not doubt that he sold it for good reasons and following qualified advice. It's not like he sold it to buy his mistress a Rolls-Royce before putting her in the Lords.

 

[metalblue]

anyone in the least bit surprised?

Only top half of UK earners to benefit from lower NI payments, thinktank warns

Any gains for lower half will be lost when income tax bills rise in April, says Resolution Foundation

www.theguardian.com

Huh? Says anyone earning over £26k a year benefits. That includes nurses, HCAs, teachers, etc etc.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

'But Labour...'

That's what they say. They are still obsessed with Gordon Brown selling 'our' gold, though I do not doubt that he sold it for good reasons and following qualified advice. It's not like he sold it to buy his mistress a Rolls-Royce before putting her in the Lords.

I think by any objective measure, it was a mistake, but fuck all compared to what followed after he left office.

 

[blueparrot]

Huh? Says anyone earning over £26k a year benefits. That includes nurses, HCAs, teachers, etc etc.

I don’t the know figures, but that implies around half of earners in the country earn less than £26 k. If that ‘s true that’s a sad inditement of the state of the country,and how it’s been governed.

 

[BrianW]

I think by any objective measure, it was a mistake, but fuck all compared to what followed after he left office.

To judge whether it was a mistake or not, I should need to have a full understanding of the fiscal policy of the UK government at that time. This is something I entirely lack. All that I can say with certainty is that financially at least this country was in a far better place then than it is now.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

To judge whether it was a mistake or not, I should need to have a full understanding of the fiscal policy of the UK government at that time. This is something I entirely lack. All that I can say with certainty is that financially at least this country was in a far better place then than it is now.

Not just financially, mate :-(

 

[metalblue]

I don’t the know figures, but that implies around half of earners in the country earn less than £26 k. If that ‘s true that’s a sad inditement of the state of the country,and how it’s been governed.

Nationally you’d be in the bottom 25% of earners to be on less than £26k however regionally it will be different, not 50% but more than 25% for sure. This is also full time and not everyone works full time either so you might start to get towards 50% once you look at it beyond the statistics. On the flip side there is in work benefits that aren’t included which cloud it even more.

All that said there is a reality in this country that working full time is of diminishing returns for many once you start paying out for child care etc etc versus losing in work benefits and that is a sad indictment of where we are right now. Work should always pay, our system only works when those who can, do, and those who can’t are supported by the state.

 

[BrianW]

The problem is this is a low-wage, low-skill economy and many wages are wholly inadequate to support a family.

This means that to 'make work pay' you must keep benefits at a punitive level. As well as subsidising inadequate wages with public money, a public subsidy to employers and landlords.

This is monstrous, but getting out of this hole will not be easy.