Thanks to all who have contributed so far to this discussion. I may not agree with your opinions nor you mine but I think this conversation is one well worth having. Thanks Tuppenceworth for also laying part of the problem bare. The solution of 'moving somewhere else or earning more' is made null and void when wages for ordinary people (and I am talking working class here) simply will not make ends meet WHEREVER you move to. While Tuppenceworth's example focuses on London, which can be agreed is an expensive place to live for obvious reasons, the problem of working for a living not paying enough to even cover basic expenses is growing ever more common. while I concede that some people could do more to improve their qualifications and skill base to make them more attractive to employers, with the minimum wage in place unless they are very highly skilled it will do them little good...
There are a number of major social problems in this country today and most surround greed and are because we are these days so unconnected to each other. I know of landlords who have deliberately made enquiries as to what the maximum amount of housing benefit a person can claim help with is and have then priced their accommodation to meet that amount. If people who are working and doing the best they can with the (sometimes regrettably limited) skills they have are STILL having to go cap in hand to get benefits from the state to live then what possible reason have those people to be optimistic about their future, work hard for an employer or feel good about themselves?
When people feel bad about their lives they do not perform to their best. If the government truly want to cut the benefits bill they should bring in a sensible cap on rents!
Seeing as most of you by now will be thinking I'm mad I may as well state here that I believe the minimum wage to be the most disastrous thing to happen to employment for decades. In days of old an employer had to pitch a wage into the market to be competitive in order to attract the right kind of employee. These days, employers KNOW already what their rivals will be paying - minimum wage - and thus positions that years ago would have been rewarded with a higher wage no longer are. Oh, and who is it that then has to pick up the tab for making people's wage packets up so that they can live - The Government and thus ultimately the tax payer.
But there is more!
Don't forget that large companies and particularly the supermarkets have revised the way they employ people today to find a way around all of the 'well meaning but idealistic' rules and regulations that have been put in place. Instead of employing 15 full time staff they now employ 60 part timers - all of whom are employed for less that the 16 hr threshold. Thus you create a world where instead of having 15 people off the dole paying their way and contributing to the economy you have 60 people having to go cap in hand to get top ups from benefits to be able to live - Oh , and guess who has to pay for that? The Government and thus the tax payer...
Are you starting to see a pattern here yet?
So then to sum up and just in case anyone hasn't seen the trend...
If you are working - you are claiming benefits
if you are not working - you are claiming benefits
If you are elderly - you are claiming benefits
If you are ill - you are claiming benefits
if you are disabled/unable to work/terminally ill - you are claiming benefits
But who exactly is there left to pay in?
Need a lift onto that bike of yours now Hedda (lol)
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