work less ...are you working to much

Hang on, I know this to be true as I've lived a life where my wage after all the bills had been paid left me £40 better off than on income support for a 40 hour week, £1 per hour, this didn't take into account that I needed to travel and pay for food while there, so you could say I was working for nothing in comparison to what I would have got on benefit.

Why did I do this you may ask?

Being down on your luck and depressed tends to colour your judgement, again when you feel trapped, you feel trapped. What the problem is as far as I can see is we are fed cold stories without any real substance that triggers off and internalizes us to bicker and deny eachother opportunity, its sounds like I'm a wishey washey liberal and on this I tend to feel that we need to support rather than create a regime of hatred. If we are to believe we live in a meritocracy then create the platform for this to be true. This is about a financial structure. We seem to be quick to defend the rights of people to earn huge sums of money without being accountable to the society they take it from, i.e. tax and real social reform. Young mums and babies is a media frenzy to whip up hatred, ok they tend to have more help because they have a kid, what are we to do continue destroying all faith in future generations? We are the fifth richest country in the world, it can afford to invest in its people.

 

Thanks for the informative post, PP.

I'm glad that my taxes go towards helping those less fortunate than me, and that I will get that help if I ever need it. The 'benefit cheat' issue is consistently talked up as a way of arguing against having any kind of support system for those who fall on hard times, often by the right-wing press. I don't think that's what Zerogrrl is arguing, but it's important to keep the issue in perspective and not fall into the trap of thinking it's anything like a majority, or any more than a small percentage who seriously abuse the system. The idea of women getting pregnant just to get benefits always seemed a little hysterical to me - I'm sure it may have happened in some cases, but it's very unlikely to be commonplace, and even where it has happened, the state does have a responsibility to protect those children; we can't stop it, and it's not up to us to judge the intentions of those having babies, just to protect the children from harm. It's certainly no argument to withdraw help for those genuinely in need.

Unfortunate though benefit fraud is, a small amount is probably a necessary price for having such a system; the good it does far outweighs the problems it entails.

 

I tend to work with kids, 16 - 19 years who are umemployed and utterly disillusioned. They have left school barely able write and have never been inspired to think about the world and their place in it. What they do understand is how they can be exploited, which isn't a difficult understanding to have. But each and everyone of these who are unemployed and denied any benefit always approach me for help in finding them a job. Quite often I can convince them to return and take on government schemes mostly vocational qualifications but sometimes GCSE level. Being unemployed does lead to a depressing sense of hopelessness in them, I know because; 1. I see it in their faces; and 2. I have experienced the same desperate state.

 

The work week was increased in Germany last year, as a nod to productivity.

 

I'm not saying New Deal will encourage people into gaining skills and confidence, more it forces them to do it. It is both a carrot and a stick....

 

Yip, and they see the UK model as the way forward with Angela Merkel, god help the Germans.

 

Yeah, sorry PP I should have left the whole post in or not at all, mis-quoted you. I'm not advocating on behalf of the government and their bullish tactics I was just trying to give the kids' perspective and what they want, which isn't to be always in abject poverty surrounded by symbols of wealth beyond their reach. I know, the language should be young person.

 

Tis not an easy one to make, I'd be happy to let you have it mate