tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35649541.post6179450751687866139..comments2024-01-30T09:22:08.167+00:00Comments on Newmania In Lewes: Universal BenefitsNewmaniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11922161971821380803noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35649541.post-2992025513289882702010-09-01T20:35:56.213+01:002010-09-01T20:35:56.213+01:00R and C thanks or that I think I agree
Agreed al...R and C thanks or that I think I agree <br />Agreed also Asquith you would not invent it but then I would not invent the NHS... also I would never get rid of it .Newmaniahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11922161971821380803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35649541.post-18589017547801630262010-09-01T20:17:28.808+01:002010-09-01T20:17:28.808+01:00Aye, but I wouldn't trust Gideon Osborne to ac...Aye, but I wouldn't trust Gideon Osborne to acknowledge a truth which even Ed Miliband has got his head around.<br /><br />Some of these benefits are ones I wouldn't have devised if we were starting from scratch, but I see no viable or equitable way of abolishing them so they should remain universal.<br /><br />There is also the empire of means-testing for pension-related benefits, whereas we should have a basic retirement pension higher than it now is & less additional stuff, adding up to the same or less cost. That will make some people worse off but it would be outweighed by encouraging marginal people to save more.<br /><br />As I say, I am starting to frown upon Osborne. I do think it's the fact that he knows nothing but hardcore wealth, whereas most Tory voters are genuinely "middle class" & the rest of us are usually properly working-class. He doesn't grasp how much difference is made around the edges of 15, 20, 25k a year. I never liked Duncan Smith much for his CSJ work but he hasn't been so bad in recent times.<br /><br />You are also right Retiredandcrazy. I am troubled by how many "private sector" companies receive state largesse. A lot of my mates are on the dole (it is an unemployment blackspot- they are not chavs, I wouldn't hang round with chavs) & they have tales to tell. Yet their benefit costs less than some tit's salary for not doing much.asquithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246701347539264295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35649541.post-36934742444727356572010-09-01T15:12:06.016+01:002010-09-01T15:12:06.016+01:00It's hard to strike the right balance isn'...It's hard to strike the right balance isn't it? Your doomed if you don't and your doomed if you do. <br /><br />I liked the old straight forward way - child benefits all round, child tax allowances on salaries, mortgage interest relief, unemployment and sick benefit, pensions, ect. <br /><br />It's got far too complicated and needs an army of lazy tossers to administrate.www.retiredandcrazy.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12130398756223000765noreply@blogger.com