Benefits for the poor are spent on drugs and gambling

[Mancie]

I think this sums up what most people have known all along..those on lower incomes (wether it be low wages, benefits or both) have and will take the brunt for the economic situation... more likely that rich bankers and such have spent more money on drugs and gambling than all the 3 million unemployed put together!....Child poverty: Benefits can do more harm than good, says Iain Duncan Smith | Mail Online

Official figures published in George Osborne’s autumn statement on Tuesday indicate child poverty is set to increase by 100,000 over the coming years. And the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has suggested that lower income groups are bearing the brunt of the Government’s cuts.

But David Cameron insisted yesterday that the rich were carrying a much larger share of the burden than the poor

[accyman]

i have yet to experience any tory control where the poorer dont get screwed over.They are well known for looking out for the better off its one of those facts of life that will never change.

oh hang on they do support the poor just not the poor in this country

[Mancie]

What does this say to any family that have lost work by as result of government sackings..are they now scroungers who will spend any benefits on drugs and gambling?
We all know it's hard times but to make excuses like this for cutting benefits is pathetic.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, Mancie, it was asked i another thread, but how exactly would you sort out the problem of finances. You still have not answered this question.
And how are things going to be when anyone from the EU can come into this country and claim a whole raft of benefits from day one?
Do you think this is a fair way to apportion the money that is in the communal pot?
Will you be happy to pay more in the way of taxes so that these 'needy' peple get the money you seem to think they deserve?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Do you ever watch the BBC program Saints and Sinners?
If you do, then you will see that some benefit claimants are bogus.
They take the money that is meant for those who are really in need. That is the problem with this country the benefits system needs to be sorted out, so that the money does go to the needy, and not the greedy and workshy.

[Less]

Perhaps, it's time to remove the National lotto? Introduced to support, 'good causes', I believe it is also known as the poor mans tax, after all the chances of getting 6 numbers are very low as indeed are the chances of winning much on the 'Instant gratification', scratch cards?
There is an ad' on T.V. From them showing folk giving these things as Christmas Presents.

Is this aimed at the rich & the middle classes?
No it's aimed to rip off the gullible.

[Mancie]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Well, Mancie, it was asked i another thread, but how exactly would you sort out the problem of finances. You still have not answered this question.
And how are things going to be when anyone from the EU can come into this country and claim a whole raft of benefits from day one?
Do you think this is a fair way to apportion the money that is in the communal pot?
Will you be happy to pay more in the way of taxes so that these 'needy' peple get the money you seem to think they deserve?

The thread is not about me putting forward some kind of alternative policy..it's simply stating the fact that those on lower incomes are bearing the brunt of the cuts...
"Official figures published in George Osborne’s autumn statement on Tuesday indicate child poverty is set to increase by 100,000 over the coming years. And the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has suggested that lower income groups are bearing the brunt of the Government’s cuts"

[gynn]

The "Compassionate Conservative" philosophy is to keep state intervention to a minimum, and plan for growth through private enterprise which will create the wealth to "look after" the more vulnerable and less well off.

That is fine while the wealth is being created, but where is "Compassionate Conservatism" in a time of recession? Osborne is faced with the dilemma of imposing cuts, but doing it in a way that doesn't discourage entrepreneurship. Therefore, the "rich" suffer less than the "poor", because expenditure on the less well off is considered "dead money" as it has no chance of generating growth.

The solution is to guarantee everybody a fair share of the cake, and every step should be taken to target the money at the wellbeing of the kids.

For Ian Duncan Smith to claim that benefits for ALL should be curtailed because of the spending priorities of the FEW is disgraceful. If some choose to spend their share on drugs rather than food for the kids, then in a Conservative world, that is their choice (aren't the Conservatives the party of choice?).

[jaysay]

Ain't it marvellous that for 13 years benefit claims were allowed to escalate to levels never seen before, the benefit culture was allowed to flourish unchecked, yet for some reason the clown down London and is chum in Scotland never said a word about this ludicrous situation until May 2010, now its the nasty Tories (not the collision) who are persecuting the most needy, we see every day, both in the press and on TV programs that there are people who will screw the system to the floor and we're not talking about a few quid here, its thousands upon thousands claimed illegally, only today it was stated at over £1.5 billion was fraudulently claimed in benefits last year, maybe if the previous Government had made more checks when they could see the situation escalating out of control, but as usual its always left to others to clear up their mess, a trait of every Labour Government in history

[Margaret Pilkington]

No Mancie it isn't.......but you constantly snipe at whatever the government does.
There has developed in this country a benfits culture. Whole families and generations of t hem draw benefits rather that work for their living....How did this come about?
Well, I think you know the answer to that one.
I believe in support for those who find themselves on hard times, but I do not believe in giving handouts to every Tom Dick and Harry who walk into this country for economic reasons....then send the money back home to their families in the homeland....do you? That is not good for our economy...only theirs.

The only way you can regulate how people on benefits spend their money is to give them vouchers for food....and even this is not fool proof as they could always sell the vouchers in order to buy drink, drugs or cigarettes....or whatever their dependency requires.

The Welfare system needs a radical overhaul, and has needed it for a long time now.
No government has had the guts to do anything other than tinker around.
It should never be more lucrative to be on benefits than it is to go out and earn a living.

[jaysay]

Ya have to feel sorry for this woman don't ya Mancie
On the run: £46,000 benefits cheat who 'couldn't walk more than 20 yards' caught training for half marathon | Mail Online

[gynn]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Ya have to feel sorry for this woman don't ya Mancie
On the run: £46,000 benefits cheat who 'couldn't walk more than 20 yards' caught training for half marathon | Mail Online

The scandal there is the sentence she received. 200 hours community service.

[Boeing Guy]

Very true Gynn, but would the last government done anything harsher, I doubt it very much.

[Margaret Pilkington]

I was from a large family....there were seven children. My father was ill for many years as a result of being blown up on the beach at Dunkirk.......he couldn't work, so my mother went out to work to support the family.

Ma had three jobs - all menial cleaning jobs.
6am until 9am cleaning the offices at Howard and Bulloughs......9am untill 11am at the Elite Billiard hall......then back to Howard and Bulloughs in the evening.......she also did some shifts at Catlows Fruit Market on Broadway.......the Catlow Brothers let Ma fit her hours in around her other jobs.
They were also very kind to her with bags of fruit and vegetables some free, some very cheap.
If she had not done this then we would have starved.....truly, we would.

In those days if you didn't work then you didn't eat. Hunger is a great motivator.

When we went to school we got free school dinners...this meant that we had at least one good square meal a day.

I can remember there being no food in the house at various times in my young life.
And no money to buy food.
No coal to keep the house warm.....when it was cold we used to go to bed and huddle together under the blankets, with coats on the bed for extra warmth.
In the winter we made ice lollies on the inside of the bedroom window sill

This an extract from one of my blogs. It is about the kind of poverty that I experienced as a child.
Not the pseudo poverty that is talked of today, the kind where benefit claimants have the latest games consoles, flat screen TV's....in fact all the mod cons that the rest of us worked damn hard to be able to afford.

[groove]

Groove notes that satellite television, internet and various other modern luxuries are marketted for the ones that can afford it, yet these are the ones on benefits. Groove knows various people who live with these luxuries and obtain benefits. He has a neighbour who paports(sp) to have a bad leg. He has been given a brand new car and earns or should i say receives more than most working folk i know along with having free rent, coucil tax benefit. Its common knowledge locally that it is a scam. Until there is a crackdown with people having to take vigouress tests to obtain benefits. Although you cant forget some folk genuinely are disabled and poorly it seems a life on benefits is a decent career move financially when really it should be the very desperate that qualify for these benefits. How can you expect folk to work when the benefits system is so attractive.