Give it the attention it deserves ie, none. It’s bollocks. As stated several times by me and others, benefit fraud is a tiny issue.

Straw manning? That old chestnut. A much needed 😀 to get through the supervision period. Thanks. Try reading specifically what I have said, rather than what you think it says or would like it to say.

Give it the attention it deserves ie, none. It’s bollocks. As stated several times by me and others, benefit fraud is a tiny issue.

Yes, but demonisation of those on benefits isn’t a tiny issue, as proved by some of the hateful crap in this thread.

Very true.

Source? There are serious politicians and commentators saying that, really? I must have missed those headlines that attribute the crisis directly to the poor.

Well we haven’t recovered yet, so it is a prediction rather than a record of fact.

Any of course they won’t be quite that explicit, it will be phrased along the line of the (insignificant) changes to the benefits bill have enabled growth ergo what a good job we did etc.

Does it not strike you as odd that the amount of focus and coverage from the coalition and media is completely at odds with the actual affect on the economy?

Well we shall see won’t we. It would be odd to relate reducing a relatively small benefits bill to an economic recovery, but who knows. I have no doubt that claims of a good job done will be very common (if misplaced).

Of course once we recover and the good times return, there will be no need for a scapegoat and they’ll probably stop bashing the poor / disabled and may even up their benefits.

However, right now in the absence of any real leadership a scapegoat is just what is needed to distract the masses from the fact that the coalition really hasn’t got anything positive to offer the UK.

As hateful crap goes about demonising the poor, Edwina Currie took some beating the other night, with the statement:

“Food banks are putting high street shops out of business”

Yes Edwina. People so poor that they can’t afford to feed their families are responsible for shops closing on the high street. You really couldn’t make it up.

I should imagine that the public are more relieved that signs of a more sustained economic recovery can be seen, They might even prefer to read quality papers and see today that

Job vacancies rose at their fastest pace for more than 15 years last month…particularly in construction and engineering,….and…..Starting salaries rose across the country as skills shortages emerged in a growing range of sectors

FT today.

We might even get some real wage growth soon!!!

We have a long way to go to get back to pre-2008 levels of living standards!

My main concern is that if Osbourne keeps cutting public services, as he plans to, that will suppress growth.

Edwina Currie? They should restrict her to marginal channels and talk shows with the likes of Katie Hopkins and her ilk so no one has to listen.

footflaps – Member
We have a long way to go to get back to pre-2008 levels of living standards!

We do indeed, but let’s hope the next stage will be based on better foundations than unsustainable levels of borrowing. Hmmm….

Lets not turn this site into the Daily Mail?

Eh. Explain.

Yes in a capitalist system it will almost definitely be real money wont it 😕

Job vacancies rose at their fastest pace for more than 15 years last month…particularly in construction and engineering

How do they measure this

Regularly looking on websites for work* I see the same jobs listed by the same agencies across multiple websites. They then get relisted again and again
No one ever gets a reply when they apply

I agree it is starting to pick up as boom follows bust just like night follows day.

We do indeed, but let’s hope the next stage will be based on better foundations than unsustainable levels of borrowing. Hmmm….

For a whole host of reason, blue collar wages have been falling for decades in real terms, leaving people with two choices to maintain living standard:

1. work longer hours
2. borrow more

Until we start upping wages across the board, we can’t get back to 2008 levels of consumer spending without a corresponding rise in consumer borrowing.

On my previous point, socialist was in parentheses for a reason.

The colour tinting of my specs doesn’t alter the fact that the change to local housing allowance in 2008 encouraged landlords to put up rents to pick up the higher benefit funding. Exactly what was predicted by landlords organisations, those in the civil service who advised on the proposals, and the experience of the pilot areas.

Any government pushing through a point of principle despite experience and expert advice is a bunch of moronic incompetents. As the coalition is demonstrating every bit as much as the last lot.

Criticise my views if you like, but my wife and I both work on the frontline with this area of society. Our combined take home pay is below the benefit cap. The situation in London makes it easy to be distracted by Daily Wail headlines as they focus on extremes. But there has to be a way of creating jobs for those who are able to work so that money can be targetted to provide benefits to those who cannot work

I dont know enough about LHA tbh to debate tbh and a further google suggest your view is probably the correct one 😳
Sorry.

Our combined take home pay is below the benefit cap.

Perhaps you should direct your anger at your low pay and the system that keeps you in chains and others in great wealth, rather than getting cross at other poor people?

I agree some wages are really low but we need to increase wages not decrease benefits [ generally]