Public Sector Strikes

[doubleup]

i'm surprised there is no sympathy whatsoever for people who earn small salaries, do shit jobs that you wouldn't do and receive relatively poor pensions who are being told to take an effective 5% pay cut, pay another 5% more into their pensions, work for longer and receive less than they were promised.

I actually do agree that the contribution rise is excessive, a change to the retirement age to mirror the state pension age and a move to average salary benefits should be ok.  I think you've missed that lower paid workers aren't actually getting a contribution increase.

[ACE2M]

Ace2m, what should the chancellor be doing different? Your answer cannot include reference to increasing the deficit/spending as that is not an option

me versus blonde apparently...  

I'll be honest, my time studying economics is a good few years in the past but to my view they are disobeying basic rules, forcing down gdp against a still rising or static deficit, which is what the ratings bodies measure you against, we go to far and we bring around a far bigger crisis , eurozone stylee.

i accept the need for deficit reduction but do it in a better climate as Gordon should have done before.

i am not a pie in the sky 'tax the rich' lefty btw, although i do think they should be taxed more!

[neeko]

Some in the private sector have been loving the stike - seems they all went Xmas shopping.

[ACE2M]

Some in the private sector have been loving the stike - seems they all went Xmas shopping.

sadly, that is true

[neeko]

One thing i have never understood about strikes - how much pay to they lose?

1/220 or 1/365 of their annual base salary?

[boldie]

Ace2m, what should the chancellor be doing different? Your answer cannot include reference to increasing the deficit/spending as that is not an option

me versus blonde apparently...  

I'll be honest, my time studying economics is a good few years in the past but to my view they are disobeying basic rules, forcing down gdp against a still rising or static deficit, which is what the ratings bodies measure you against, we go to far and we bring around a far bigger crisis , eurozone stylee.

i accept the need for deficit reduction but do it in a better climate as Gordon should have done before.

i am not a pie in the sky 'tax the rich' lefty btw, although i do think they should be taxed more!

So you're saying that they need to make these desicions but do it ten years from now when the economy might be better?

I am a "tax the rich" lefty FWIW, massively in favour of it TBH but something has to be done now.

To say that the desicion needs to be delayed until we have the same climate as the last guy, who massively F'ed up, has is something political parties have a nasty history of doing.
This is not a desicion that can be delayed. Retirement age has to go up. The public worker pension system is massively flawed and can't be sustained so has to change.

This is not just about deficit reduction, this is about making a change that is absolutely necessary.

[Acidmouse]

The money they save from pensions will be used to pay off the country's debts not stay in the pension pot? Also more people wont bother taking a pension in the public sector workforce and just get more off the state when they retire.

[ACE2M]

Ace2m, what should the chancellor be doing different? Your answer cannot include reference to increasing the deficit/spending as that is not an option

me versus blonde apparently...  

I'll be honest, my time studying economics is a good few years in the past but to my view they are disobeying basic rules, forcing down gdp against a still rising or static deficit, which is what the ratings bodies measure you against, we go to far and we bring around a far bigger crisis , eurozone stylee.

i accept the need for deficit reduction but do it in a better climate as Gordon should have done before.[/b

i am not a pie in the sky 'tax the rich' lefty btw, although i do think they should be taxed more!

So you're saying that they need to make these desicions but do it ten years from now when the economy might be better?

How can the current plan possibly work? Destroying tax revenues and not cutting the deficit.
Tell me one thing that has been done so far that has had a positive impact on our situation? Everything gets worse qtr after qtr and you lot lap it up without question, think for yourselves.

[Bongo]

Ahh yes, we're all sheep for not saying that something different should be done without a better plan...

[Bongo]

The money they save from pensions will be used to pay off the country's debts not stay in the pension pot? Also more people wont bother taking a pension in the public sector workforce and just get more off the state when they retire.

I think there are a few things wrong there:
1) It won't pay off the debt, no one has any clue how we'll do that
2) There isn't really a pension pot
3) Bit of a gamble to assume the state will give them anything when they retire.

[Acidmouse]

You wont get any benefits if you retire without a priv pension?

[boldie]

Ace2m, what should the chancellor be doing different? Your answer cannot include reference to increasing the deficit/spending as that is not an option

me versus blonde apparently...  

I'll be honest, my time studying economics is a good few years in the past but to my view they are disobeying basic rules, forcing down gdp against a still rising or static deficit, which is what the ratings bodies measure you against, we go to far and we bring around a far bigger crisis , eurozone stylee.

i accept the need for deficit reduction but do it in a better climate as Gordon should have done before.[/b

i am not a pie in the sky 'tax the rich' lefty btw, although i do think they should be taxed more!

So you're saying that they need to make these desicions but do it ten years from now when the economy might be better?

How can the current plan possibly work? Destroying tax revenues and not cutting the deficit.
Tell me one thing that has been done so far that has had a positive impact on our situation? Everything gets worse qtr after qtr and you lot lap it up without question, think for yourselves.

How does this pension plan destroy tax revenues?

I do like to think for myself, which is why I have been saying for YEARS that Brown was a complete idiot and short-termist when every "expert" paraded in the media agreed that he was "the best chancellor ever had" and that "he oversaw the largest period of economic growth in the history of Brittain and was doing a grand job".
The pension plan has to go through, not because of the current economic situation but because of the one that is waiting for us 15-20 years from now.

Anyone who doesn't think the pension system needs a massive overhaul has completely lost the plot IMO.

[StuartHopkin]

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory mp and a member of the general public are all sat in a room with a table and a plate with ten biscuits on it....... The greedy banker eats 9 of the biscuits and the Tory mp turns to the member of the public and says "becareful of the school teacher, I reckon she is trying to nick your biscuit"

What the?

[boldie]

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory mp and a member of the general public are all sat in a room with a table and a plate with ten biscuits on it....... The greedy banker eats 9 of the biscuits and the Tory mp turns to the member of the public and says "becareful of the school teacher, I reckon she is trying to nick your biscuit"

What the?

It's an old joke Bopkin...don't you understand? It's all the banker's fault that the pension pot has been in trouble for years.

[doubleup]

You wont get any benefits if you retire without a priv pension?

The plan is to have a flat rate £140 per week state pension and do away with benefits.  So if public sector ppl leave their scheme, they will just downgrade themselves from having a comfortable retirement to sitting at home waiting to die.