UK to be bankrupt by 2014

Originally Posted by denphone

Why should the state pension be means tested as people have worked bloody hard all their lives and should not have to face being means tested.

because it costs the tax payer 75 billion a year no other benefit even comes close. Leaving the state pension alone and targeting the poor is urinating in the wind and will never make enough money to make a difference

They would only be means tested if they were well off enough to handle it

State pension is 125 quid a week iirc for someone to have paid enough into it to cover £125 a week for 20 years they would have had to have had a £500 a week job all their life

Originally Posted by denphone

Why should the state pension be means tested as people have worked bloody hard all their lives and should not have to face being means tested.

Raise the pension age to 70. I recently started a private one and on the application they ask you what age you plan to receive it, I put 70 as it seemed the only realistic option when you project how much you'll want to retire on. Plus that will probably be the age, if not higher, by the time I retire.

That said that would increase unemployment and prevent people moving up in their careers until later. Maybe.

no other insurance policy in the world pays full dividends if the policy fails. The NI policy has failed that is why the bill is paid for out of the welfare budget

and on top of that the State pension will rise exponentially as more and more people are living longer. It is a hard fact but it is still a fact

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Damien

The axe will have to fall on pensions. Benefit cuts save a pittance whilst I don't see it being possible to cut the NHS.

It already is. I'm paying more, working longer and getting less at the end as are most other public sector workers. In fact the only public sector job that I know of not to be getting a kicking pensions wise is MPs.

Originally Posted by dilligaf1701

Are you turning into a prepper?

Living where I do, you do tend to learn not to take infrastructure for granted quite so much. In some ways I can see how lingering frontier attitudes in the American West have allowed survivalism to flourish over there.

But I'm not digging a bunker or stockpiling ammunition, no.

Originally Posted by Derek

It already is. I'm paying more, working longer and getting less at the end as are most other public sector workers. In fact the only public sector job that I know of not to be getting a kicking pensions wise is MPs.

I mean the state pension more than anything.

Originally Posted by Damien

I mean the state pension more than anything.

[Pierre]

You have to tackle the big ticket items.


start Privatising parts of the NHS. With a view to fully privatising it.

scrap public sector pensions.

state pensions should reflect what contributions you have put in. (Certain exceptions will apply obviously)

Scrap child benefit after the second child ( you want 3,4,5 kids then make sure you can afford to have them)

the NHS is the biggy, it's a monkey on the country's back.

Originally Posted by Pierre

start Privatising parts of the NHS. With a view to fully privatising it.

the NHS is the biggy, it's a monkey on the country's back.

Can't see this being a goer. It's a service the vast majority will need a few times in our life at the very least. More to the point the right to healthcare should not be dependent on your income. I don't think anyone wants a situation where someone can't get the treatment they need because they can't afford it.

Maybe we need to increase how much we pay in tax/NI for it. Or put a separate NHS tax so we can all see how much we pay for it.

[Dash: CF noob]

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/20...l#post35554563
Post 31 anyone?

Originally Posted by Dash: CF noob

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/20...l#post35554563
Post 31 anyone?

And it's no more or less likely now than it was then ...

[Russ]

Again - so what's going to happen in the next 3 months? Something big enough to 'bankrupt' the UK is unlikely to happen overnight and without someone knowing something about it already. I call BS on this story. I'm not saying I don't think the country's economy is a mess and will stay that way for years to come - in fact it's exactly what I think. But bankruptcy? Can't see it happening.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Damien

Can't see this being a goer. It's a service the vast majority will need a few times in our life at the very least. More to the point the right to healthcare should not be dependent on your income. I don't think anyone wants a situation where someone can't get the treatment they need because they can't afford it.

Maybe we need to increase how much we pay in tax/NI for it. Or put a separate NHS tax so we can all see how much we pay for it.

106 £billion a year.

http://www.nhsconfed.org/priorities/...s.aspx#funding

There's got to be a more efficient way.

I don't think all procedures should be covered by the NHS certainly some elective treatment.

I don't know the ins and outs of the NHS, but there has to be way to reduce costs, privatise elements yet still have the service free at the point of need for the vast majority of the population.

Originally Posted by Pierre

106 £billion a year.

http://www.nhsconfed.org/priorities/...s.aspx#funding

There's got to be a more efficient way.

I don't think all procedures should be covered by the NHS certainly some elective treatment.

I don't know the ins and outs of the NHS, but there has to be way to reduce costs, privatise elements yet still have the service free at the point of need for the vast majority of the population.

so the state pension is costing nearly 3/4 of what the NHS bill is??

Originally Posted by tizmeinnit

so the state pension is costing nearly 3/4 of what the NHS bill is??

so ?? what's your point ??