Iain Duncan Smith targets 'destructive' welfare system

[Meat-Head]

Dudnt knew she ACUTALLY was involved in the war, was she a commando?

as coal mine she hated arthef scargill but had no admin powers to bann him so she closed the coal mines

[ifred]

Dudnt knew she ACUTALLY was involved in the war, was she a commando?

as coal mine she hated arthef scargill but had no admin powers to bann him so she closed the coal mines

She was a handbag commando

[nara]

Thatcher the iron lady I admire her bravery to go and win the Falkland war, if it wasn?t for the union and the coal workers who let her down?..

Bravery? Bollox!

[ifred]

Bravery? Bollox!

Fortunately she wasn't endowed with any of them but was reputed to have a good handbag swipe
Wonder if IDS is any good with a handbag doubt I've rate him to having a pair of the others :girlshit:

[gopher7]

It was the Falklands War that kept the b***h in power, if the war hadn't happened she was going to be out of the government.

[GastonJ]

All the iot PM's seem to survive an election by warmongering, that's why Dave's been so keen to get involve our forces in the middle east, after all it's not him who's going to put his life on the line.

[GastonJ]

Destructive welfare system eh?

Report from the OBR available here http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/w..._2014_dn2B.pdf you may see something I miss.....

Tax credits make up a significant proportion of welfare spending as defined in this report and they will be subject to the welfare cap from 2015-16. In 2013-14, total spending (including the negative tax element) was estimated to be ?30.1 billion, 2 accounting for 14.3 5. subject to the welfare cap. Tax credits are therefore one of the largest items of welfare spending, with a cost broadly similar to income tax relief on registered pension schemes (?34.8 billion in 2012-13)3 or the Ministry of Defence (?34.5 billion in 2013-14).4

Tax credits that would be the money spent on subsidising employers to pay the minimum wage so the taxpayer has to make up the rest. So in reality if the minimum wage were a living wage this part would be cut considerably......

Around 55 per cent of welfare spending as defined in this report is paid to pensioners, with state pensions the largest component. The current state pension system has a two-tier structure. The first provides a basic level of retirement income through the basic state pension. The second is based on prior earnings and consists of the state second pension and its predecessors. A means-tested safety net is provided through pension credit. Other benefits paid to pensioners include winter fuel payments and the Christmas bonus, while some pensioners are entitled to free television licences for the over-75s or payments from the financial assistance scheme.

Easy way to save, outlaw being a pensioner and exile them all to Poland.....

Spending on unemployment benefits is small relative to total welfare spending, accounting for just 2.1 per cent of total welfare spending in 2013-14. The Government announced in Autumn Statement 2013 that JSA spending – and associated housing benefit spending (see Chapter 9) – would not be subject to the welfare cap, as they were identified as “the most cyclical elements of welfare” that “allow the automatic stabilisers to operate”.2

Yeah couldn't forget the unemployed a whole 2.1% of the budget, evil unemployed people taking up all the budget......

Spending on housing benefit forms a large part of the welfare bill. In 2013-14, it was estimated at ?23.9 billion, 11 per cent of total welfare spending. That included ?23.5 billion from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) annually managed expenditure budget and ?0.4 billion of housing benefit that was funded directly by local authorities.

Housing benefit is an income-related benefit to help households pay their rent. It is available to people on low incomes – from benefits or work – who rent their homes in the private- or social-rented sectors. Unlike many benefits, there is no set amount paid to an individual for housing benefit. The amount received depends on a measure of ‘eligible’ rent – local housing allowance rates in the private sector – and other household circumstances. These include household income, whether there are any non-dependants, whether there is a spare room in the home, and the age and disability status of those in the household.

So that would mean that once again if a living wage isn't paid then the taxpayer is once again subsiding businesses to pay less, and obviously helping tenants to pay the private landlords so they can buy more houses and fuel rent increases....

Anyway, that's most of the report which shows which parts of the budget are being taken up and why. Wonder how many companies owned by Tory MP's families/friends pay the minimum wage to their employees, and help keep the budget high, and IDS in stupid quotes about the welfare bill *shrug*

Almost forgot, it's interesting to read on the years that the budget increases. If I read it right it wasn't during the period 1997 to 2007 the period during which the budget decreased by the looks of it. It was only after the banks robbed us all that the budget increased *shrug*

[Snowy79]

If employers are paying the minimum wage and the tax payer gets humped to pay for the benefits that bring the minimum wage up to a standard where everyone can have a minimum standard of living, does this mean the living wage is in reality here at present and just achieved by moving around beneifts? Also listing how much is paid out in pensions is flawed, surely it would be more accurate to list how much money the government has received in pension contributions including the profit made by investing this money. Then subtract this money from the money paid out and lets see how it varies. As for increasing how much money people get paid, if you increase wages then prices also increase. Surely it would be more beneficial to limit the maximum wage a person can receive. Sure those getting paid silly money will threaten to move overse4as but there are only so many jobs out there paying crazy money that the majority of them won't get a elsewhere.

[GastonJ]

They make nothing from investing the pensions, even public sector pensions, because they don't invest the contributions and instead spend them... then they whine that public sector pensions are unaffordable. Well f**k me if I took your money and spent it rather than investing it and then said you can't have it back you'd be onto the police in seconds. Bob Maxwell was such a nice man, is the government any different?