Tobes has just said there is a deficit of circa £4TR. I'm not really sure how we can make it any worse on the pension front At least give the young some hope of a job. A bored teenager or someone in their youth is a damn sight more liability than a pensioner. Because we will pick up the cost of poverty and then crime due an idol population. Oh and btw it's not discrimination if men and women retire at 65, but yeah I take your point, I didn't think out the wording of that comment very well
it gets worse when you add in the associated benefits for pensioners plus the care costs the state is picking up as we will not vote for any party who suggests we may need to make our own provision .
The rising deficit is why we are raising the pension ages , We never had a pension fund it has always been paid from general taxation but the sheer numbers are overwhelming the social security finances .
One of the few decent things the Tories have done in the last decade was to make workplace pensions with matched contributions a legal requirement. Albeit now at a mere 3% it’s nowhere near currently enough.
I'm sure there is a tunnel somewhere that needs digging, bring back slavery, that will sort the men from the boys
Over a hundred billion government borrowing at virtually nil interest rate is a false comfort (although some blessing at the moment). At some point rates will go up and then we're going to get hit again two-fold economically. We'll end up having to either cut public spending or raising taxes to service the national debt. I don't believe the government has any intention of going down the austerity route again so it looks like higher taxes. Given the choice I'd prefer that.
Taxes have been extremely favourable for most people tbh. And as demonstrated by the very wealthy, the more you've got, then better your ability to circumvent the tax system. Something like £119bn missing from the exchequer each year I think at the last count ...
See this man knows what he's talking about ^^^ - you're in charge of it bruv, with the shhite you eat, id have every confidence in you.
I could go on about infrastructure, especially in the North East. I mean, **** me, the A1 up to Edinburgh is ****in single lane in lots of places. We're living in the dark ages up here thanks to the tories not giving a **** 'cos they're never gonna get a vote and Labour not giving a **** because they'll always get a vote. Politician ****s.
There are a lot of public services that'll be needed, and I don't just mean the hospitals, police, schools etc as they are vital ofcourse but also to provide opportunities for youth and unemployed, mental health well-being, social care, community services. It's no longer about political choice, we're going to have to repay the debt and I'd pay a bit more on my taxes to keep those services going.