OLD AGE PENSIONS
Unlike some, I have no wish to insult Michael Thompson of Link-age. He puts his case ably, and I admire his commitment and persistence, but I do think he has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about state pensions.
The state pension was never designed to keep people in the manner they may have been accustomed to, but merely to provide a decent basic minimum income.
To say that in Italy, pensioners receive 85% of their final salary, while in Britain, it amounts to only 15% of GNP is a misleading statistic. Many British people in low paid work find that they are actually better off on pensions and associated benefits than when working. I have American pensioner friends who are highly envious of our relatively generous system
As the proportion of the population of pensionable age rises, that must mean that the proportion working and paying taxes for those pensions is falling, and it is unreasonable to expect families on low incomes struggling to get a home together to pay even more in tax than they already do.
After the last election, Mr. Thompson complained bitterly about apathy towards his cause. Apathy is brought about by lack of strong feeling; in other words most pensioners are not too unhappy with their lot.
The recent pensioners conference, which Mr. Thompson said was ignored by the news media, failed to inspire editors with the interest or newsworthiness of the subject.
The country does not owe us pensioners anything. We did not give our services to the nation for nothing, we sold them for wages and salaries appropriate at that time.
Finally, if their is any spare cash lying around, I would rather see it spent ending childhood poverty, for they are our future.
I am in the process of getting new carpets laid. I make a contract with the fitters to lay the carpet, remove the old one, and provide a guarrantee. When this is done, I pay them an agreed price, after which, I owe them nothing, and they owe me nothing. Same on a national basis. I work for an employer, (private, govt. or myself) and sell my labour for as much as I can get. I have no sense of serving my Queen and Country, merely making life as good as I can for myself and family. It is a contract.
Similarly, I pay taxes, in return the govt. provides me with all sorts of service, defence, law, police, fire brigade, health services, social benefits, etc etc; once again another contract.
It is the mark of a country how well it looks after its old, sick, and disabled, but that is what we pay our taxes for, and what sort of govt. we vote in is what sort of service level we decide we need from time to time. By those standards, Britain does pretty well compared with other countries, even America. For example, the British armed forces are the 27th biggest in the world, but the 2nd best equipped.
An exception is those who either do voluntary service , ie do it for nothing, GIVING their labour for the benefit of society, or for those in the armed forces. Soldiers, like everyone else, are making a career out of their time in the forces, but by so doing, volunteer to fight for their country if required, which is more than any normal career would ask. The country owes them a lot. In America, most of the armed forces are drawn from the poorer end of society. It is NOT that poor boys are more patriotic than the rest, just that the career options open to them are less.
It is a strange fact that in the US, which calls on so many of its young men to sacrifice themselves, it is the poor who pay the highest price, yet it is the poor who get least from their country.
To sum up, if I GIVE you something, you are in my debt, but if I SELL you something, you owe me nothing
Cheers mate