UK Debt and the Cuts that have to be made!

Something often overlooked, perhaps deliberately by the media, when things get privatized is the ongoing public subsidy provided to the new "private" operators. A prime example of this would be the rail networks. For years, the franchises were receiving hundreds of £Millions in public subsidies to run the services, while their management pocketed the profits and laughed all the way to the bank - not to mention the "deferred" tax payments as well.
How much public money is still paid out to prop up and maximize profits for these private operators of all the privatized utilities and services? I am sure it would be a real eye opener.
The way I see it, if a private company cannot provide the services without the need for public financial support, then they should not be given 1 penny of taxpayer money and the service should be taken back into public ownership.

I read a piece a couple of weeks back about the possible sell-off of NHSP, a now limited company that uses NHS qualified staff to cover positions within the NHS organization, rather than bring in agency staff. Seems it is now A £350Million(ISH) turnover business, so ripe for private hands. The thinking is that it'll go to to a well known private operator, probably with little or no bid process. The particular operator named just happens to have on it's board, one Virginia Bottomley, who just happens to be a cousin of Jeremy Hunt, the snide little idiot who seems to be trying to sell off the NHS services. No doubt he too will get a piece of the privatized action and profits once that goes through! It's all coincidence though and in no way corrupt!

The problem isn't just with one group of entitled rich buggers though as it pervades all levels of government and beyond, from the national level right down to the local county or borough council level. They are all out for themselves and will sell their own grannies for a profit if the chance presents itself. Meanwhile, they care little or not at all about anyone else and what the long term effects to the country are. The banks and big financial institutions have every market rigged in their favour and when it all goes belly up, which is always the logical conclusion of their schemes, it's the taxpayers who get to bail them out, while they retain all their ill-gotten gains and tell us we are all "in it together"!
The only way we'll ever change anything is to completely reshape the political landscape and prevent those who actively seek power from ever attaining it in the first place. Unfortunately, they have to be dragged kicking and screaming from office for that to happen and are already painting anyone who questions them as radicalized and an extremist!

Nearly £30 billion was paid out last year, out of public funds as housing benefit to private landlords.

That is truly an insane figure.

They do at least, (see what happens tomorrow) seem to be going after over leveraged BTL parasites at last though.

MR

Unfortunately a government cannot make always the make the cuts they should do in order to make money. They should be targeting the colossal bonus culture of banks and CEO's, but they can't, and most probably with this government, are unwilling to. In stead they target the areas of their country that do not have the political influence to significantly affect policy. Doctors, teachers, nurses, and students can strike all they want, eventually the anger blows over and the government achieves the fundamentals of what it set out to, with perhaps minor compromises thrown in.

Very gradually the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

I voted conservative and won't likely EVER vote labour.

But the cuts to disability are disgusting.

I have had a year on it due to very ill health (now back at work) and have family on it.

These cuts will be devistating and will kill people.

I'm disgusted at this.

We are not talking lazy welfare queens here but very sick and vulnerable people who are only just able to stay afloat and interact with the outside world.

There cuts will reduce these people to choosing between Heat or food and eliminate any social life.

It's one thing to squeeze people capable of work but this is vile and evil.

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: stonerwilliam

those new carriers are costing a couple of billion

Think about how many council workers they could have kept in a job

Screw the council workers.

Administrators and pen pushers should be the first to go.

It's the disabilty cuts I find so vile.

a reply to: crazyewok

Screw the council workers.

What, regardless of what job / role they perform?

Administrators and pen pushers should be the first to go.

Many of those 'pen pushers' have been forced into working in those roles for various reasons out of their control - disability, personal skill set, redundancies in other areas i.e. manufacturing.

Many of those 'pen pushers' do those jobs rather than take the 'easier' option and go in to the benefit system.
You think it's fair and right that they should be specifically targeted during this next round of completely unnecessary 'austerity' cuts?

It's the disabilty cuts I find so vile.

Yet don't give a toss about other 'council workers', 'administrators' and 'pen pushers' some of whom will themselves be 'disabled' or whose families rely on their income simply to survive?

Quite the caring and considerate individual aren't you at times.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: stonerwilliam

those new carriers are costing a couple of billion

Think about how many council workers they could have kept in a job

Screw the council workers.

Administrators and pen pushers should be the first to go.

It's the disabilty cuts I find so vile.

I find it totally baffling that people think organisations as large and complex as local government and NHS can somehow operate without administrators.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: stonerwilliam

those new carriers are costing a couple of billion

Think about how many council workers they could have kept in a job

Screw the council workers.

Administrators and pen pushers should be the first to go.

It's the disabilty cuts I find so vile.

You voted for it, but now it's came back to bite you an your family's arse it's all of a sudden vile.

I take it everything would be hunky dory for you and your family if it wasn't you on the receiving end. You are starting to sound like this whinging cow.



Boo Hoo. Reap what you sow. I hope you and your family aren't relying on Tax Credits either.

It's the old Martin Neimoller poem coming round to bite you...

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me

a reply to: Soloprotocol


Well I did exactly get much to vote for did I ?

Labour are warmongering scum.

I hate the torys but I hate labour more

a reply to: Freeborn

Never claimed to be a saint or carring.

I don't like big goverment I make no secret of that. I'm not a socialist either and I make no secret of that either.

I just think disability should be the LAST to be cut.

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: Soloprotocol


Well I did exactly get much to vote for did I ?

Labour are warmongering scum.

I hate the torys but I hate labour more

Could have voted Green or a number of other parties..It's not about winning you know.

Under the Tories we are still up to our necks in Afghanistan, up to our necks in the disposal of Gaddafi and bombing the crap out of Syria and plan on spending hundreds of Billions replacing WMD's and you call Labour Warmongers. ?

Two Cheeks of the same Arse if you ask me.

a reply to: crazyewok

Never claimed to be a saint or carring.

I know, I was just making an observation.

I don't like big goverment I make no secret of that.

Neither am I.....but what's that got to do with this?

I'm not a socialist either and I make no secret of that either.

Ditto.
But what has ideology got to do with compassion and caring?

I just think disability should be the LAST to be cut.

But you fail to recognise that many of those 'pen pushers' and 'administrators' that you casually dismiss with disdain will either be disabled themselves or have disabled dependants.

Being deemed unnecessary and condemned to the scrap heap for no reason at all is a deeply distressing and depressing experience regardless of what role one was employed in.
Even more so at a time when benefits are being stripped to the bone and the unemployed are being demonised as idle malingerers for no other purpose than to further a political agenda that seeks to further the interests of a very small wealthy elite.

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: Soloprotocol


Well I did exactly get much to vote for did I ?

Labour are warmongering scum.

I hate the torys but I hate labour more

You had plenty of options but you should have voted for UKIP!

UKIP are the only real political party who want to control immigration, want to leave the EU, want to slash all the unnecessary waste such as quangos, foreign aid, HS2 etc.

They are not a racist party which the MSM would lead you to believe.

originally posted by: Soloprotocol

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: Soloprotocol


Well I did exactly get much to vote for did I ?

Labour are warmongering scum.

I hate the torys but I hate labour more

Could have voted Green or a number of other parties..It's not about winning you know.

Under the Tories we are still up to our necks in Afghanistan, up to our necks in the disposal of Gaddafi and bombing the crap out of Syria and plan on spending hundreds of Billions replacing WMD's and you call Labour Warmongers. ?

Two Cheeks of the same Arse if you ask me.

Look sob/back story is irrelevant.

They should not be employed just for the sake of being employed on the tax payer.

If they serve a vital role, then yeah dont get rid of them.

But to keep admin on the books just to keep unemployment down is just another form of welfare.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: stonerwilliam

those new carriers are costing a couple of billion

Think about how many council workers they could have kept in a job

Screw the council workers.

Administrators and pen pushers should be the first to go.

It's the disabilty cuts I find so vile.

Remember, not all council workers are managerial pencil pushers. Without roads inspectors and operations the potholes would not get fixed, without the technicians the larger patching and road reconstruction would not happen, bins would not be emptied, ditches would not be maintained and neither would drainage systems, then everywhere would flood more than it has this winter. That is just a few areas that the council deal with that is not all pencil pushing.

a reply to: twfau

Under the coalition, government showed the country how they really viewed Drs. With the NHS Bill going through parliament, the PM and DPM both went on holiday leaving next in the leadership line, the Foreign Secretary AKA William Hague, in charge.

He met 'debated' with and sneered at representatives of the BMA, GMC etc. who focused on health care provision, patients, people when all he wanted to talk about was money.

To govt., the NHS, like the railways and utilities (Tory), housing and social care (NL) and more recently, the Post Office (ConDem) , is nothing more than a vehicle for stealing the wealth of the common man. Even if they be doctors.

Thatcher did not dare touch the NHS but selling off our national treasure was not scheduled for execution in her time.

The poor will also get deader and the rich will get older.

I've read and seen a lot of discontent and anger from my fellow British posters, regardless of political belief and conviction I think we all agree taxpayers money has been wasted and things has to change.

Austerity measures, how can we stimulate growth when we are cutting everything. As a nation we are not just holding back on proper investment within our infostructure we seem to be dismantling it and selling the parts to the highest bidder.

It's a joke that we are here arguing about semantics of who and what job when in reality we should all have jobs and we should all have job security or atleast the security to live a productive life.

We sit and argue whilst new faces play the same old tricks against us, when will we change? Can we change?

I can't help thinking we wouldn't need "austerity measures" if the finances had historically been handled better. Not to mention bailing out the bankers, allowing rampant corporate tax avoidance and outsourcing everything at all levels of government to "for profit" organizations, ultimately costing a lot more than when the services were provided "in-house".

In short, simple greed has brought us to the dire situation we are in today, but those who have created the mess are rarely, if ever, the ones who will suffer the consequences of their own actions.

Austerity is living within our means.

A decade ago just over 40% of GDP was government spending. Two decades ago it was c. 35%. Where has there been growth to put the UK in a situation that we need to return back to 40%?

This is a complex question, but if people want more spent on the NHS and schools, then something has to give. The country just cannot afford to spend, spend, spend. Labour did so and it was a farce.

The pain is where people and services have got used to the cash, but now it is going. Ten years ago they may not have had it.

a reply to: paraphi

I'm all for cutting.

But not for disabilty.

These cuts are going to force these vunrable people below the poverty line.

What would be the point in them even living if all they can afford a life when they have to choose between beans on toast or heating?
And a social life is a no no.