The Budget

[david_carnell]

Oh well, ta very much. Looking back at it I think I've written better but I'll take anything I can get.

Blimey, it's like a love-in in here some days - and others we're tearing strips off of each other!

[HonaloochieB]

Four new pence on a pint?

Oh well, I suppose I'll find the extra four quid a week from somewhere.

[Keef]

Maximay Wrote:

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> Its a forum for crying out loud! you don't have to objectively decipher and analyse everything you post/read on here, you are allowed to just rant (as a lot of people do) sometimes, and he/she should'nt be chastised for doing so.

Exactly f**king right, couldn't agree with you more!

[mockney piers]

Couldn't agree less. Why should the medium and anonymity make me more inclined to rant pointlessly like a loon than I would down the supermarket or having a discussion with mates down the pub*.

If a bit of a decorum is the norm with all your normal interactions, then why should here be any different.

Besides, there's somewhere to do it now.

*at least before the 6th pint.

[Brendan]

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

!

[mockney piers]

point taken

[Brendan]

I rant a lot but try to remain as un-anonymous as possible to make up for it.

I am not entirely sure that this is a good idea. :-S

[Keef]

People have different uses for this forum, not all will fall in line.

[mockney piers]

Clearly not Keef, likewise for the pub. Just because I don't like twats out to impose their own overinflated egos on people and/or spoiling for a fight, doesn't mean I can necessarily avoid them.

In all respects this forum is merely a mirror of the real world, and just whose line is it anyway...to err..borrow a tv programme title?

[Alan Dale]

removed

[SteveT]

Mockney piers wrote:In all respects this forum is merely a mirror of the real world,

Not for the poor who cannot afford to purchase a computer nor the illiterate who couldn't operate one or for the hoody who couldn't see one. Other than that I can't argue;-)

[*Bob*]

"The Poor"

It doesn't seem to matter how poor 'the poor' are: they always seem to be able to budget for Sky and a large-ish television.

[Marmora Man]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> "The Poor"

>

> It doesn't seem to matter how poor 'the poor' are:

> they always seem to be able to budget for Sky and

> a large-ish television.

The Government definition of poverty is having an income of less than 60% of the median income. On this measure, the proportion of the UK population defined as in poverty is roughly one in five. (For those not mathematically inclined the median is the point at which 50% of any sample is above the median and 50% is below it). In UK I believe the median income is about ?23,000 and in London about ?27,000.

On this measure it means not only that "The Poor" will always be with us (unless the range of incomes becomes so tight that, roughly, the highest income is no more than twice the lowest income) but also that as the general population becomes wealthier so the level at which poverty is defined will move upwards and "The Poor" will be able to afford what previous generations would have considered unobtainable luxuries.

If, controversially, poverty were measured on a more absolute, rather than relative, scale then perhaps poverty could be eradicated. Difficulty is to devise a sensible absolute measure. Is it:

a. Sufficient household income to clothe, feed and house a family in relative comfort (insulated accommodation offering warmth, H & C running water, bathroom & WC, and enough bedrooms such that no one has to share with more than one other person) with a small sum left over to allow a choice of "frivolities" such as beer, Sky movies, TV, fags or an occasional cheap holiday?

b. Sufficient income clothe a family in charity shop clothing and prevent them from starving or freezing to death. (The Scrooge definition)

c. Something else - either softer or harsher according to preferences.

I would be in favour of something close to a. above as on that basis once a family gets beyond having to choose between the "frivolities" then they are out of poverty - not rich but off the breadline.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Bloody hell. Never realised I was poor.

[KalamityKel]

R MPs poor then... I mean they have to seek assistance in paying to furnish their much need 2nd homes...???

[fish]

KalamityKel Wrote:

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> R MPs poor then... I mean they have to seek

> assistance in paying to furnish their much need

> 2nd homes...???

Quite so.

[JohnL]

The chancellor in LAST years budget took away the 10 % band (we pay more) and decreased income tax by a couple of % (we gain) last year for implementation this year. There's something I don't like about this delayed implementation, but the two measures seem to more or less cancel each other out. However he hit some higher earners (and to be honest many in London are) by also introducing the delayed increase of the NI higher earnings limuit coming in again about now (that hits many people earning around 40K pretty hard). This NI higher earnings limit is meant to increase for 3 or 4 years yet too - until it joins with the higher tax bracket - that'll hit the 40K earners for a few years.

If I remember the pensioners fuel payment was meant to be a temporary stop-gap until a fairer way of treating pensioners was found.

[macroban]

This may a year when there are two Budgets.

[SteveT]

Why? because the ? is worthless(?)

[SeanMacGabhann]

I've notice several people use the phrase "the ? is worthless" - call me an old fool, but based on what?

[????]

????, worthless - how very dare YOU

[SteveT]

It has less value now for example, in 1974 I purchased a 3 bed house for ?14,500

In 2003 I purchase a 4 bed house for ?495,000

I rest my case.

[SeanMacGabhann]

ah - but when I hear "the pound" I think of it against other currencies - not what you can buy now compared to whenever

Besides, that house you bought in 2003 is worth a lot more weak pounds now right?

[SteveT]

In my teens it was 2.8$ per pound