tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post6408387668341713320..comments2023-10-30T14:11:00.298+00:00Comments on The Great Simpleton: Blunkett has a point, at lastSimon Fawthrophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07519464855839416009noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-75092362341678371862008-09-07T18:16:00.000+00:002008-09-07T18:16:00.000+00:001. What FT says re citizen's income/citizen's pens...1. What FT says re citizen's income/citizen's pension.<BR/><BR/>2. Re workers-to-pensioners ratio, this is fairly irrelevant - what IS important is productive workers-to-everybody else ratio, whether that's children, unproductive public sector workers, students, unemployed or pensioners. So what if number of pensioners rises - if we can match that with a cut in quangista, that's fine by me.<BR/><BR/>3. The original OAP age was 70, not gradually increasing this by maybe 1 month a year (i.e. a century later, it would be 78 years 4 months) was the biggest mistake of all.<BR/><BR/>4. If you index up original OAP for GDP growth, it would be about £130 a week, i.e. current Pensions Credit plus free TV licence plus Winter Fuel Allowance.<BR/><BR/>5. Just sayin', is all.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-22199859669284068172008-09-06T05:33:00.000+00:002008-09-06T05:33:00.000+00:00No offence taken, my response was in the same spir...No offence taken, my response was in the same spiri as your commentSimon Fawthrophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07519464855839416009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-27004976313075895652008-09-05T23:48:00.000+00:002008-09-05T23:48:00.000+00:00Sorry, GS. I wasn't having a go at your English a...Sorry, GS. I wasn't having a go at your English and I apologise if it looked that way. It was just the humour value of Blunkett having been discovered to have a point, as opposed to being pointless, which I always thought he was.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-46181703866637173522008-09-05T19:49:00.000+00:002008-09-05T19:49:00.000+00:00Bil,Yes I have opened a can of worms on this one. ...Bil,<BR/><BR/>Yes I have opened a can of worms on this one. As you point out there are many pension planning issues and the gilded pension civil servants and MP's recieve doesn't help the debate as they don't understand the problem.<BR/><BR/>I've fumed about Gordon's pension steal a number of times on the beeb's boards before I started blogging and I suppose I'll have a go on here some time in the future.<BR/><BR/>FT,<BR/><BR/>This points to the Citizens Basic Income (CBI), which I hadn't really considered until I started reading blogs last year, but the more I think about it the more I like it.<BR/><BR/>The problem with all these proposals is the transition, those in their 40's and 50's will claim they weren't warned and won't have time to save. despite all the dire warnings I suppose their would have to be some transionary arrangements.<BR/><BR/>On the title - sadly English isn't my strong point, having failed O Level 3 times, but I promise to try harder :-(Simon Fawthrophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07519464855839416009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-40525450875200510282008-09-05T18:54:00.000+00:002008-09-05T18:54:00.000+00:00Incidentally, when I saw your thread header - "Blu...Incidentally, when I saw your thread header - "Blunkett has a point, at last" - I thought you must surely mean he'd volunteered for medical research, or something. As opposed to "Blunkett makes a point, at last" :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-13626775411018429052008-09-05T18:51:00.000+00:002008-09-05T18:51:00.000+00:00Harsh as it seems it is not the job of the tax pay...<I>Harsh as it seems it is not the job of the tax payer to protect Middle England's inheritance. If you have capital in your old age then you should be obliged to use it for your own care or continue working</I><BR/><BR/>Agreed - and it is harsh, compared with what people have come to expect, but I can't see any reason why I should pay income tax now to provide benefits or services to someone, so their child(ren) can get "an inheritance".<BR/><BR/>It's a shame that many people were lied to by successive Governments about the "cradle to grave" Welfare State, but they aren't the first and won't be the last to be betrayed by the greedy, the corrupt and the completely clueless incumbents of the Palace of Westminster.<BR/><BR/>The first necessity seems to me to be to introduce the "New Zealand Pension" - everyone gets the same regardless of working years - about £115/week was the last figure I saw suggested as workable. After that, there's no top-up, no MIG - but anything you saved on your own account you get to keep, on top of the basic.<BR/><BR/>Think you can live on £115 a week? Great. Horse on. Want more? Start a pension, early, or cash in the house. (Oh, and scrap higher rate tax relief on pension contributions for higher rate taxpayers. Obscene that the lower paid should be subsidising the higher paids' pensions).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19955853.post-16384375410322160482008-09-05T16:54:00.000+00:002008-09-05T16:54:00.000+00:00Yet pension funds are raided. ISA lets you save ju...Yet pension funds are raided. ISA lets you save just enough to be worth bugger all when you retire.<BR/><BR/>Inheritance tax nicks the retirement pot of the children..Public sector vs private sector pensions..<BR/><BR/>But as you say. who wants to tackle the issue.Bill Quango MPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14861116614665461655noreply@blogger.com