Public sector strikes

[Deleted member 18588]

.....and breathe . But I suppose if you spend your whole life dwelling on it you spend your whole life pissed off. So now that the rants done, i'll move on.....

And think.

Public sector pension deficit is calculated to be in excess of £500 billion.

Tax the rich, get big business to pay their fair share by all means, it is not going to be enough.

The fact is successive Governments have maintained pension promises to the public sector with no thought as to how the costs were ultimately to be met.

It is all too easy to blame Mrs Thatcher, the Tories and so on but in truth it is every party that has failed us and left the country in debt to such an extent that even my four day old grandson is going to be helping to pay it off.

Of course none of us want our terms of employment changed, unless it is to our advantage, but public or private we all have to accept that as a nation we cannot continue paying ourselves what we have not got.

The recession did not cause our problem over this, it merely exacerbated it. The damage has been built up over 60 years of sticking our collective heads in the sand in the hope that any problems would disappear.

 

[MegaSteve]

get big business to pay their fair share by all means, it is not going to be enough.

It won't but it might be an attitude changer... That we are genuinely all in it together....

 

[SocketRocket]

As someone who works in the public sector, people need to realise public services are going to be slaughtered due to the Tory agenda to privatise the country, and everyone who uses public services will suffer.
Here's the thing. The strikes are from people who had nothing (at least directly) to do with the collapse of the banks and subsequent bailout of western economies. Governments and big business sleepwalked incompetantly/arrogantly and greedily into the disaster and now they will happily take it back from the workers who had nothing (directly) to do with it. Individual workers salary & pensionvcontracts have been re-written without choice so money is simply "stolen" back.
That's why people are annoyed. The government wants people to fight amongst themselves over the scraps (private vs public sector workers) whilst they line their pockets and delude people.
If there's no money, what about £50 billion for a railway line, £40 billion spent on illegal wars, foreign aid money increasing, money to royal family increasing, money for an imminent MP salary rise etc etc. In Northern Ireland £500 million has just been paid out in compensation for hearing loss problems 30 years ago when at the same time old people are dying on trolleys on hospital wards because there's "no money". When the government needs money it always finds it or invents it (£375 billion created a couple of years ago for "quantitive easing". If people have to share the burden together then that's fine, but everyone should share it equally and ideally the people who caused the problem should be accountable first. The burden is not being shared equally. The poorest are paying back a far larger proportion of the debt relative to their income, and the poorest had the least to do with the problem. Hence the increasing disparity between rice and poor.
Next time the government gets itself into a war and needs "cannon fodder" to protect the country's wealth, people have long memorys.

Thats not correct.

The current debt was mainly caused by the Government increasing public spending by massive amounts. Welfare under Labour increased by 60%. Gordon's Tax Credits and the massive increase in the Public sector workforce was nothing to do with Bankers.

Public sector costs need to be slaughtered and the sooner services are put up for private tender the better, institutions like the NHS are good at wasting money by the shedload and in most cases dont understand the term 'Value for Money'. How do you propose to keep spending at current unaffordable levels? I am genuinely interested in your ideas?

 

[MegaSteve]

the sooner services are put up for private tender the better,

The answer to everything.... NOT!

 

[Old Skier]

In efficient public sector. Or screwed by the private sector. Some choice.

 

[SocketRocket]

The answer to everything.... NOT!

So what is the answer to everything?

 

[G1BB0]

[video=youtube;aboZctrHfK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8[/video]

42!

 

[SocketRocket]

[video=youtube;aboZctrHfK8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8[/video]

42!

Oh Yes! I forgot that

Thats a better answer than the two EDs.

 

[hovis]

So what is the answer to everything?

Selling off public sectors such as police would be a huge mistake. the feet on the ground would be less and equipment would be cheep.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Not much privatisation has worked surely ?

 

[MegaSteve]

So what is the answer to everything?

Well it certainly isn't Serco, G4S, Veolia et al..

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Not much privatisation has worked surely ?

Are you old enough to have had dealings with the nationalised energy or water companies?

They were not exactly the most efficient of organisations, similar story with the railways.

Privatisation has most certainly NOT been an unqualified success and, in some ways, was not the best answer but State ownership and control of essential utilities did not represent a golden era.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Are you old enough to have had dealings with the nationalised energy or water companies?

They were not exactly the most efficient of organisations, similar story with the railways.

Privatisation has most certainly NOT been an unqualified success and, in some ways, was not the best answer but State ownership and control of essential utilities did not represent a golden era.

Late 80's wasnt it ?

Had lots of dealings with British Rail - it certainly seems a lot worse now

 

[Old Skier]

They were not exactly the most efficient of organisations, similar story with the railways.

Nothing changed there then.

 

[hovis]

Had lots of dealings with British Rail - it certainly seems a lot worse now

Understatement of the year. I Never had to stand on a british rail train

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Late 80's wasnt it ?

Had lots of dealings with British Rail - it certainly seems a lot worse now

Cannot agree with that as a long distance commuter in the 70's I can assure you it was a lot worse then.

The utility companies had been privatised before the late 80@s.

 

[SocketRocket]

Understatement of the year. I Never had to stand on a british rail train

British Rail was a disaster, it was horribly inefficient and made massive losses. State run business's never work, just look to the old USSR and her satellite countries to see what they do, they drag the economy into the gutter, its no wonder so many Eastern Europeans want to get away from their countries. Have you been to these countries and see how they lived!

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Understatement of the year. I Never had to stand on a british rail train

Well as you were a kid at the time they probably gave up a seat for you.

 

[MegaSteve]

Have not users of the east coast line requested it stays in public hands? And it turns a profit I believe...

If your house was on fire and a team from G4S turned up I think you'd be a little disappointed...

 

[Old Skier]

British Rail was a disaster, it was horribly inefficient and made massive losses!

Again, no change there then as they all need massive government subsidies.