Are benefits crippling this country?

Question

There are apparently something like 4.5 million people in the UK who are of working age but don't work for one reason or another.
Then there are all the other benefits (too many to list) which are increasingly taking a larger share of Government spending. Apparently only the budget for the NHS is larger, but not by much. Can we carry on like this?

By the way to someone's response. I do not mean everyone on benefits are scum. I did'nt say that, nor did I mean that, I just asked a question 'if it's affordable as the Benefit budget gets bigger each year and the the government continuallydreams up new one's.

Answer 1

We will also carry on, but is it desirable. (We will carry on as taxes will rise unexorably - the only that can stop tax revenues from going up is the wealthy eventually deciding to quit work building businesses etc, and retire or take their earnings offshore).

Desirable - no. Because taxing the few to support the many is not fair. (Sorry socialists).

Solutions. There are a confusing plethora of benefits that tax a lot of civil servant time to check - so make the regime more straigthforward. Deal with low incomes and all the benefits around that with a negative income tax, which also will eliminate the disincentive to work. For perceived scroungers, (eg on incapacity benefit - insist upon regular therapy, treatment etc (surely these people DO want to get better)) or withdraw benefits. Eg anyone suffering from depression or stress should be invited for free regular counselling, during working hours, but not a regular appointment times) to help these people to get better for work.

Fundamentally, everyone has a right to basis standard of living and health and welfare, but that doesn't mean people should stop trying to help themselves.

Answer 2

The remedy for this may sound harsh and politically incorrect but the UK has to put a clearly defined limit on immigration because all these extra people need somewhere to live and all the other benefits they receive. The UK is a small country but we cannot go on like this. There will come a stage soon when people will get fed up with being taxed to the limit and seeing all that tax being eaten up in benefits.

Answer 3

I don't think we can. I work in the NHS and in the past few years it has been a nightmare with cost cutting and accounting for every penny to make sure it gets put to the most effective use. I can't see how handing out cash benefits is an effective use of Government money especially when some people (I appreciate a minority) then spend it on alcohol or drugs which prevent them from ever finding a useful job or occupation and then coming off benefits. It just seems totally bizarre to me.

Answer 4

I can't speak for the UK, but in America, I suspect the well is running dry.

For instance, FREE medical care for ILLEGAL immigrants (these figures do NOT include welfare payments, public education or other benefits:
Florida....$165 Million a year
Texas.....$330 Million a year
California..$250 Million a year
The Arizona Health Department estimates that nearly 1 in 3 emergency visits are for primary care for ILLEGAL immigrants.

Add in the scum bags who milk the system for all its worth, and its just a matter of time before major changes will have to be implemented. The gravy train has to stop sometime.

Answer 5

I work,

however im also out to get every single penny that any of you may pay out.

Come on for christ sake, your wasting you life working and pretending like most people "wow im not a bum, im great" when really your just wasting your life kissing *** like all of us. When you do get paid, some over paid fat bastard takes tax off you, then you buy something from a shop and get VAT'd, ya get a car and get taxed and even just to live in a place you get council tax.

I dont really care if benefits are killing this country or not. I say take what you can get even if you dont need it after all, what are you really getting for your cash in Tax?

Answer 6

No...we can't carry on like this. We must let every one of these leeches drown in whatever hardship has befallen them.
I want to live in a society where you only survive if your luck holds out.

Benefits must stop! Especially to those old ones...I mean... what do they do??? ure they brought up the generations before us and fought in wars and stuff...but I bet most of them were un married mothers or northerners or something....

And don't get me started on the NHS...bleeding scroungers hanging about our hospitals when underprivelaged Managers are earning less than £50,000 a year!!!!...It's outrageous!!!!

I am so angry I think I might leave the country...Iran wants more far sighted people like me...should i go???

Answer 7

I doubt the NHS budget is larger than the benefits budget. The country (and legal taxpayers) are supporting the scum that do not, will not ,and have no desire to work.

We also support all the asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and extended families of those who will not do a day's work.

We also support and provide for the criminals incarcerated in the "criminal justice system" who cost more than the benefits they used to recieve... and of course their families are still on benefits and receiving more because their "breadwinner" is in jail, and of course the incarcerated does not pay council tax, however they do get paid for the work they get in jail.........

and the wives/girlfriends continue to breed at an unprecedented rate not even matched by rabbits and we again pay for this scum to reproduce - we pay their housing - we pay for their white goods - we pay for their schooling we pay for it all... and the govt wont bring in sterilisation for this lot........

In a nutshell - it pays not to work in this country - BENEFITS RULE OK - and no we shouldn't carry on like this but who is going to stop it?

Answer 8

I believe its 8.5 million people that are economically inactive in this country.

Ive worked in the private sector for 20 years, and im really f***ed off about non-working parents with 10 kids having an income that is 4 times greater than mine.

Answer 9

As a US citizen, I can only state that 2/3 of the US federal budget is consumed by entitlement programs. The 2 largest are Medicare and Social Security. This is an enormous problem that neither party has been willing to address.

Answer 10

Get this right, Benefits are good for the people, some need this money. What you mean is are the SCUM claiming crippling the country, so yes.