Channel 5 now

Name me a capitalist economy that operates below 3% unemployment?

Under free market neo-liberalism economies are required to compete. To compete they need inflation to be low, but inflation rises when unemployment is low. Therefore all our current political parties require a section of the population to be out of work. And then demonise them for being so.

 

Switzerland has 3% unemployment.

Places like Thailand, South Korea and Singapore have even lower unemployment, the reason? Less regulation.

 

For every benefit scrounger there's an MP doing exactly the same thing - they seem to forget the expenses scandals

 

Lying for effect isn't clever it just makes you a liar and I note you do this frequently.

I can say as someone who caught and prosecuted hundreds of benefit fraud cases over a 10 year period the actual number committing any sort of fraud is very small. The most prevalent kind of fraud is living with an undeclared partner and old folks with savings they haven't declared. The least prevalent kind is working whilst in receipt of benefits.

 

Fired, I don't want to have an argument with you, ( I respect you as a regular poster on here ) but I think you are missing the point, the cheats also make me very angry, but it's the way that the cheats and scroungers are portrayed as the majority, when they are in fact a very small minority, in order to make the general public focus on them, rather than their rich chums who squirell their riches abroad to avoid paying tax.

 

Clearly there are some people like this who exist and there's no reason why television programmes shouldn't be made about them. But I wish television channels made more effort to represent the true nature of society. For every family on benefits that know how to play the system there are 100 others who are down on their luck, looking for work and struggling to pay their way: making choices between having the heating on and having something to eat, going hungry all day so they can afford to feed the kids.

I signed on between going to Uni and getting a job. I wanted to work in television and it took me about 6 or 7 months to secure a job. Spent that time applying for career type jobs and looking for anything in Bradford to get me by, but there was **** all. Shared a house with a mate, no central heating, not particularly great, but the benefits office wouldn't pay the full rent. £10 a week came out of my dole to make up the short fall in rent. Don't know how that's legal as your dole money is supposed to be the absolute minimum you need to survive, but that's what happened. The money I had left covered the bills and gave me a bit left over for food. I ate baked potatoes and 8p tins of beans. Twice a day. I often went a couple of days before my giro came through with nothing to eat at all. Through that winter I was hungry, cold and ******* miserable. I wasn't going to starve to death, at any point I could have packed it all in and moved back to me mam's in Barnsley, but I was determined I wasn't going to do that. I got a job at Yorkshire Television and I'd never been happier in my life. I could eat, drink beer, smoke cigs. The idea that lots of people choose to live their life the way I had to for a few months is just ******** in my opinion. Some do, the majority do not.

How about making the majority of TV shows about how the majority of us live and a few about how the minority live, rather than the other way round. Have a bit of balance.

 

Now there's fraud I can support.

Scroungers don't save a penny and get everything. Those that save pay their fecking taxes AND get shafted for being responsible and saving for their old age.

People prosecuting these old folks want to hang their heads in shame.

Mind you - there's the "I was only following orders" excuse.

 

So Switzerland, one of the world's richest countries, still has 3% of it's population unemployed?

 

Even Switzerland has workshy dirty scroungers....that's next week on 5*

 

Yeah but its gt more dirty leeching greedy bastds

 

Spot on. I'm trying to put a little bit aside for my old age but I'm starting to question why I should bother. Work hard, pay in, save a little then get kicked in the knackers by the state who take it back off you and give it to people who weren't as prudent. **** that.

 

I'm not lying at all, they didn't believe me when I said I didn't have a job, they kept trying to get me to tell them what I did.

 

Belarus has 0.7% unemployment. I bet there's quite a bit of regulation there.

Anyone refusing work is sent for crushing.

 

Most benefit fraud is committed by the truly desperate and desolate. Other than the large scale organised fraud committed by landlords that there is no political will or money to curtail. Benefit fraud committed by those hiding savings is motivated by pure greed and in full knowledge that they are acting illegally so I had zero sympathy. For example someone with 800 grand in savings claiming 8 quid a week council tax benefit another with 20 properties in the uk and abroad clamming housing benefit The worst kind of fraudster and generally they escape with a slap on the wrist. We are talking about them stealing your taxes when they don't need the money.

 

Exactly, and thats why I don't watch these programmes, I get mad because they are just trying to vilify anyone on benefits.