Reform UK's chronicles

[Carth]

[Mr K]

I'm waiting for any party brave enough to tackle the unsustainable State Pension. What will Reform supporters do if that's what Reform decide to reform, to cut public spending ? Nige will be ok, he has a couple of quid tucked away, and like buddy Donald his priority will be making the rich richer.

Change isnt always for the better , you'd think the public would have learnt that by now.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Mr K

I'm waiting for any party brave enough to tackle the unsustainable State Pension.

Lots of things are unsustainable, I'm glad you're finally coming around.

- Illegal Immigration and associated costs - unsustainable

- NHS - unsustainable

- Disability/sickness benefits - unsustainable

- Universal credit/ and other benefits - unsustainable

I'm happy to throw pensions in there too, if you want. Let's go through them all.

[Carth]

What is it with you (Mr K) and pensioners?

If you're lucky you may get to be one eventually, then you'll find out it's not as brilliant as social media keep telling you it is.

Until that day arrives, carry on paying for all those 'stealing' your taxes that aren't pensioners, and have probably never worked since leaving school (if they went)

[Sephiroth]

Handbags at dawn, Carth.


---------- Post added at 17:20 ---------- Previous post was at 17:08 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

I'm waiting for any party brave enough to tackle the unsustainable State Pension. What will Reform supporters do if that's what Reform decide to reform, to cut public spending ? Nige will be ok, he has a couple of quid tucked away, and like buddy Donald his priority will be making the rich richer.

Change isnt always for the better , you'd think the public would have learnt that by now.

Yes - you're right. The culprit is the 2½% minimum element of the triple lock. Mathematically, if annual economic growth remains below 2½% perpetually, then pensions will exceed cash available (in theory). Hence unsustainable.

[Carth]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Handbags at dawn, Carth.


---------- Post added at 17:20 ---------- Previous post was at 17:08 ----------



Yes - you're right. The culprit is the 2½% minimum element of the triple lock. Mathematically, if annual economic growth remains below 2½% perpetually, then pensions will exceed cash available (in theory). Hence unsustainable.

I'm a pensioner so can't afford a handbag, I do have a pointy stick though

Surely the answer then, is to attain annual economic growth greater than 2½% . . . how hard can it be?

I've said it before, but the biggest issue with the triple lock is that if inflation is low, it will still rise by 2.5% or the average increase in workers' wages! It's a crazy system. It's designed to grow more than the tax receipts to pay for it.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Damien

It's designed to grow more than the tax receipts to pay for it.

Like Junior Doctors and train drivers salaries then?

Originally Posted by Pierre

Like Junior Doctors and train drivers salaries then?

Yes, but we need Doctors, and you need to pay them competitively with the countries they can emigrate to. I remember you saying you objected to their pay rise but in real terms their salary decreased since 2010 by 11-16%.

It's just another thing we've put off, and put off, and now the bill is coming due.

We need more Doctors and we're not going to get them if we pay them less than our counterparts in Europe, America and Australia, to name a few. It's not realistic to just say no.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Damien

I've said it before, but the biggest issue with the triple lock is that if inflation is low, it will still rise by 2.5% or the average increase in workers' wages! It's a crazy system. It's designed to grow more than the tax receipts to pay for it.

It's clearly designed to give the Conservatives the silver vote. Perhaps they hoped that Labour would blink first, abolish it, and lose pensioner votes.

[Carth]

We need more Doctors and Nurses . . which leads to needing more hospital beds and ambulances.

We also need more Social Care and better infrastructure to run it efficiently.

More Dentists would be a boon, especially NHS rather than private.

Sadly you're not going to afford much of the above by knocking a few quid off pensions


edit: you may find that the 'Conservative silver vote' is a myth, us pensioners have been there, done it, and have all the T shirts. Many probably slam the door in the face of elections now

Originally Posted by Carth

We need more Doctors and Nurses . . which leads to needing more hospital beds and ambulances.

We also need more Social Care and better infrastructure to run it efficiently.

More Dentists would be a boon, especially NHS rather than private.

Sadly you're not going to afford much of the above by knocking a few quid off pensions

Nope, you need better growth and/or higher taxes.

Social care would be a huge bill. We're either going to have to start paying into an insurance fund or something but that is coming down the track.

Reform won two seats in the Newark and Sherwood District Council by-election last night.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpq1wvvq58vo

[Carth]

Originally Posted by Damien

Nope, you need better growth and/or higher taxes.

Social care would be a huge bill. We're either going to have to start paying into an insurance fund or something but that is coming down the track.

Social care is off the scale, there's no way you're getting that back on track in a year or five.

Having some kind of Insurance could be an answer, but 'read the small print' three times before you sign anything

[Sephiroth]

GDP (and hence wealth) must rise significantly so that the dual welfare system can be funded. It will need design (which will take a long time to do - choosing the right model, consulting, etc).

In the meantime, the government in power will need to get everything else right.

Shit creek nix paddle.