I decided to splurge
on a couple of Middle Eastern wars. Well, I didn't decide. But I did pay for it.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 18:43, 71 replies)

I paid for a load of 15 year old sluts to have kids and drink cider.
Apparently because I'm not a theiving piece of excrement I'm not allowed to keep all the money I earn. You need to be a worthless sub-human in this country, otherwise you're expected to face the threat of loosing everything because you choose to get off your arse and work.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 18:54, closed)

I decided to buck the trend
and not have a baby at 15, finish school, go to university and start a PhD so one day I can get a good job and earn a living. For this, it's got harder for me to get a job, I'm saddled with debt and may never be able to buy a house. Should've got pregnant at 15, then I'd have a house, money and no debt.

Bitter, me? Not at all.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 19:17, closed)

Yes.
Poor people are to blame. Flawless logic.
( The Coast Of Yemen, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:23, closed)

What she's saying is
she's unhappy about working hard to make a living, whilst someone who has never done a day of work is better off than her.
( Major Turd for tonight only, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:57, closed)

I'd be bitter as well

( Major Turd for tonight only, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:58, closed)

Thank God
she has you to speak on her behalf, huh?
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:06, closed)

I no rite

( Major Turd for tonight only, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:55, closed)

I'd love to meet these benefit scroungers everyone is talking
about living the highlife. looks like the Mail and Sun has done its job of demonising those on benefit ahead of the Gov legislation they planned to bring in. THe demonisation reduces the resistance to the cuts as they hit the most vulnerable in society(and the compulsory work schemes for those on JSA on less than minimum wage, who will hav eto work full time for their £65 per week- that's £2.16 per hour). No one protests because in the public perception they're all scroungers after all. Having worked in the Citizens Advice Bureau most people on benefit in my experience are barely existing.

I also think you'd have to be deluded to go to Uni these days and expect a full time job at the end of it (in addition to the ridiculous debt you're now saddled with). It's a game we're indoctrinated in since infants school and it's rigged to only benefit those getting the financial gain out of it (the loan companies /people selling the useless courses). it's a redundant method for an industrial type society which no longer exists. We're educated just enough to believe the bullshit and indoctrination but not educated well enough to realise there are so many other alternatives . (and instead of spending 3 years on your chosen subject go to your local library and get in for free in 6 months)

2 years ago If you took that 20 grand uni debt and instead of wasting it on their so called "education" you could have bought gold, today you'd now have about 27 grand so you could pay back the 20 and reinvest the 7 grand profit on gold again. Funny how they don't teach law and finance at school. Algebra's more important!

truth is the west is now close to a service economy , the maunfacturing and skill base was sold to China as trade agreement deals done long before we were born
( Clay hopes this bit is long enough to promote my websi, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:15, closed)

When I lost my job a few years back, benefits didn't even cover the rent, never minds bills, food etc.
No doubt in the rags' and the great British public's ideal world, I'd have paid for my misfortune in a labour camp. Perhaps one with a catchy little aphorism over the gate, like "work sets you free".
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:21, closed)

You'd be surprised the amount of shit
that would be passed into policy if it wasn't for the social policy aspect of orgs like the CAB working for people behind the scenes holding back the tide. Sorry to hear about your job btw
( Clay hopes this bit is long enough to promote my websi, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:26, closed)

I've often thought we could do with some kind of electoral insurance.
The idea being that if you say stupid shit in public, on Facebook, on newspaper websites etc. you've demonstrated you're an irresponsible voter and a liability, so you'll have to a very large sum in insurance - say, a few thousand pounds - before you can vote legally.

Since this country's workforce is mainly white-collar and unskilled, it'd create loads of suitable new jobs, bring in a lot of revenue for the government, and (as a bonus) price the ignorant out of harm's way.

It'll be tricky to get into law, but if it's justified with some made-up bollocks about national security or the recession it should work.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:35, closed)

Let me guess, you'd decide who says stupid shit.

(Shippy likes linebreaks and doesn't care what you think, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:39, closed)

Well the operators receiving the anonymous tip-offs would decide between them, but basically yes.
Also, your insurance has just gone up 0.5% because you were rude and sarcastic.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:47, closed)

Insurance against what?

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:59, closed)

Electoral insurance.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:08, closed)

Do you mean a tax?

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:14, closed)

Read this.
www.b3ta.com/questions/consumption/post1306259
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:17, closed)

Now you're just being anoying
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance

What the fuck is "election insurance".
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 4 Aug 2011, 6:31, closed)

being annoying
by linking you to a post that explained what they were talking about?

are you being deliberately obtuse?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:45, closed)

Nope, I wish I understood but I don't.
How is what he described insurance. Insurance against what loss. Who owns the liability? WTF is he talking about?

Sounds like a Stupidity Tax, but he keeps saying the words ‘Election Insurance’ as if repetition will render meaning.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:33, closed)

I see where you are coming from.
to consider it as insurance you'd have to see it as stupid people paying out on a claim, rather than paying the premium.

Government insuring against people being stupid.

A stupidity tax. I'm all for it.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:45, closed)

Stupidity Tax already exists, it's called Extended Warranty

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:53, closed)

I agree
In part. However due to the huge increase in university graduates over the last few years a lot of jobs ask for people with degrees. It doesn't matter if the job doesn't require a person with a bachelors qualification nor does it matter if the job is totally removed from the degree you have. They just ask for it. So the choice is to go to uni and leave with a qualification and a massive debt or find it harder to look for a job. It's a bit shit really.
(Smysha Tra la la!, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:40, closed)

Which is handy if you're comfortable enough to sponge off your parents 5+ years after finishing school.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:43, closed)

Who's sponging?

(Smysha Tra la la!, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:32, closed)

Kids who stay on after finishing school.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 2:06, closed)

what jobs though?
ones in the service economy or are you going to live in China? the living standards in the west are being standardised to match other nations.the second phase of the IMF was always spoken about as far back as the 1950s as being the structure to take over sovereign debt. They're using Greece as an example but the truth is there's few in the eurozone that haven't been cooking the books for the past decade. Factor in the deliberate deregulation of the banking industry (1998 BoE act) by the (privately owned)central banks leading to the crisis and you see how it all fell neatly into place. Just my opinion. I could be wrong

If it was down to me I'd have people learning agriculture and animal husbandry with a dash of community living instead, disengage from this parasite system or be led through increasing dependancy on it to their (the central banking masters) desired outcome. but I am a hopeless hippy

I'm getting a bit ranty now so I better leave it at that. free hugs :)
( Clay hopes this bit is long enough to promote my websi, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:46, closed)

Thing is, though the heavy industry is mostly gone, there is still manufacturing in the UK.
Supermarkets are a major driving force for the industry, not just for the companies who manufacture their products but for all the other companies in the supply chain who provide the raw materials, the product packaging, the labels, the plant equipment, the oil, disinfectant, lubricants etc. need to run the plant, the plant fitting and maintenance, the pallets and internal packaging, the distribution, and so on - the majority of these are also based here.

Sainsburys, Tesco etc. generally aren't prepared to wait six weeks for their order to be shipped from China if there's a factory in Rochdale that can do a similar or better product and get it to them in four days, even if it is slightly more expensive. The added bonus for the supermarkets is that they can easily enter a direct dialogue with a UK or European manufacturer and have closer control over the marketing, quality and development of their products; unless the supermarket concerned has a considerable presence in China they have to go through third-party agents to source their goods.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:08, closed)

Mmmmm
The British workplace is stuffed full of lazy ignorant fuckers. The trick to getting on is to always work hard, always have a good attitude and always do what you say you will. Never think 'not my problem' for example. It's perfectly possible to leave school with no qualifications, let alone a degree, and work your way to a 100 grand
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:55, closed)

this.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:46, closed)

She's not saying "poor people" are to blame
The people to blame are those selfish ones who think that the world owes them a living - and the system which rewards laziness and penalises hard work.

Sure, there has to be a safety net to stop people starving to death etc if they genuinely have no money - but it should not be possible to make a lifestyle choice not to work, and sponge off the taxes of your neighbour.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:19, closed)

Thank God
she has you to speak on her behalf, huh?


(shall I save a copy of that in case I need it again?)
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:27, closed)

If she genuinely believes the single mum on the an estate is getting a better start in life than she has, she's no business being on a science phd

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:36, closed)

Yeah, science has no room for facts, lawl.

(CactusZack Shaved his coin purse on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:07, closed)

I wou;dn't say it's a better start in life
but it's a cushy enough start to negate any thoughts of getting a job of one's own at any point. And, y'know, not just taking from those who have got one.

More politics.
(Chiliconcarne's Waiting What place is this, Histor?, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 0:08, closed)

cushy? don't believe everything the daily fail tells you.
christ.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:48, closed)

Poor poor you
Slumming it on a Cambridge phd.

How can our society allow this to happen to people?

WHY GOD ..... W H Y????
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:38, closed)

Oh the PostDocs, wont somebody please think of the PostDocs!
( Pig Bodine., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:02, closed)

Slumming it...
My yearly stipend as a Ph.D. student at Cambridge was 6800 quid in 2001. 50 quid a week on rent, 30 on food and 50 on fun and frolics. Simple but happy times! The stipend received by my Ph.D. student is around $25,000. The young these days, they don't know they're born, etc.
(Dr. Scambolic, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:40, closed)

uberdog syndrome is lol.

( Slippery Mick ‏, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:02, closed)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.
My heart is bleeding.

While we're on the subject, it's really unfair that Aston Martins are so expensive to buy and run, isn't it?
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 21:58, closed)

I wouldn't know about Astons, I can't even afford a pension.
Apparently I've to work until I'm 85 and then I'll get fuck all back from the taxes I paid.
If I didn't have a sense of morals I'd have started mugging old people, shoplifting and spending all day smoking around the children myself and the other six guys "my woman" had been with had managed to give her a long time ago.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:28, closed)

What about all the murderers and people putting the bins out on the wrong day

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:40, closed)

What really gets my goat
is these student scroungers who expect me, a hard-working grown-up taxpayer, to pay for their labelled protein that should cost £200 per 0.1mg or something.

I mean, I don't even know what labelled protein IS, so why they expect me to pay for it I have no idea.
(Guy Debord cette mauvaise réputation..., Wed 3 Aug 2011, 23:46, closed)

oh sweet Jesus do people still believe this utter bullshit?

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:50, closed)

certainly seems like it

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:51, closed)

yet more evidence that the species is doomed.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:03, closed)

the film Idiocracy is dangerously close to the truth

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:13, closed)

As long as the free shit is for research it's OK though.
www.b3ta.com/questions/consumption/post1305933

I'm impressed by how close these two posts were to each other and the staggering hypocrisy involved.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:03, closed)

why am I agreeing with so many of you today?
these are surely end times.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:05, closed)

Where are her white knights now JA?

(PsychoChomp, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:16, closed)

signing on, i reckon.

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:17, closed)

Politics

(TheManWithThePlan cussed your mum on, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:09, closed)

Business
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 20:26, closed)

Prolapse
(Chickenwire social lubricator extraordinaire, Wed 3 Aug 2011, 22:06, closed)

Oooo
A liddabidda politics, layzungennlemen.

Someone told you Bushitler and Bliar went away, well, ages ago, did they?
(Chiliconcarne's Waiting What place is this, Histor?, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 0:01, closed)

I've been told,
but someone seems to have forgotten to tell the American army they can go home now.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 4:37, closed)

Does anyone seriously believe
that benefit fraud costs more than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? That, for example, that's why the US is close to broke at the moment?

Sweden spends much more on welfare, and much less on war. Is it better or worse off?
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 4:46, closed)

I dont
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 10:04, closed)

What no one seems to be mentioning at the moment, re US
Is that one of Al Qaeda's main strategies has been to seek to bankrupt the US

Can't find much on it now (in the 5 minutes I've searched), but here's something from 2004 - articles.cnn.com/2004-11-01/world/binladen.tape_1_al-jazeera-qaeda-bin?_s=PM:WORLD

- effectively force it to spread its ambitions too far, to commit itself to too many conflicts, and force its hand to up its military spending (which the US is addicted to anyway).

/edit: full transcript - www.worldpress.org/Americas/1964.cfm
( rofl harris, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 10:51, closed)

People who say they'd be better off on the dole
never go on the dole.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 4:47, closed)

I've been on the dole
it was fucking shit.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 8:42, closed)

oh, I don't know.
divvying up thirty five quid a week to cover the shortfall in your housing benefit, pay for leccy, food and maybe a pint. what's not to love? it's CUSHY, don't forget.
( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:17, closed)

I was on the Dole and naked ladies delivered wheelbarrows of cash to may 12 bedroomed mansion
But seriously there is one thing we have worked out. My dear wife is going back to work soon and we will be £70 a week worse off because we have to pay childcare. Now obviously we knew that before we had another child and made sure we could afford it because we believe that though we will be worse of financially for a while its better for the wife's career if she continues working.

However give someone with no career prospects the choice of paying someone to look after your kids and going to work, or staying at home on benefits and overall having around the same cash without having to work a lot of people would pick the easy one. Though I think that if it were in anyway possible without forcibly sterilizing people that they should be made to prove they can support a child before they are allowed to have one.

p.s. We aren't on any benefits except child benefit which everyone gets and I don't know why. I've never claimed any benefits because I don't believe anyone has to be out of work, when I've been out of a job I've gone to agencies and been given horrible jobs to do but always worked. Though now I have paid a bucket load of tax over the last 12 years I might think differently if I got laid off.
( Peej, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 9:48, closed)

Whoa!
One moment of grumpiness on my part and it spawns this debate!

No, I don't actually entirely believe it to be true, there are a lot of people in this country that genuinely need the benefits system through no fault of their own. I just get grumpy when a girl two years older than me has 5 babies and gets a free house. I'll earn my own house, in time.

Yes, I'm not exactly slumming it as a Cambridge PhD student, I do have it a lot better than most people at the moment so I should stop sulking really. Until you consider the 14 hour days in lab, the fact that I've worked every bank holiday so far this year, in fact my supervisor could have me in every day of the year except Christmas day if he wanted and unlike you people with real jobs I don't get paid overtime. So when I work a 60 hour week, my hourly pay actually drops to less than minimum wage. I do apologise for being spoiled though.

And the cost of the protein? I use that over about 3 months, and that's all I use, so at £200 a quarter my research is about as cheap as it gets. And it's paid for by my private funding body, and if anyone wants a cure for any of the horrible diseases in this world, that's just what research costs. It just makes me extremely nervous about breathing when I make up my starting material...
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 11:03, closed)

waaaaaaaaaaambulance for petite chien....

( janet aylia y'all motherfuckers need jesus, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 11:59, closed)

So your complaint is there aren’t enough homeless children on the street in the UK?

"....so I should stop sulking really. Until you consider...."

jesus.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 4 Aug 2011, 13:11, closed)

Well,
as defences go, this didn't really help did it?
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 13:13, closed)

Not really....
As usual my writing skills let me down. Science = good, English not so much.

What I meant was, I should stop sulking because there are a lot of people in dire need out there and it's not getting any better under our "wonderful" current government. However, I also work hard. These points are not related.
(Petite chien is going to do science to it, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 13:25, closed)

You’re hard working with a placement at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, you’ve pretty much won the lottery of life already. Why would you waste a moments thought on how the underclass live their lives?

My background is council estate, various placements with foster parents, left school without a single exam to my name. I’ve probably got a different view to you.

I don’t begrudge a single penny of the 40K+ a year I pay in tax (did you see what I did there) that goes to people who’ve not managed to dig their way out. It’s hard to put in words the crushing weight when the expectation of every single person in your life is that crap is the best you can hope for. Or how hard you have to work to beat the ever so nice middle class boys and girls with their ‘tick all the boxes’ CVs, and expectations of success.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 4 Aug 2011, 14:07, closed)

my god
this thread has been awesome. You and Clay have made some great points. I'm glad to find out that not everybody in this damn country is a neo-Thatcherite scumbag who thinks taxation is unfair and that the vulnerable should fend for themselves.

Maybe that long overdue cultural backlash isn't as far off as I imagined.
(leviticus no longer likes the cut of your gib on, Thu 4 Aug 2011, 14:40, closed)