Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
BARRYW;
good start would be;
1; can i afford to eat today or not
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Ahh but Keith - in this country that is very rare.
Anyone who has a mobile phone, smokes and has a flat screen tv and game console, for instance, is not in poverty and does not have to choose whether they can afford to eat or not.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
please don't shout at barryw when you all read post 42
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
So Keith - your idea is that people with those things are in poverty... what an insult to people overseas, in Africa, in India and elsewhere who really are in poverty.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
you do quite well at deciding not to read my postings
there are many in the uk that have none of the items you mention, in real poverty do they eat or do they heat the room
there is a real world out there barryw honestly
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
My point Keith - if you bothered to read what I said properly, is that real poverty is very rare in the UK.
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
From Oxfam:
Poverty means not having enough money to pay for the things you need. From Oxfam's experience of working with people living in poverty we know that this may involve families and individuals not having enough to eat, being unable to heat their homes, not having adequate warm clothing, and not having enough money to cope with unforeseen events, such as the need to repair a broken washing machine.
Nearly 13 million people live in poverty in the UK - that's 1 in 5 of population.
3.8 million children in the UK are living in poverty.
2.2 million pensioners in the UK are living in poverty.
7.2 million working age adults in the UK are living in poverty.
I find this typical of the flawed thinking that is dragging this country down. Who needs a washing machine when there are rivers to wash clothes in?
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
Or better still a sink .
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,897
I used to soak mine in the bath.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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No one is denying that poverty exists in the UK, but I do get irritated by people claiming poverty is higher than it is, and including, as Barryw says, those who have stuff but make lifestyle choices that reduce their income or increase their risks. As a supporter of Make Poverty History I see the need to work on that - but let's make sure we target the right people and the right causes.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Well said Bern.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
Aye, there's the rub...those who profit in a capitalist consumer society are, on the one hand, content to encourage and cajole all and sundry to spend-spend-spend on consumables and to service these items, but when the consumer is faced with the choice of servicing their purchases or eating it is the sole problem of those who have heeded the incessant calls from those who profit all along.
Why is there no public announcement prior to each advert break on tv and elsewhere warning that the goods advertised are not for 'scum'.
"Think about your belly before you consider taking any part in the society that seeks ONLY to profit at all costs."
[but be prepared to always pay way over the odds, because access to bargains is denied you by the foregoing]
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 714- Registered: 14 Apr 2011
- Posts: 2,594
Relative poverty is too often confused with real poverty, relative poverty is something like earning/living on less than 60% of the median salary or income. Using that as a yardstick thousands of people in Monaco will be living in relative poverty.
Its all a nonsense
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
It's not nonsense David, it's all relative.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 714- Registered: 14 Apr 2011
- Posts: 2,594
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
My father would have said: He's not poor, he can afford to run a car, have the latest TV, drink and smoke !!
As Mark says, real poverty is a person who does not have 1) sufficient food; 2) sufficient warmth and shelter; (3) adequate clothing
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
The flawed thinking Mark is in the so called relative poverty that exaggerates the poverty figures. There will always be the relative poor, some people will simply never make something of themselves no-matter what anyone else does to 'help' them. What is important is to ensure there are opportunities so no-one is locked into poverty who has the determination to lift themselves from it. Only too often the policies promoted by many particularly left wing politicians, specially those policies related to 'relative poverty', just help lock people into low incomes and state dependency. As I have already said relative poverty, as a concept, is also an insult to the many all over the world as well as our own predecessors who really do or have suffered real poverty.
Real poverty is rare in this country which is not to say it does not exist. The main cause of real financial poverty in this country is more a 'poverty of spirit' that infects far too many people for whatever reason.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
So the bankers are the emplyers who decide their own wages!
Barry, you do not mention that one year ago the Government said they thought the Royal Bank of Scotland bankers should not receive the bonuses were giving THEMSLEVES, and that bankers at other banks in Britain should not receive such bonuses either, and that the Government "gave up" trying to put an end to this absurd bonus system.
They know it's wrong, openly said so, but then added "they couldn't do anything about it".
My view is that the Government does nothing about it because they tax these bonuses by 50%, and so half that money - amounting to billions of pounds - goes into the Treasury.
A sad way for the Government to get to tax revenues, by going fifty fifty with with banksters.
But as others have stated here, there is no poverty in the UK, and even unemployed people are not poor, because they can afford to wear clothes, smoke and eat.
That's why payday loans are increasing in Britain, where millions of desparate people borrow short-term from loan sharks because otherwise they can't keep up their mortgage and would end up on the street.
And yes, what an insult to people in Africa and India and elsewhere, we should all be happy!
So today I have learned that there is no poverty in Britain, because we can all afford to wear clothes, smoke and eat.
All I can say is: Come Divine Justice!
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
Thankfully real poverty is rare in this country but the flawed thinking, I would suggest Barry, is that which believes that those who are in relative poverty somehow deserve it. Many instances will be due to illness, bereavement or disability and it is very real poverty to those concerned; e.g. parents who can no longer afford clothing for their children or school dinners. Relative poverty often leads to social exclusion and isolation and no society which regards itself as civilised would see this as acceptable.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Alexander - there are many employees of bank who get bonuses such as I referred to, salesmen, fund managers, profit or cost centre managers etc etc. Directors remuneration including bonuses is up to the company's remuneration committee and shareholders (the latter in my view should have more say...)
I do not care what the government has said on the matter or might have said - I have told you how it is. You really need to be clear about what exactly you are referring to a 'bankers' as there is a big difference between the directors and the many employees who get bonuses.
Do read what has been said as well and reflect that accurately in your posts and stop going off into flights of fantasy.
