tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post7210139801795464477..comments2023-11-02T15:48:50.381+00:00Comments on UK Bubble UK Economy: Back on the welfare reform trendmillAlice Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05753570123987780947noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-42120788886093322192011-02-19T03:48:41.786+00:002011-02-19T03:48:41.786+00:00George Bernard Shaw
Yes, it is the same Alice Coo...George Bernard Shaw<br /><br />Yes, it is the same Alice Cook who raised deep concerns about recent demographic trends.<br /><br />As to your first point, I agree; there is something ironic about educated and employable middle-class people deciding not to have children while people with low educational attainment seem to be more than happy to reproduce. <br /><br />However, I wouldn't necessarily put a negative spin on it. Obviously, it has something to do with values. If someone with a reasonable income stream decides not to have children, one can only assume that a desire for a higher level of consumption has trumped procreation. <br /><br />If, on the other hand, someone living in a council estate decides to have children and is willing to live in poverty as a consequence, it is not immediately obvious to me that this is a bad decision. Children bring their own joy, even in council estates.<br /><br />If I may be a little provocative, one could argue that the welfare system is acting as an implicit social contract between the middle-class childless couple and the fecund teenage mother. The latter provides the future taxpayer who will contribute to the pensions of the former childless middle-class consumer.<br /><br />The problem however is that the offspring of the teenage mother may not acquire sufficent productivity to earn enough to pay for the pensions of the childless consumers.<br /><br />Let us be brutally honest, which of these two stereotypes is the more irresponsible? Is it the former, who casually expects future generations to pay to their pensions? Or is it the latter who expects societies to subsidise their child rearing?<br /><br />Whenever I hear the word eugenics I'm always reminded of the founder of the movement, Francis Galton. He was a late Victorian writer who prattled on endlessly about the needs to improve the quality of the English bloodlines. He felt that the English were a superior race, and he and his friends were perfect examples of that superiority. <br /><br />The great irony was that he was unable to produce any children himself.<br /><br />AliceAlice Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05753570123987780947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-50084148632804886682011-02-18T20:47:56.541+00:002011-02-18T20:47:56.541+00:00Is this the same Alice who wanted people to breed ...Is this the same Alice who wanted people to breed with abandon a few weeks ago? <br /><br />The educated, skilled, employable middle classes elect not to have kids. The fecund, thick, unemployable, get-a-kid-get-a-council-flat classes drop kids who in our economy are not going to work.<br /><br />OK, they create lots of jobs indirectly administering welfare, as warders, social workers, probation officers and the like. Their activities keep legal aid lawyers in employment. And sometimes we need infantry - though the Germans and French seem less bellicose these days. But there is a group of people who should not be born. Its eugenics we need, not welfare reform.George Bernard Shawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-3378425108634957572011-02-18T18:10:56.155+00:002011-02-18T18:10:56.155+00:00"No the real problem, the one they don't ..."<i>No the real problem, the one they don't want to tackle is the housing market.</i>"<br /><br />NO....the real problem is <b>IMMIGRATION</b>!!<br /><br /><a href="http://elliotlakenews.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/dispossessing-white-europeans/" rel="nofollow">http://elliotlakenews.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/dispossessing-white-europeans/</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-13864188593392842592011-02-18T11:53:56.189+00:002011-02-18T11:53:56.189+00:00We can afford higher wages though because we'r...We can afford higher wages though because we're far more productive than many other countries. Most developing nations (including China) are still building their infrastructre up to UK standards, this gives our poorest a massive competitive advantage so they wouldn't live like Chinese peasant farmers if we altered benefits. <br /><br />No the real problem, the one they don't want to tackle is the housing market. It really doesn't matter how productive we are when the land market is being used to keep people poor. <br /><br />The benefits/vs low paid work debate is just being used as a distraction, it doesn't solve the core issue.chefdavehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14394720391421552371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-23335827536089702802011-02-18T07:49:47.992+00:002011-02-18T07:49:47.992+00:00We don't throw vast amounts of money at workin...We don't throw vast amounts of money at working age benefits, it is half as much as we spend on old age pensions. <br /><br />All of welfare & pensions together is still rather less than the government spends on 'private sector procurement' (which is about one-fifth of GDP)<br /><br />And as I've said before, I'd rather pay £20,000 a year to a family on benefits than £100,000 a year to a quangocrat or other private sector leech.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-74433696159210132952011-02-18T07:23:31.859+00:002011-02-18T07:23:31.859+00:00China has created a major imbalance that is destro...China has created a major imbalance that is destroying jobs in the western world. China is able to export goods & services significantly below cost because of the RMB's peg to the USD. And when I say below cost, that is also below cost in India, not just the UK.<br /><br />When a country starts exporting more goods than it imports it creates an imbalance and the exchange rate alter to redress that imbalance. Because of the peg the RMB has not been allowed to rise to its natural level, artificially undercutting all other currencies. In the short term we get very cheap goods, but in the long term all jobs move to China as no-one can complete.<br /><br />Your comments on education are illogical. You call those who see education as key as sanctimonious and yet recognise eduction the answer. The education/training required inst that expensive, and would be cheaper if you gave kids a good education to start.billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2948538160252327076.post-46137534327562021222011-02-18T07:05:37.602+00:002011-02-18T07:05:37.602+00:00Your last sentence seems to be either misplaced or...Your last sentence seems to be either misplaced or ironic.<br /><br /><i>At time same time, we wink at the politicians, “Don’t take us too seriously” we hint. After all, “we don’t want to turn London into Shanghai”.</i><br /><br />http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com