not2old

OK, I'll take you up on no cuts to OAP benefits

Increase state pension age to 70 starting 2016

Current OAP get frozen for the next 5 years

The flat state pension does not come into affect

Prescriptions: folks pay full price for every prescription not just the fill fee

Abolish the free travel pass, winter fuel allowance

TheCreature

Responses in red.

Sally Redux

Is that after you retire?

not2old

you have no answer how to fix the debt problem yet good at criticism

and why cant the cuts I mentioned be done ... why?

revised point on the OAP in the post above your last one

not2old

no, I'm already 66 years old.

I'm doing the cut job, thats what you paid me to do

Sally now give us your proposed fix for the UK debt problem please - give it a try, the numbers for each amount spent is in the link.

So its easy for me to make the cuts, after all I'm an outside consultant

Sally Redux

So it wouldn't affect you.

Economics is not as simple as your list. Cut all spending and you shrink the economy.

TheCreature

What the **** are you on about? What criticism?
I said the UK cannot afford its current benefit set-up.. that's not a criticism, its a bloody fact.

"why cant the cuts I mentioned be done ... why?" because what you came up with is simplistic bollocks.
Just how many people do you think would be thrown out of work by a 30% cut in spending in three years? You then go on to say that nobody gets benefits after three months.. what are you expecting them to do? Starve to death and get out the benefits system that way.

not2old

not so, but we can tackle it another way

Lets increase revenue

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Docume...GovtIncome.pdf

Increase the SIN taxes on Petrol, booze & tobacco by 50%

corporate tax every corp pays something - no freebies. Target a corporations tax bill to add an additional 50 billion a year to the treasury

eliminate individuals tax deduction for contributions to a pension plan

Eliminate child allowance

and what about the expats that have spouses that have never contributed to the NIC (UK) that get 60% of the primary state pensioner OAP....Eliminate it

For the USA its the same way the spouse gets 50% of the social security pension without ever paying into it.

not2old

OK, so I'm full of it - at least I gave it a short in the dark.

No cuts, so its increase revenue - just like running a household... we need more money to cover the expenditures but please lets not go into debt.

Simple - increase the income revenue

Do you have any suggestion to cut the debt or increase the revenue, maybe balance the budget?

BritInParis

The UK's tax gap currently stands at £35bn. That'll be a good starting point. Long term government income needs to be increased by greater tax receipts rather than less government spending as cuts will only take you so far before having a negative effect on growth.

Playing to our strengths and creating a proper knowledge economy is IMHO our only real solution to overcome the post-imperial malaise we still find ourselves in.

scot47

What we need is full employment ! How is that the figure of 2.5 million registered unemployed is now accepted as normal ? Have we been brainwashed ? You bet !

The financial crisis that started in 2008 proves that we are in deep deep doo-doo and cutting a few benefits is not going to fix it !

not2old

one way to get full employment is to be competitive in the global market - Exports must exceed imports,

Can the UK be cost of products quality & price below such places as Asia?

Or would increasing the import duties on imported products that have a dramatic effect on UK only produced ones.

Buy British because it will create jobs.

Of course since the great British sell off, de-nationalization - the UK is mostly owned by foreign companies which have satellite operations in the UK.

What was once a British power house has gone forever, although folks seem to be doing quite well these days even if the are on the dole

No easy answer

scot47

Send everyone in the House of Lords to the Workhouse. That would be a start.

colchar

There are moral and ethical differences, not between races but between nationalities and cultures. No amount of pie in the sky thinking can change that.

colchar

That winter fuel allowance always astounds me. Here in Canada we have winters the likes of which Britain will never see and nobody gets a penny in winter fuel allowance. But back in Britain they have the government helping to pay their heating bills.

Add to that council housing. They are in the process of bringing in a limit of £60,000 over which you do not qualify for council housing...so someone earning £58,000 qualifies for a council house. Good grief. If you tried to get into social housing here in Canada on a salary like that they would laugh you out of the office.