southern comfort

Some of them never work

another bloody yank

Sure it could, it happens all the time. It could happen to me as well or anyone else.

What happens in Britain if someone loses their job and is out of work for a long period of time? I know healthcare is taken care of, but what about the rest? Housing, food etc...? Is this all assured as well?

Sally

Well we're talking about healthcare on this thread, but in that case you will receive benefits as well.

another bloody yank

This whole "safety net" concept is completely alien to me.

My Mother, every time we would pass the old man selling pretzels on the street in our neighborhood, would tell me "If you don't go to college and get a good job, that where you'll end up, selling pretzels on the corner!"

Silly Sod

Actually......yup. The lot. The govt will pay your whole rent, give you a check every couple of weeks (out of which they still take enough to cover your bit toward the national health service). They will actively try to get you back into work rather than just demonising you for being unemployed (some abuse the system of course but even they help to keep a whole army of people in work to administer the system in the first place). The fact is, no matter how many of our american campadres fail to understand it; a heart attack, cancer, a broken leg, AIDS or even chronic alcoholism is not going to mean bankruptcy. Nor is suddenly losing your job. In the UK nobody is 'two weeks from bankruptcy' the whole of their lives.

Your belief system that you have to earn what you get is admirable (really, we could use more like you) but......that doesn't mean that you and your family should be thrown to the wolves if you happen to get sick. The key phrase here is National Insurance. Everybody pays a little tiny bit of their weekly/monthly paycheck. Nobody notices it going or complains about it. So, under this system, the UK system, you are earning everything you get, healthcare wise, from the moment you take your very first job. Same with having your rent paid if you should become un-employed. You are paying for it from day one. Everybody in the nation is and guess what.......it seems to be working. It could be better but so could a lot of things. I'd rather have it than not.

This post is in no way an attack on your beliefs by the way, just filling you in on a few things. The UK could do with a little bit more of your work ethic but I wouldn't want it to be a religeon. A place for everything and everything in it's place I mean.

britvic

Well said I wanted to say it out loud and my karmas on the way.

RaiseTheDead

Yeah Another Bloody Yank would rather spend all of his money on defense..These bloody war mongers spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined..And they are still scared!

another bloody yank

If it was like that here 150 million people would immediately quit their jobs.




Really, thank you very much for taking the time to write that! It really helps me to understand where you folks are coming from and why the system here seems harsh.

another bloody yank

Yeah, defense.


Or beer.


Probably beer.


Incidentally, I thought you Brits spelled "Defense" a little differently than us Bloody Yanks? Especially here on a Brit board. Congrats on the assimilation!

RaiseTheDead

Oh..It's a joke...Ha ha-When you want to be serious let me know..

Silly Sod

Naa, I think most people need to work. Unfortunately 'needing' to work in the UK means something entirely different. It can mean the difference between life and death here. In the UK most people 'need' to work so that they can have a decent standard of living; a better car, decent home, holidays and, perhaps most importantly, sanity. Nobody in the UK would be ashamed to claim whatever benefit or entitlement that they are, actually, entitled to. It is your god given right from day one that you have access to healthcare and a right to social benefits should you need them.

I worked for a good while in the department that hands out the rent checks to people who were unemployed or on a low enough wage to warrant it. I never felt like I was paying scroungers (though I am sure there were more than a few who were undeserving) but rather that my boring office job shuffling papers around was doing some good for those in need. In america it seems a lot of people are so brainwashed that they look down on the needy, even if they have been needy themselves at some point. This is just the way the system divides blue collar america in my opinion.

The amazing thing to me is that the worst of these people (i.e. the Christian Right -or Christian Wrong as I think of them ha ha) are the very same bunch who proclaim themselves to be christians, which is a belief system built on the ideas of a raggedy arsed, bearded, peaceful little socialist who said we should love the poor, the needy, even the hookers and the thieves among us. I dunno, I am babbling now so apols for that lol. I'll get me coat

EDIT - went a bit tits up at the end there, but you get my meaning

Silly Sod

How about beer for the needy?

EDIT - by the way, I think the spell check on here americaniZes everything. Bloody yanks

elfman

A few of them do. Most don't.

elfman

I find that people who are in the habit of making ignorant/complacent statements about US healtcare vs healthcare in other countries generally have trouble answering the following questions:

1. Why is the USA the only developed nation not to provide universal healthcare for its citizens?

2. Why do people who have first hand experience of both US healthcare and healthcare in other developed nations usually favour the systems in other countries?

another bloody yank

The area I highlighted is the only thing I disagree with. Blue Collar to me means skilled labor, or tradesmen, carpenters, electricians etc... The very few people I have ever met that looked down on the working class were silver spoon types. With the vast majority of people, if you work you earn respect, no matter your job. People who attract disdain are those who don't work or are out of work and don't appear to be looking too hard to find another job. Besides, that janitor you're talking down to could be your boss someday!