Today's discussion about the news
Comments
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You've broken a couple of bones now. Have your premiums gone up?
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FWIW, re my comment referring to Bruce Parry's (happy) Tribes...
The ICTA-UAB report says its findings are “good news for sustainability and human happiness, as they provide strong evidence that resource-intensive economic growth is not required to achieve high levels of subjective wellbeing”. “The strong correlation frequently observed between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that wealth – as generated by industrialised economies – is not fundamentally required for humans to lead happy lives,” said Victoria Reyes-Garcia, a researcher at ICTA-UAB and senior author of the study.
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“Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery”
Spike Milligan.
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We're the same as your original statement. You can add in differences after the fact if you like.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Another way of putting it is 'Life's like a sh1t sandwich: the more bread you have, the less sh1t you eat'.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Anyway thank goodness we live in a country where we all have access to healthcare*
*TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
We are not politically in a complete mess the main opposition party are not disputing the legitimacy of the last election. We have a government that is unpopular, that is all.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Surely you eat exactly the same amount of sh*t, but just get fatter.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Exactly, hardly comparable with the service you got here then. That's not a great public service but a great paid for service. These big salaries really aren't helping public services at all because that's unamerican. I'm sure that'll improve no end if Trump gets in.
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Sure, as I said keep changing it if you like 😉
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Don't think I am, but you obviously think things are far worse in the UK than me.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I think you're overegging how bad the US. If you speak to people who live there...
I mean yes, Macro wise politically it's a mess and they keep shooting everyone, but actual day-to-day stuff people seem pretty happy.
Trump is much worse for the rest of the world than for Americans, I'd argue.
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It depends entirely where in the US. The big cities are vastly expensive, and quality of life and culture quite varied.
I'd live in the Pacific northwest in a heartbeat, but you couldn't pay me enough to live in Texas.
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I think the main opposition party effectively advocating for ignoring a valid election result that is a red line well and truly crossed. I can't get my head around why a significant proportion of the country even think that is acceptable, but 🤷🏻♂️
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
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I'd like to see the numbers but I suspect option 2 would require quite a lot of reduction which would be bad for everyone. It would also be problematic for people who are already retired or very close as they wouldn't have any chance to pay into a personal pension to fill the gap. I'm one of those who started work expecting to retire at 65 with a full pension but was young enough when that changed that is hasn't affected me (plus I started putting into a personal pension at 16) so not one of the lucky ones but luckier than younger people. There is an argument that those retiring now will on average receive a pension for longer than would have been expected when they started work though.
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There are always winners and losers from changes to reforms. Why is everyone quite so allergic to pensioners feeling some of the pain the rest of the country is?
There are plenty of single mothers who have had their benefits cut to the absolute bone, plenty of poor families not able to afford both food AND heating their homes so they have to chose. That's all water under the bridge, but existing pensioners? oh no.
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I don't understand the dentist thing. I have two NHS dentists.
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What is there not to understand? Most NHS dentists round the country aren't taking new patients.
How have you ended up with two?
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I live in London. Most things are expensive, yet NHS dentists still seem to be able to make it work at pricing levels that apparently don't work elsewhere in the country.
I have two because I just registered for a new one near where I live and I still have my old one.
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They manage to get by with private fees for veneers and wotnot I imagine. It is the same for dentists in Cheshire.
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Meh, I think the triple lock is a terrible idea, it may have been justified at one point but certainly isn't now - I have absolutely no idea why there should be a link to wage rises let alone still having a guaranteed rise if wages are falling and inflation is 0%, it should only be linked to increasing cost of living. However, not all pensioners are equal - there are lots who have fantastic work pensions that have allowed them to retire early and live a very comfortable life. However, there are others that have worked hard all their lives in jobs that didn't have pension schemes and only paid enough to pay for the essentials without allowing them to put anything aside for a personal pension. If you cut the value of the state pension which of those groups is going to be hit the hardest?
There seems to be an assumption that no-one in previous generations worked beyond 65 (or 60 if female) which just isn't the case. That may have been the state pension age for them but many kept working either out of choice or necessity. Cutting benefits is wrong, cutting pensions as some kind of retaliation would be stupid.
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Maybe they should means test it like other benefits
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Sure, that would make sense. I suppose the only downside could be that would discourage people putting money into a personal pension (why do that if you then get your state 'entitlement' cut?). If it was means tested they could then use the same process to take the freebies like TV licence and heating payments off those that don't need them as the current argument seems to be means testing for those elements isn't viable.
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Yeah it would have to be tapered sensibly so saving into your own doesn't lead to any traps.
Surely we could manage that! Oh wait...
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
What about the people who have made voluntary contributions?
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Well they know who those people are. If they want to make allowances for that it's certainly not beyond the wit of man.
- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
I'm not voting for the Pangolin party. I'd like a pension.
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