freezing those workers pay for a couple of years ( forgetting that many departments have had pay freezes for the last two as well) they are loooking for departmental cuts of 25% over the next 4 years (on top of the 10% last year and the 15% this year) ---- how to achieve that 
Remember the private sector have been suffering that for longer - only not pay freezes, but pay cuts (or pay freeze, but longer hours in the case of Mrs TheBoy).
Its about time the unions and workers for the public sector wake up to reality!
Public vs Private sector comparisons are, however, fatally flawed. It depends on which part of each sector you work in (the devil is in the detail). In my case, I work in the public sector and the Countess in the private sector. I have seen my pay rise by 12% over the last 5 years ... hers has gone up by just over 30%. Incidentally the numbers in my office have dropped from around 20 five years ago to 6 full timers and 3 part timers --- throughput and targets have increased regardless.
Bankers have done OK ---- Tesco shelf stackers have been rooked!
Public sector box tickers are alright jack -- the poor sod at the "coal face" is being done over!
Everything depends on where you look.
In general, most public sector workers have seen above average rises in the last 3yrs. This simply isn't sustainable. Who is going to pay for it?
The company I work for saw a 20% drop in profits a couple of years back. In laymans terms, that means that 20% of the staff had to go. No questions, no complaining, thats the private sector. Even though there is now more work to be done that there was before.
Mrs TB, who works in the motor trade, which has been through a particularly rough time because New Labour had their hearts set on destroying all British industry, and the business secretary was a corrupt little scumbag, in effect has to work almost one extra day a week for no extra pay. In effect, around a 17% decrease in hourly pay.
Then we see see the likes on Unite complaining their public sector members only being offered 2% (iirc) last year - I know they have that retarded pillock Woodley heading them up, but even so, surely these people must understand reality - the 'company' is losing £175bn a year. Harsh staffing decisions are needed, and a massive increase in efficiency.
Lets face it, downturns happen every 10-15yrs, hopefully not as severe as this last one. We need to be saving money during the non-recession years. So we have 10-15yrs to make back that £900bn. Currently, the savings projected by this budget are in the region of £30bn a year, and national debt in 2015 will still be over £700bn.
The state needs to shrink drastically, and become more efficient. Or should we bankrupt the country?
The state needs to shrink drastically, and become more efficient
I would certainly agree with that but I fear that the present government and the next one (at least) have been, and will be, ham-strung by the expectation of those who in the past have either made their living from the state or who have depended upon it for benefits.
I think this problem goes far beyond the stark financial state the country presently faces however.
It's also about the endemic breakdown in personal responsibility;
The expectation by many of their being taken care of by the state - irrespective of their contribution;
The culture of the introspective and of the 'couldn't give a monkeys';
The belief that someone else will always sort the problem out and therefore there's no need to worry about anything;
The desire to partake in the materialistic and 'finer' aspects of modern life without working to gain the means necessary to achieve that goal;
The wholesale disrespect by many for the institutions of the state (also by members of that very state);
Finally, for the moment, the current trend that many people seem to rest more readily in the culture of celebrity and of the make-believe than in the harsh world of personal, fiscal and social responsibility and respect for the nation and its citizens.
bankrupt the country
Thanks to the culture of excess exhibited by the many, the dismal failure of recent government, the loss of national pride, the acceptance that other unelected bodies have a right to dictate policy - we, as a nation, are already bankrupt: Bankrupt in ideas, bankrupt in morality, bankrupt in personal responsibility and shortly perhaps, bankrupt in fact.
Author
Topic: The Budget (politics) (Read 2477 times)