Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

I've just watched an idiot on the news trying to rally support for Duncan Smith's proposal but he wants to take it a step further and remove all protection for pensions. He said (and kept saying) it's an inter-generational thing in that young people feel they are supporting pensioners and they don't see why they should.

After having to lie down and close my eyes and count sheep for a short while (only a short while cos Health & Safety turned up and said it wasn't safe for the sheep to be doing that especially for the benefit of some lazy, snoozing human) but mainly because I couldn't rant at him, what do you think of his comments?

Have you encountered young people making this claim? Or is it more likely that governments are attempting a touch of brain-washing to create the next public enemy (last time it was smokers and they were quite successful with that one so maybe they feel they are on a roll)?

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

My inlaws are both 80 years old, and the MIl makes me and the missus (and sometimes our kids) dinner every week day, also if ever we get in a financial hole they bail us out, I dread to think what will happen. if ever we lose our pensioners.
Take note Iain

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

Karen asked :----
Have you encountered young people making this claim?

No I haven't just the opposite, but why am I not surprised they would get a young nut case to say that.

Edit to add this interesting link
http://www.wrvs.org.uk/our-impact/re...age-pensioners

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

Maybe I don't know the full story but it seems to me that considering you have to contribute toward your pension and there is a time component involved (don't you have to have contributed for something like 30 years to get the maximum benefit?) there is no case for any removal of benefits.

The other thing is that baby boomers are now a major component of the population and it would be a brave government that tried to upset them too much. Presuming they bother to turn out to vote in the UK, here the Liberals tend to count them as rusted on voters.

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

Pensioners in any country should be regarded and are a national asset. Our societies and communities would be sad and empty places without them. As someone has pointed out on other threads, we all pay into a big pot or several big pots called NHS and NIT. If the government wastes all this money then that is not the fault of the pensioners or anyone else for that matter. that is bad management and why govts get thrown out at election time.

This I would guess is a ploy to stir things up but to try to persuade the young that they are paying for the elderly is stupid - we have all been young and paid for the elderly - generation by generation that's how kind and caring families and countries function. I doubt if this one will get very far with this message.

we are all in this together - float or sink!

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Makes me think of the attitude of the "Entitled Generation". Sad.

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

When I started working we all knew we were helping pay for our grandparents generation's pensions, never a bad word about it as we knew how much they had helped us as children, loved them and knew if we lived long enough our day would come for a pension of our own. Now people seem to be trying to turn that around and make us resent paying for the older generation's pensions.

Sadly yes I have heard some people speak like this not the very young workers but the better off 40 odds who seem to think because they have a buy to let property we should all have made provision for ourselves as they have.

I am not a person who envies others good fortune, but I do wonder would they be saying the same if the price of houses came right back down to level we could all compete again and their pension pot house was suddenly not worth what they thought is was.

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

Yet another little Fascist - seems the Tory Party are infested with them.

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

Although I'm not pension age yet Wrinkly, I have found that job-wise, I have become unemployable apparently. Where has this attitude come from if not governments (both of them) - remember the EU pointing out that British pensioners were some of the poorest pensioners in Europe? How many years ago was that?

I have volunteered, on a weekly basis, for over 30 years in different areas of society - today, I have decided no more; if I'm not valuable enough of a person to pay or to help once employment opportunities dry up, then I see no reason to help society any more.

Re: Pensioners Are A Drain on Society

You are quite right Bruce - there was an older woman also being interviewed alongside this man and she kept trying to tell him that but he was having none of it - just kept saying 'it's an inter-generational thing - why should they pay to keep you' - I''m sure she would have replied the obvious if he'd have let her and the young interviewer didn't seem particularly sympathetic either.