The Rich get Richer whilst the Poor get Poorer.

[Cricko]

Hardly a surprise really but shocking stats none the less and it''s not even from a left wing paper :winking:

[h=1]Britain's divided decade: the rich are 64% richer than before the recession, while the poor are 57% poorer[/h]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ionwhile-the-poor-are-57-poorer-10097038.html

 

[Firestorm]

Wealthiest 20% of this country have average savings of 10K and this is the cut-off point used to highlight the increase in wealth.

That looks more like the middle classes managing to save more or pay off their debts , as their mortgage repayments are still low, than the super rich (which would be reported as the top 10% in the article if it applied to them).

They appear to be counting wealth purely in terms of debt vs savings, so someone who constantly borrowed to fund a lavish lifestyle may well be considered less wealthy than the spendthrift....

Its a bit of a shame as it strikes me as the wrong approach to what is the serious issue of poverty

 

[Cricko]

I think you are right in a lot of ways Gary, I think the point I was trying to make was more about the divide these days between the rich and poor..I have friends on here that are great aspirations for those go getters in life and I admire them greatly.The trouble is if you are not one of those you are seen to be discarded now as some failure to society especially with the words they use nowadays to describe this group of people.

Society as in all life is made up of all groups of people some more fortunate than others with life skills, luck etc and the others that are just mud on the shoes of the rich. It is wrong IMO.

It would be better if they thought, thank God I was able to make a good living for my family etc rather than ending up suffering, without lesser people thinking they are looking down on them with distort and making them feel worthless..

 

[Cricko]

100% for sure is the poor will rebel one day, history has told us this, hence why the Police (via the government) are arming themselves with all manor of weapons and laws possible these days to defy them.

 

[Benfleet A1]

100% for sure is the poor will rebel one day, history has told us this, hence why the Police (via the government) are arming themselves with all manor of weapons and laws possible these days to defy them.

That's something I seriously doubt. Last Saturday there was a climate change march in central London 20000 odd people, mostly good as gold apart from about 40 of them who decided to sit down on a crossing, holding the traffic up for another hour before the idiot police allowed a U-turn to avert a potential riot of cab drivers, coach drivers and one very irate tipper driver. The 'protesters' were left well alone to continue their public order offence while us drivers were told to get back in our vehicles. Violence did incur in the form of said tipper driver grabbing one scabby mug by the throat who found it funny we had been stationary for two hours plus but at least plod finally got their finger out and got the traffic moving.

The point is that the OB were pretty much scared to do anything that might be seen as aggression and if your referring to the water cannon that Boris has made available then the best way to counteract them is just sit down in the road.

 

[Cricko]

Yes that was all over the main stream controlled media not. Lets face it they only let you see and hear what they want you to these days..

Out of interest why did you not pick up on the previous post of mine which was more in line with the debate..or like most Tories have you decided to wash past that and ignore it?

 

[Benfleet A1]

Ok, but drop the Tory bit please, my colours are more purple. I'm not a natural Tory coming from a family whose father was a merchant seaman and then a builder/decorator and a mother who was a postie and before that, petrol pump attendant. I was raised in a council house, schooled at state schools and left with diddly squat. My first memories of politicians were Edward Heath [loathed] and Harold Wilson, both in black and white, one with a pipe sticking out of his mouth, the other, as my old granny would say, with far too many teeth in he's mouth to be trusted. Pops was a staunch Labour man who spoke up for seaman's rights and the working man but, as I recall, mum didn't particularly care either way.

Now this might sound strange but it was probably the EC Membership Referendum in 1975 when he's views and leanings started to change. I remember the street we lived in had a NO leaflet in almost every window with one exception which I remember well as I used to wash the car of the bloke who lived there [who was I to argue when he was paying me two quid to slosh some water over his Jag, that was a princely sum in 1975 for a 9 year old] Anyway, the surprising thing was that it was the Left wing of the Labour Party that was leading the charge for the NO vote against, well, pretty much everyone else and when the result returned a resounding YES, he blamed the entire Labour Party for not being united and walked away from them forever.

After that he sort of dabbled with a bit of all of them including some of the less desirable ones but for some bazaar reason always voted Conservative in both local and general elections. He was, a very good but small time builder and decorator who employed a couple of blokes so hardly Barrett Homes or Bellway, not exactly what you would call a fat cat Tory and certainly not lighting his fag with five pound notes.

Fast track to the Thatcher years and when the right to buy scheme came about Ma and Pa took a large bite out of the bullet and brought our house, it wasn't easy but they did it and they did it for us kids. I didn't appreciate it at the time but it certainly gave me a start and a foot on the property ladder in years to come.

My political feelings started getting a stir probably around 1979'ish when I would look at what was happening in the world more than just the sports pages. I remember a respect for Thatcher, rightly or wrongly she would pretty much make a decision and stick to it and being in a political mans world as it was, I admired that. Also, I hated the constant lies thrown about, especially about how many coal mines she was responsible for closing while glossing over the fact that Wilson shut down plenty more but I digress. I disliked left wing thought and lack of reason, always blaming the rich for all the ills of the country. Even then I thought it was a cop out.

Since then nothing has changed to make me reconsider. I still think blaming those for having wealth while others haven't is a cop out and a easy target. Look at the bloke who started Pimlico Plumbing, just him and one van and after many years of hard graft and sacrifice, he and his company have become a great success. Then look at the likes of White Dee who is being made into some sort of 'Z List' celebrity for being a bone idle benefits scrounger who considers getting out of her pit before midday worthy of a wage, who would you respect more?

It's life John, right or wrong, it's life. Some people get the breaks and some don't. I drive a tipper, hardly the most popular vehicle on the road but it pays me a reasonably good wage but if it wasn't for the man who owns the company having the guts to start it up in the first place then I and plenty of other people wouldn't be working. Those who are rich, whatever amount you have in mind that constitutes rich, have, on the whole, got there through hard work and not a little luck, those who sit around wringing their hands moaning and bitching about it are not as lucky, not as savvy, not as gutsy or just plain jealous.

Not everything can be blamed on the Tories anymore than you can blame Labour or Lib Dems. It's just life, we roll the dice, and some of us get snake eyes.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Society has changed for sure. The major parties have all morphed from red, blue and orange into a grey mush and there is a monumental lack of politicians with any social knowledge of life and work on the estates and in the factories and work places in the UK.
I walk through Priory Park, Jones Memorial Park and on Garons Golf Course; to name a few; and these are bequeathed for common folk by rich folk who did well and wanted others also to have better lives; people of that ilk are, sadly, too few in these times with greed and the next/newest BMW or Bentley being the main ambition of those amassing fortunes that they can never spend.
I don't believe a revolution is coming BUT I sure hope some proper statesmen and women appear; AND some true class shows itself amongst those making the millions.

 

[londonblue]

I still think blaming those for having wealth while others haven't is a cop out and a easy target.

Just to be clear, I don't recall anyone blaming the rich. People are just asking them to pay their fair share, which at the moment it seems they're not.

I personally admire anyone that makes a good life for themselves, especially if they started with nothing. That is, in fact, what my grandfather did. He worked his socks off to make a comfortable living for himself and his family.

The difference is he never forgot where he had come from, and was prepared to give the less fortunate a bit of a leg up when they needed it.