US & UK are poor societies with some very rich people.

in greed we trust, a title of an article i read many years ago, have things changed? A good book. 'mans rise to civilisation' 'talks about how with the europeans invading the americas, changed the native people their culture of sharing everthing ,to a gradual one of hoarding.Lots of references in the bible, to hoarding and its ill effects.What are people scared of?

I'm horrified with the way this country has been run for the past 12 yrs, having rich people give money by choice is too erratic to work & poor people have to right to have their money given by the state rather than on a whim of some wealthy person. I relied on benefits when I was younger & broke but like most benefit claimants I eventually got work but I want that stepping stone to be available to anyone in need. Research showed benefit cheats were just a small percentage, smaller than those deliberately keeping money away from the taxman. I want a properly functioning reliable NHS, decent wages for all as we had in the 1970's and social care so I will be voting Labour asap but I do appreciate that some might vote LibDem just to get rid of their Tory

I also read this article (all of it) over the weekend and was shocked - but not surprised unfortunately. Needless to say this is unlikely to be reported in the MSM which is unforgivable. All of us should be completely aware of how unequal our society is. I have no issue with the wealthy but feel profoundly sad and hopeless at the attitudes that seem to abound these days of “them and us”. I thought Brits cherished the idea of Britain being a “fair” society for all. By endorsing the view (yes that is Victorian) that there are deserving and undeserving poor and in the main charities should support them is shameful and undemocratic.

Maudi

Some 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees are living in UK hotels at a cost of £4.7m per day, revised Home Office figures show.

A Home Office official said yesterday the total hotel bill was £1.2m a day but the department has since clarified the actual overall daily cost is £4.7m.

It it understood the £1.2m is to accommodate Afghan refugees and another £3.5m a day is spent on asylum seekers.

A spokesman said the use of hotels was unacceptable and a short-term solution.(copied from BBC website)

Perhaps if we weren't spending astronomical amounts on housing asylum /illegals in 4 star hotels, providing health care/dentists, food, pocket money the list goes on there would be more money available, oh no forgot some posters welcome the dinghy boats, perhaps you can't have it both ways, there is only a certain amount of money to go round, perhaps its time to get our priorities right and look after our own people first. Please no posts saying they are not illegal blah blah blah.

I agree

Genuine cases, yes. But as someone who works in a foodbank we get people at the door wanting food but arriving in cars, with mobile phones, expensive watches, an address in a very nice house/area, then one of their many children standing there will 'let slip' they've just come back from holiday.
They will not accept 'own brand' tinned food, has to be a 'label'. Only PG Tips tea (all other brands handed back to us, we then found out a particular demanding chap was selling it in his shop)!!
I could go on but won't bother.

Norah

I would prefer people to give generously to charity and roll up sleeves to help the poor, as part of peoples everyday life.

I have no problem with extreme wealth, as with that comes the ability to give back, worldwide, extremely huge amounts. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, McKenzie Scott, Warren Buffet come to mind.

Bill Gates: "The Microsoft co-founder announced this week that he's donating $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while reiterating his pledge to give away “virtually all of my wealth to the foundation” and eventually drop off the list of the world's wealthiest people altogether. Jul 15, 2022"

www.gatesfoundation.org/about/foundation-fact-sheet

Poor people should not have to rely on the whims of the very rich.
As previously stated, wealth should be distributed more evenly.
The rich have not become this way off their own backs, they have used the poor to make their wealth.

JdotJ

Maudi

Some 37,000 asylum seekers and Afghan refugees are living in UK hotels at a cost of £4.7m per day, revised Home Office figures show.

A Home Office official said yesterday the total hotel bill was £1.2m a day but the department has since clarified the actual overall daily cost is £4.7m.

It it understood the £1.2m is to accommodate Afghan refugees and another £3.5m a day is spent on asylum seekers.

A spokesman said the use of hotels was unacceptable and a short-term solution.(copied from BBC website)

Perhaps if we weren't spending astronomical amounts on housing asylum /illegals in 4 star hotels, providing health care/dentists, food, pocket money the list goes on there would be more money available, oh no forgot some posters welcome the dinghy boats, perhaps you can't have it both ways, there is only a certain amount of money to go round, perhaps its time to get our priorities right and look after our own people first. Please no posts saying they are not illegal blah blah blah.

I agree

Genuine cases, yes. But as someone who works in a foodbank we get people at the door wanting food but arriving in cars, with mobile phones, expensive watches, an address in a very nice house/area, then one of their many children standing there will 'let slip' they've just come back from holiday.
They will not accept 'own brand' tinned food, has to be a 'label'. Only PG Tips tea (all other brands handed back to us, we then found out a particular demanding chap was selling it in his shop)!!
I could go on but won't bother.

I don’t believe that post

To answer your question, OP, I would greatly prefer to live in a country where the gap between the poorest and the richest is not as shockingly large as it has become or is becoming in practically all European countries.

If it is not possible to either provide even the poorest in society with jobs or benefits that they actually can live off, the better-off and rich people need to realise that they have a duty of care and should be using some of their wealth to relieve destitution.

If you mean my post Whitewavemarks then think again. Every word of it is true.

Exactly! No-one should have to depend on charity. It's distressing that so many of us bury our relatively affluent heads in the sand and ignore the REAL POVERTY that is around us, and the unfairness of the system that makes it hard to claim life-sustaining benefits. All who say it's easy should try it!

In my area you are unable to access a food bank without an referral from social or medical services. I am more worried about those who are too proud or unable to access food banks.

What a shameful situation this is in a modern developed country.

I too am a simple soul where economics is concerned. There is a poster who has stated that income tax is not used for government spending. I don't understand this statement and would be most grateful for an explanation.
I googled 'the use of income tax', and this is what I found:
'Income Tax is collected by HMRC on behalf of the government. It's used to help provide funding for public services. For example, the NHS, education and the welfare system, as well as investment in public projects, such as roads, rail and housing.'
This is what I understood to be the case - if it is not so, could someone please explain this to me?

Sorry this is a bit lengthy, but it's by the Bank of England and addresses a number of misconceptions:

www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/quarterly-bulletin/2014/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy

It's not really satisfactory to try and explain in a couple of sentences.

Incidentally, income tax only accounts for about 25% of all the taxes the government collects.

Whilst poor folk in this country vote Tory because it's 'inspirational', I would say just take a look at the last twelve years of Conservative government. The rich get much richer, the poor, poorer. Public services are on their knees. Government really couldn't care. They are, to a man/woman, extremely rich and can buy their way out of any problems. Can you say the same? When will the great majority of this country get to grips with this fact. If you're poor, you will stay that way. Think very carefully before you place an X next to a Tory candidate.

I have to say having had to claim Universal Credit a few years back when I was off work for 6 months, it is not an easy benefit to claim. The form filling, providing online proof of who you are,where you live etc, was, to say the least quite traumatic and had me pulling my hair out more than once over it and I am somebody with a fairly good level of education and computer literate so can understand why people get into a muddle with it, or just give up halfway through filling it in and don't bother.

growstuff

Incidentally, income tax only accounts for about 25% of all the taxes the government collects.

The other major contributors being NIC and VAT
Company taxation is only 5% can this be right?.

Considering 1% of the worlds population (I guess they would be the 'Elites') owns approx. 96% of the global wealth, it's not surprising that so many of the population is poor. The whole financial system is designed that way. However, as we are about to see the entire global Fiat financial system crumble to dust, hopefully a more equal, gold backed system, will emerge. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

This country has never been as poor since everything was privatised. The railways, council tax, etc here doesn't seem any price regulation to stop the greed of these CEOs running the companies. To my mind that is the main cause of high inflation. Their money comes from our wages in increased taxes, while the bosses sit there raking it in for very little work. When they need or want a wage rise, they put their prices up and everybody pays, no questions asked. Money will never be fairly distributed while these people have their money trees and laugh all the way to the bank.

Don’t know where you get 5% from Katie. Corporation tax is 19%.

If a sensible living wage is established tomorrow what happens when inflation actually reduces the value of all wages. How do employers continually upgrade living wage rates without adding to more inflation eg cost of products, food etc. What is a living wage, is that to include cigarettes, alcohol, tv channels as to many these are the essentials of life. I do wonder how the additional child allowances introduced for children are actually spent on children. I would look at India for a rich/poor divide.

Should read allowances for children in Scotland .

'wherever there is great wealth there is a great crime',usually slavery in days of old to modern day slavery where people enslave themselves with hugh mortgages, gadgets etc etc

Yoiu cannot be enslaved by something you choose to buy. Mortages and certainly 'gadgets'

I would be interested to see the evidence of the close connection between great wealth and slavery. Are you talking individuals, nations or crime networks?

Some element of slavery, legal or illegal seems to exist in every society, rich or impoverished. Slavery exists in countries like Mali and Tchad, two of the poorest countries in the world - and not many very rich there either.

Germanshepherdsmum

Don’t know where you get 5% from Katie. Corporation tax is 19%.

No, the proportion of tax source, Income Tax is 25% Company tax is only 5%
There is a nice pie chart but it won’t upload
Google “Tax revenue source”

I see. My apologies for having misunderstood your meaning.