Strikers are stealing from their own children

[RobertRice]

I was hassled by some kind of public servant picket trying to give me a leafet at the train station. I explained I fund my own pension and my day's work was funding there's whilst they have a jollie.

[doodab]

Yep, and the derivatives are only really made possible by debt.

Actually there are a lot of derivatives contracts related to FX, commodities and equities.

[Mich the Tester]

Actually there are a lot of derivatives contracts related to FX, commodities and equities.

But are they the problem?

[doodab]

But are they the problem?

No. The problem is a lack of moral fibre.

[lukemg]

2 million out = ~300 mill in saved wages ? Not bad for a pretty minimal impact.
Loads of people have hols saved up to go xmas shopping so makes no great difference all round.
Yeah, I wish everyone could get a great pension, UK just cant afford it, sorry...

[BlasterBates]

Governments will have to cut spending no two ways round it, and the public sector can squeal all they like, there's no money, plain and simple.

Greece's debt was well over 100% before the crisis, and ther Euro criteria is to hold the debt levels to 60%. That means Greece was overspending even before the crisis in 2008. An official retirement age of 61 is quite ridiculous, even the most incompetent economist would have known that was unsustainable; just one example of mismanagement in Greece. Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy have no debt caused by banks invested in the US subprime. That was the UK, Ireland, Iceland and bit in Germany.

Italy' debt was also over 100% which is plain irresponsible because recessions do happen.

Let us not forget that the main reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was it ran out of money.That was what Perestroika was all about, i.e. stimulate their economy. Does anyone remember the default on Soviet bonds?. Capitalism isn't the cause of overspending, governments are.

[russell]

Sick of these footballers and their scandals, so now Rooney, Drogba Van Persie etc are stealing from their own children!! Shocking!

[xoggoth]

Agree with MTT.

There are a lot of crap defences by the public sector of this indefensible situation. One is that they were paid less and pension is deferred salary but even if they were once (and that hasn't been true for some years) they were paying the price for job security the rest of us didn't have. The competent ones were picking up the bill for the useless in a salary system, enforced by their own unions, of largely set salary scales with little merit element. They should also be the ones picking up the bill for their own high sickness and strike rates.

[original PM]

I was watching the news last night and one thing which i did wonder was why the Public Sector workers seem to think they have a job for life and should have a great pension?

I mean I work in private sector and if any changes to my remuneration/benfits package take place I asses what has happened and either accept it and forget about it or vote with my feet by moving to another company which gives the benefits I want. (I also accept that no job will be for life)

It seems that the public sector believe they should be immune from this and as soon as they get a job in the public sector that is where they will stay until they retire.

I would not mind so much if they (and I specifically exclude teachers, nurses and other members of the public sector who actually DO things from this next statement) were not complete incompetent jobsworth with an overblown sense of importance and a complete lack of interest in solving the problem. I also get the impression that many people get the jobs because their mate has a job and can find them an opening - which seems to be in some ways completely eliteist and discriminatory.

But then what do I know.

[TheFaQQer]

The NHS pension was renegotiated 3 years ago, is in credit, and is being forecast to be in credit for another 25 years when it will break even.

NHS pensions average £7k a year (IIRC), which when you factor in the high pensions that doctors and surgeons will get, means that some of them are pretty crap any way.

Which could be why the NHS workers are more than a little annoyed at a cynical cash grab from a conservative government.