If I ruled the world.....

[rob s]

You could take all the money in the world, divide it up equally and 12 months later you would have some people who'd doubled what they were initially given and some who had lost the lot - that's people for you

If you assume global economics is a zero sum game...

[istvan]

That reminds me

There's an idea that we could use again, send the unemployed to Australia

Times have changed, perhaps this is a turn for the Australians to send their malefactors to UK. After all, where did they got their training in the first place?

[DodgyAgent]

The problem with this is that you are assuming rationalism. A lot of people don't see beyond next week never mind long term. Those would probably go to school three or four times. They would binge on cancer treatment and get redundantised as much as possible, therefore signing on the dole at the same time as claiming student beneductions. The net result of this is that those long on pension mindedness would never get anything because of lack of compound interest.

HTH BIDI

That reminds me

There's an idea that we could use again, send the unemployed to Australia

[eek]

You could take all the money in the world, divide it up equally and 12 months later you would have some people who'd doubled what they were initially given and some who had lost the lot - that's people for you

You only need to look at the former USSR. Some more than doubled it.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

You could take all the money in the world, divide it up equally and 12 months later you would have some people who'd doubled what they were initially given and some who had lost the lot - that's people for you

[norrahe]

Sounds like a pretty complicated IT system to manage that.

I'm in!

Failing that, bring back communism!

[jmo21]

I wonder how difficult/feasible it would be for the benefits system to be a like a single pot for each person, and as you go through life public funded services (schools, university, NHS, unemployment etc) be deducted from the pot, with the rest being your pension.

The theory being the more public services you use for your life the lower the pension is at the end, don't claim much, get a bigger pension.

Sounds like a pretty complicated IT system to manage that.

I'm in!

[Robinho]

The problem with this is that you are assuming rationalism. A lot of people don't see beyond next week never mind long term.

I tend to think that is because of the welfare state. There's not much incentive to act rationally because people know the government will bail them out.

[aussielong]

I wonder how difficult/feasible it would be for the benefits system to be a like a single pot for each person, and as you go through life public funded services (schools, university, NHS, unemployment etc) be deducted from the pot, with the rest being your pension.

The theory being the more public services you use for your life the lower the pension is at the end, don't claim much, get a bigger pension.

The problem with this is that you are assuming rationalism. A lot of people don't see beyond next week never mind long term. Those would probably go to school three or four times. They would binge on cancer treatment and get redundantised as much as possible, therefore signing on the dole at the same time as claiming student beneductions. The net result of this is that those long on pension mindedness would never get anything because of lack of compound interest.

HTH BIDI

[bobspud]

If I ruled the world....

I'd have all the unemployed shot. Case solved.

or at least neutered...

[Robinho]

Basically you're saying privatise everything and give people a lump sum to get going.

Not a bad idea.

[MarillionFan]

I wonder how difficult/feasible it would be for the benefits system to be a like a single pot for each person, and as you go through life public funded services (schools, university, NHS, unemployment etc) be deducted from the pot, with the rest being your pension.

The theory being the more public services you use for your life the lower the pension is at the end, don't claim much, get a bigger pension.

If I ruled the world....

I'd have all the unemployed shot. Case solved.

[SimonMac]

I wonder how difficult/feasible it would be for the benefits system to be a like a single pot for each person, and as you go through life public funded services (schools, university, NHS, unemployment etc) be deducted from the pot, with the rest being your pension.

The theory being the more public services you use for your life the lower the pension is at the end, don't claim much, get a bigger pension.