Financial trickery

Image via WikipediaI did not know whether to be laugh or cry when I heard of all the excuses for the severe cuts we have to suffer in the next few years, as I have heard it all before in one format or another.

The coalition government have decided to square off our debts incurred by bailing out the banks in record time regardless of whether the poorest suffer or not. Their reasoning behind this scheme is to give the up and coming generation a better chance to get ahead without heavy debts hanging over them.

I am all in favour of that plan, but am not fooled by anything a politician says, as my generation was promised to be looked after in our old age when we were paying heavy taxes most of our working lives to square off the debts left behind by the second world war,(one of the excuses then) and now we find we have to suffer once again to pay off debts construed by the financial wizards who want the economy to work in their favour.

Tax upon tax was piled on to my generation as continuing governments tried to get as much of our wages as they could without too much objection, and always with some excuse like a deficit that is always inherited from the previous government, never caused by the one in power no matter how many years apart their terms in power were.

Every time the public thinks they have paid enough, and things are on the up, the powers that be come up with some disaster to prevent the poorer of the nation bettering themselves in any way, but always ensure that their prowess is never halted.

This time when public spending was rising too fast,and things looked promising, the situation did not suit the financial wizards so they construed a collapse of the banking system as an excuse to fleece us of more money, and get us to accept it because they said there is no other way out.

Banks suddenly collapsing that were accused of monopolizing in the years previous to the construed collapse. Money suddenly disappeared from a healthy economy to where?
Bad debts are no answer as we are hounded to pay off any bad debts in our world.

Money was scavenged from our accumulated taxes to bail out the banks, and when that wasn't enough to satisfy the financial world, more money appeared out of somewhere to land us in supposed deeper debt.

If the money came from an international fund that all countries contributed to, why do we have to pay so much interest on borrowing money from our own fund?
Most countries are in the same predicament so why not just pay back the money we took out of the fund that we are probably still making new contributions to, allowing the economy to recover quicker with less burden on the taxpayer?
Why if it was a loan to bail out the banks, did they not borrow the money instead of the taxpayer, and why if it was a loan, is it not being paid back in monthly installments like we have to if we borrow?

The situation as it is all adds up to a rip off, but we as a people have had enough of being ripped off.

This time the public are no fools and realize how dishonest politicians are, and if they push us too far we will push back.
The french are already protesting, as are other European countries, so if the powers that be think that the public are going to fall for their con this time they have another think coming, and will have more than a construed deficit to contend with.

Promises made to my generation of a well earned rest with less money worries in retirement was taken away when the last government raided and ruined our private pension schemes, funds they encouraged us to save to provide US with extra money in our old age NOT to provide THEM with more money by robbing the very funds they suggested we accumulate, also by failing to keep any of the other promises that were made to us while we cleared off the country's debt, or accrued money for them to pocket as was the case.

The up and coming generation should know by now that even if this supposed debt we are in is cleared off, their future will be no brighter than ours, as another collapse or disaster will be construed to satisfy the powers that be.
When I speak of the powers that be, I do not mean the political puppets we elect, I mean the money men of this world who really run the countries and financial situations around the globe, the same financial wizards whose power even the political puppets fall under whether they realize it or not.

Whatever, we the new pensioners of the world, in our lifetime, are having to cough up to pay for debts from wars, and now have to suffer in our retirement to pay once more for the rich to get richer.

I might be too old to join the revolution but I am not too old to support it.

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Poverty for pensioners thanks to Browns plunder.

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Here is an item I read in yahoo about pensioners, I think it was published in "THE TELEGRAPH" newspaper.


Myra Butterworth, 22:23, Monday 26 April 2010

Couples need to budget nearly £600,000 to cover the cost of their retirement, new figures have disclosed.

It means each pensioner needs an income more than double the basic state pension just to cover everyday costs such as food, petrol and clothing.

The annual expenditure is a third higher than five years ago, with retiring workers hit by a double whammy of falling income from their pensions and rising costs.

Laith Khalaf, a pensions expert at wealth managers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Millions of people are sleepwalking into an impoverished old age. You cant expect to spend twenty or thirty years in retirement without stashing away a substantial amount of money while you are still working."

The latest figures, compiled by MGM Advantage, suggested the average household needs £564,227 to cover the cost of the first 20 years after quitting the workforce.

The calculation is based on annual household expenditure for those aged 65 to 74 at £23,107, compared with £14,926 for those aged 75 and over. Five years ago, the figures were £17,737 and £11,700 respectively.

The higher cost of living in London means an average retired couple needs a total of £668,553 over 20 years while the lower cost of living in the North East means households need £473,178.

Chris Evans, chief executive of MGM Advantage, said: "There is significant pressure on pensioner income. Those people retiring today can expect to live for twenty years but with annuity rates falling and the cost of living rising, funding retirement is a difficult task.

"With such large regional discrepancies in the cost of living in retirement, we wouldn't be surprised if more people considered relocating to other less expensive parts of the country in order to search out a better quality of life.

As expenditure has risen, pension incomes have declined as investment companies factor in the cost of the aging population and lower returns during the financial crisis.

A pension pot of £564,227 currently secures an annual income of £35,806, compared with £37,656 five years ago, according to Hargreaves Lansdown.

The basic state pension of £97.65 per week equates to £10,155 per year for a couple in retirement.

Only the very wealthy and those in the public sector with generous gold-plated schemes can guarantee a financially secure retirement, experts said.

Ros Altmann, a pensions expert and governor at the London School of Economics, said: "We have a real pension crisis and politicians have not woken up to it. Most peoples pensions are not going to deliver the figures they would have expected when they first started saving unless of course, you happen to work in the public sector."

Separate research by equity release specialists Key Retirement Solutions suggested pensioners are entering retirement with average debts of £36,000, including credit cards, loans, mortgages, and overdrafts.

With more immediate financial concerns such as avoiding having their homes repossessed and covering the cost of rising petrol bills, charities said households were failing to save enough for their retirement.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, said: "This report is another powerful reminder of the need for adequate pension provisions. Its not surprising many people are shocked by the drop in income and standards of living they experience at retirement."


Gordon Brown still has no conscience about his plundering of the pension funds which added to pensioners problems.
We did our bit to keep the pensioners that were around when we were working, with the pledge that we would be looked after in our retirement but quite the opposite has occurred.
We are among the poorest pensioners in Europe, with our savings for retirement in private, or work pensions, taxed three times before it reaches us, and a state pension that is impossible to live on thanks to Margaret Thatcher doing away with the earnings related pension, and Labour plundering our pension schemes.
Why in the world should we vote for any of them?

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That controversial pension

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I was hoping that I wouldn't have to write about this subject again but as it keeps coming up I feel the anger rise once more.
I fear, I my be repeating myself but in any other occupation if you fail or misbehave, resulting in the sack you forfeit any pension accumulated throughout your working life which is a harsh but deserved punishment. Sir Fred Goodwin has not only ruined the Royal Bank of Scotland he has also ruined the lives of hard working people who saved for a WELL DESERVED pension and now with interest rates at an all time low face financial disaster as they watch their savings disappear.
It is little wonder that 100% of the population do not want Sir Fred Goodwin to receive his £650,000 a year pension made up from their taxes.
If the taxpayer have not baled out the bank and helped to clear up the mess he left there would be no money for his pension anyway. Other people's shares disappeared and they are now left with nothing so we have to ask again. WHY IF EVERYONE INCLUDING GOVERNMENT MINISTERS ARE AGAINST THIS IS IT STILL GOING AHEAD.
There was no new contract agreed with us and as the main shareholders our wishes should be adhered to. Let him sue if he wishes he hasn't got a leg to stand on. (If the public had their way that could be literally).
As this arrogant tube is a buddy of Gordon Brown are we just being led up the garden path again?

more abuse of tax payers money

I am venting my anger today at the ludicrous decision of the British legal aid system who has awarded an (ex policeman)but always will be dangerous rapist the sum of one hundred thousand pounds to appeal against his pension being reduced by one third. This is another example of lowlife being taken by the hand and the tax payers money being used for a cause that should not be considered in the first place and for scum taking advantage of a system that they have no right to. This arrogant rapist committed these crimes while in the guise of a police officer when all the time he was abusing his position to violate the chastity of innocent timid women who are supposed to rely on the law to protect them. In this case the law has abused them in more ways than one, firstly by the scum that raped them then, by the legal aid system who awarded the money, and thirdly by the legal system that allows vermin like that to appeal against anything. The tax payers money that is wasted on these criminals who are convicted (without a doubt) is a disgrace to the British legal system as not only are the legal aid funds being abused, the courts are getting tied up with cases that do not warrant a hearing and, adding all the expense this entails proves our money is being frittered away on scum, outraging the people who contribute the money for people who really warrant it.
All too often, immediately a criminal is convicted an appeal is lodged by his lawyer pleading his innocence and with little new evidence another court and another load of tax payers money is used needlessly only to put the scum back where they belong BEHIND BARS WITH NO LUXURIES, (but sadly they do get luxuries). The scum who is trying to reinstate his full pension should be refused point blank, castrated to take the arrogance out of him and give the women he raped a sense of justice. Another point that should be looked at is the jobs of the idiots who awarded this sum, if they are dishing out our money as easily as this they should be sacked. There is NO way that these scum deserved our money and in any other occupation I know of, that particular person would not even have received a pension from the conributions HE made never mind a full pension.
It is time the victims in this country were considered and the abusers given the punishments they deserve.

pensions

The whole idea of work pensions is to give you a little bit extra to survive on during your retirement years but unless you have a substantial pension like a government minister or some other job with an over inflated rate the benefits are nullified by the crippling taxes of this country added to by the absence of other advantages that are disallowed because our meagre pension takes us just over the qualifying level to warrant these benefits we contributed to all our working life.The works pension that was supposed to benefit us in our old age becomes more of a hindrance at times rather than serve the purpose it was meant to.
Britain has the poorest old age pensions in the developed world and most of our pensioners struggle to survive each week but their plight is only mentioned by politicians when an election is drawing near then, the promises made are put on the back burner again. We paid tax on the money before it went into the pension fund, we pay tax on the money we get out of the pension fund and to top it all Gordon Brown robbed the pension funds by taxing them on interest gathered putting them all in jeopardy of going broke. If the pension funds had been left the way they were before Gordon Brown plundered them the credit crunch and fall in the index would not have had such a devastating effect on them and the restructuring of them would not have been needed. People seem to have forgotten that the pension funds were going along quite nicely until Brown decimated them and its only since then that they are all in dire straights. By the time they retire THEY have already feathered their nests by one devious scheme after the other (with our contributions) and on top of that they still receive a ridiculous pension so they have no need to worry, and do not really care about the poverty of our struggling pensioners, THAT is plain to see when we come out the poorest pensioners in the developed world.