Despise is not the word.

[Nick]

FFS Just how many times do they have to be posted so they stick in your memory?

Either post the links or don't. If you don't then the post is meaningless.

[papasmurf]

Any links? Official figures?

FFS Just how many times do they have to be posted so they stick in your memory?

[Nick]

The level of welfare fraud is low enough that more is lost through simple errors.

Any links? Official figures?

[srb7677]

Depends how you look at it.

I have dealt with families that have at least three generations on the dole and have probably been working the system since the introduction of the the Poor Law in 1601. Those folk aren't scamming a couple of quid a time. They are collecting unemployment benefit and housing allowances and avoiding the community charge and contributing nothing to the NHS or schools or such. And the bloke who is paying for that is not Mr Megabucks but you. The reason you have to work such long hours is so that someone else can sit on his arse and rip you off.

Tell you something else Steve. One day one of those billionaires will think mmh, I just fancy a knighthood. So he will endow universities and art galleries and such and try to show one and all what a good bloke he is. And you will think what an arse hole. But at least you will have the chance to raise your head from the gutters of self pity and see what is and might be.

But all those dole bloggers will just look at you and think what a dick. 

The rich generally choose to steal or evade far more than the poor do per capita. The level of welfare fraud is low enough that more is lost through simple errors. And the DWP investigators cost more than they save, but are simply politically necessary. Any poor person thought to be working the system is simply more obvious to the working poor who often live amongst them. But the big losses are those stolen by the rich. But neither you nor Nick will ever want to acknowledge that, or if you do you will attempt to justify or excuse it.

Besides, the real people leeching  vast sums from the working poor whilst sitting on their arses and not so much welfare claimants but greedy landlords.

[Nick]

Depends how you look at it.

I have dealt with families that have at least three generations on the dole and have probably been working the system since the introduction of the the Poor Law in 1601. Those folk aren't scamming a couple of quid a time. They are collecting unemployment benefit and housing allowances and avoiding the community charge and contributing nothing to the NHS or schools or such. And the bloke who is paying for that is not Mr Megabucks but you. The reason you have to work such long hours is so that someone else can sit on his arse and rip you off.

Tell you something else Steve. One day one of those billionaires will think mmh, I just fancy a knighthood. So he will endow universities and art galleries and such and try to show one and all what a good bloke he is. And you will think what an arse hole. But at least you will have the chance to raise your head from the gutters of self pity and see what is and might be.

But all those dole bloggers will just look at you and think what a dick. 

Fantastic post, unfortunately SRB will not recognise any of that as being real.

[Borchester]

No kind of fraud is ok, but the bigger the fraud the bigger the problem. Someone already rich dishonestly avoiding large sums in tax or scamming people or whatever it may be to the tune of millions is obviously a much bigger problem than someone fraudulently claiming an extra £20.

Depends how you look at it.

I have dealt with families that have at least three generations on the dole and have probably been working the system since the introduction of the the Poor Law in 1601. Those folk aren't scamming a couple of quid a time. They are collecting unemployment benefit and housing allowances and avoiding the community charge and contributing nothing to the NHS or schools or such. And the bloke who is paying for that is not Mr Megabucks but you. The reason you have to work such long hours is so that someone else can sit on his arse and rip you off.

Tell you something else Steve. One day one of those billionaires will think mmh, I just fancy a knighthood. So he will endow universities and art galleries and such and try to show one and all what a good bloke he is. And you will think what an arse hole. But at least you will have the chance to raise your head from the gutters of self pity and see what is and might be.

But all those dole bloggers will just look at you and think what a dick. 

[Nick]

Someone already rich dishonestly avoiding large sums in tax

So you don't like tax avoidance? Unfortunately for you it's legal, I've based my career on it. Benefit fraud on the other hand is illegal whether it is 20 quid or 20,000 quid.

[T00ts]

Isn't stealing stealing whatever the sum?

[srb7677]

That makes benefit fraud OK then does it?

No kind of fraud is ok, but the bigger the fraud the bigger the problem. Someone already rich dishonestly avoiding large sums in tax or scamming people or whatever it may be to the tune of millions is obviously a much bigger problem than someone fraudulently claiming an extra £20.

[Nick]

At least lifestyle dolites don't con people out of as much money as bosses of crooked businesses or outright scammers.

That makes benefit fraud OK then does it?

[HDQQ]

I think we all believe in a safety net system as none of us know what's around the corner. It's the lifestyle dolites that I can't abide.

At least lifestyle dolites don't con people out of as much money as bosses of crooked businesses or outright scammers.

[Nick]

I believe in helping those who have hit hard times, but the real shirkers out there do need a kick up the arse occasionally.

I personally do get off my arse and earn a living. I work often long hours, usually take only one day off a week, pay my taxes and claim no benefits. I am one of life's workers, but believe in a safety net being there if we need it. After all, we are most of us only one life changing medical disaster away from needing it.

As for the financing of it, I believe in that being progressive and reasonably proportionate, the more you earn the more you pay - but also conveniently forgotten the more you keep as well.

I think we all believe in a safety net system as none of us know what's around the corner. It's the lifestyle dolites that I can't abide.

[srb7677]

SRB doesn't see the dole as free stuff, he see's that the great unwashed's right.
Free stuff has to be ripped out of the hands of the rich to qualify.
Getting off your arse and actually earning a living doesn't seem to be deemed a respectable form of funding your lifestyle either.

I believe in helping those who have hit hard times, but the real shirkers out there do need a kick up the arse occasionally.

I personally do get off my arse and earn a living. I work often long hours, usually take only one day off a week, pay my taxes and claim no benefits. I am one of life's workers, but believe in a safety net being there if we need it. After all, we are most of us only one life changing medical disaster away from needing it.

As for the financing of it, I believe in that being progressive and reasonably proportionate, the more you earn the more you pay - but also conveniently forgotten the more you keep as well.

[Nick]

SRB doesn't see the dole as free stuff, he see's that the great unwashed's right.
Free stuff has to be ripped out of the hands of the rich to qualify.
Getting off your arse and actually earning a living doesn't seem to be deemed a respectable form of funding your lifestyle either.

[Thomas]