The “My Boy TM –mobile” is now fixed. It wasn’t fixed
cheaply, but then cars rarely are. Yesterday I mentioned that I was feeling a
bit iffy. I seem to have developed a bit of a sniffle. That’s a pain. I don’t
do illness very well.
And so to work. I suppose I should really
have gone on strike today like so many other people did. But I remember the
strikes of the seventies and eighties. People were on strike for months and achieved
very little.
Having said that, I support the principle of
today’s strike. There is a school of thought that the nation cannot afford the
public sector pensions. That may or may not be the case. I’ve seen evidence
from both sides of the argument; evidence that looks convincing for both sides
of the argument.
However from where I’m sitting, the bottom
line is that having let me pay for my pension for twenty nine years, it’s a bit
late for the government to now announce that they can’t afford it. They should
have priced it up right all those years ago. A bit like my mortgage endowment,
really(!)
And (to
all the nay-sayers) yes – you did read that right: “pay for my pension”. There is a perception that public sector
pensions are a freebie. They are not. If you want a public sector pension, you
have to pay for one. They might be a better deal that the private sector
pensions, but in my experience that is because a lot of people in the private
sector don’t bother to spend out on one…
The problem with public sector pensions is that in many of the schemes (I don't know about yours in particular) you don't pay for your pension, you pay for the pensions of those who have already retired as a result there is no pot of money to pay for future retirees. Whereas apart from big private sector schemes (which are being phased out because Mrs Thatcher buggered them up in the 1980's and Mr Brown made them worse on the 2000's) most private pensions are funded by the individual, my money goes into my pot. However I do agree with you the number of people and particularly young ones who opt out of the company scheme at work is mind boggling, but they may have something as if you prepare for your old age you are penalized by the state and rewarded by the welfare system if you don't.
ReplyDeleteBut the thing that catches in my throat is the Schools, we are penalized if we take Bon-bon out of school because we choose to, but the process is not reversed when they refuse her access to the school because the teachers choose to go on strike.