Anyone else think the EU referendum is a complete scam?

Anyone else think the EU referendum is a complete scam?

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Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
The above thought jumped into my head again this morning watching the BBC news.

They were looking at the £150m or whatever it is that make up our net weekly contributions to the EU, and comparing them to weekly spending on other things such as defence, the NHS and Pensions.

Now, whether you think the £150m we contribute every week to the EU is a good or a bad thing is totally up to you, but please don't state your positions on it on this thread, as there are plenty of other threads for arguing the toss over that already.

What it made me think was that whilst I, like everyone else, can daydream about what I'd do with £150m if I won the Euromillions on a quintuple rollover, it's actually a fairly trivial amount of money in the grand scheme of things. The NHS gets over £2Bn a week, and we spend something like £6Bn per week on pensions.

When the NHS was set up in 1947, it had an annual budget in today's terms of £15Bn.

When modern state pensions were introduced with a retirement age of 65, average life expectancy for a man was, err... About 65! Now it's around 79, yet our government has barely tinkered around at all with retirement ages.

Today, the NHS spends around twice as much as we give to the EU just to treat type 2 Diabetes! Again, this isn't a comment on whether or not we should be spending that money on the EU, so much as a question as to why on earth we are all getting animated by the question, when we're shelling out twice as much just to support people who've eaten themselves into a totally avoidable illness???

This also, to my mind, links to the whole other question raised in the EU debate - Sovereignty. What use is it having "Sovereignty" is the only options we have to vote for are identikit political parties who are terrified to do anything about the unsustainable monster that is State expenditure!

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that all Western political parties collude in private to create soap opera style dramas such as the whole Brexit question, just so that we the electorate have something trivial but headline-catching to talk about whilst closing our eyes to the much larger lunacy when we vote them back in.

Hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if Cameron, Obama, Merkel et al responded to the Iron Man "terrorist is actually actor" plotline with "Who the fk leaked our strategy to Hollywood!!!"

I reckon they all jump on a weekly conference call to agree just how sneering Juncker is going to be about Farage, or what demographic mix they need to blow up next month to make sure we ignore what's actually important!

Just how long are we supposed to carry on in this vein before the system collapses, whether we're in the EU or not?

We currently have a society where well over half of all households in the country are net recipients from the state, and where the tax burden on the top 1%, for all of Thatcher's headline reductions in income tax and the like, has risen from 11% when she came to power to 30% now! How long before the 1% think "fk this" and emigrate, and the whole system implodes in their wake?

Given the choice on June 23rd, I'd like to see boxes on the ballot paper that say "Yes", "No" and "fk off and actually fix the problems that really matter, you useless bunch of spineless, self-serving tossers!"

Derek Smith

45,512 posts

247 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
You've chosen the reductio ad absurdum argument in reverse.

Another way of looking at it - just saying, not supporting - is that we in this country have enjoyed peace and prosperity, albeit from a very low level, since 1945. So it could be suggested that we are doing something right.

You criticise our form of democracy. Yep, what you say is correct. Indeed some people have no chance of changing their representative, so for them a one-party state, with the added reduction of having just the one representative.

I don't think the money the EU costs is a major consideration for either side. No one I've talked to, except for a couple who swallowed the £350m a week and £55m a day, has been on other matters.

I was born in 1946. The country was broke. Not like it is now, but bankrupt. There was bread rationing, sweet rationing and more. One Christmas, I was given a banana (stolen from the docks - handy having an uncle who worked there) and ate half of it in front of my relatives as a treat.

In my lifetime I've not been required to fight in foreign wars, have had the protection of the law, was not treated as a second class citizen because of my racial makeup - although not all could say that then or now - and have had a more or less steady increase in my standard of living.

Despite me never having much in the way of consumer luxuries, I've got no complaints.

It has irritated me when politicians have wasted money for no other reason than political beliefs. The corruption of officials has always been a problem, and will probably remain so, but compared to the rest of the world, I think I'm quite well off socially.

One thing that does worry me is that my kids have all had the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty. That's changed. Equal opportunities should be the one thing that is to the forefront of politicians, even Blair and Cameron.

Overall, the UK's done things well over the years, and probably better than the efforts of politicians deserve.

The referendum for Scotland to go its own way was not unique in the world, but it was rare.

I would agree that this referendum is a political move, a poor decision by Cameron to fight of the imagined threat from the UKIP. But then, that's what politicians are for, to try and rescue us from their dreadful actions.


Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Derek Smith said:
One Christmas, I was given a banana (stolen from the docks - handy having an uncle who worked there) and ate half of it in front of my relatives as a treat.
You've got some pretty weird relatives if they thought watching you eat half a banana was a treat! hehe

Derek Smith said:
It has irritated me when politicians have wasted money for no other reason than political beliefs. The corruption of officials has always been a problem, and will probably remain so, but compared to the rest of the world, I think I'm quite well off socially.
If by that you mean we're less corrupt than most societies, I'd agree with you. If, on the other hand, you mean you've got a nice social fabric to support you, I think that's the root cause of the problem! We all want the nice social fabric, and politicians buy our votes with the promise of delivering it, but everyone perceives "free at the point of delivery" to just mean "free".


Derek Smith said:
One thing that does worry me is that my kids have all had the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty. That's changed. Equal opportunities should be the one thing that is to the forefront of politicians, even Blair and Cameron.
This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Your children did not have the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty. They had the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty directly to themselves at the point of consumption. It still had to be paid for!

The current system is, to my mind, far, far fairer than the one when your kids and I went through Uni.

Back then, the taxpayer had to pay for our education, whether I went on to become something worthy but low paid, or massively well paid doing something that contributed little to society. Yes, we need the former, and it's fair that they should be funded by society, but why should society pay for the latter?

Students still get their education free at the point of delivery today, and they only start to pay back their student loads if/when they start to earn over a certain amount. Earn less than this for long enough (ie, you're doing one of the worthy but low paid jobs), and society still picks up your tab. Earn more, and you pay back a percentage of your future earnings, which seems fair enough if you're earning more as a result of doing your degree. The only loophole I'd like to close is the matter of people getting their degree here and then avoiding paying back their student loan by leaving the country and coining it in elsewhere.

In the ideal world, I'd like to see something similar in healthcare too, where the cost of your treatment is subsidised to a greater or lesser extent depending on the level of your blame for your condition. Need a heart operation because you've got a congenital disease over which you had absolutely no control? Fully paid. Need it because you've stuffed your system full of fatty deposits over the years? That'll be £1,500 up front, please.

Collectingbrass

2,198 posts

194 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Napoleon said:
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence
Stephen Hawking said:
If the Government are covering up Aliens they are doing a better job of it than they do at anything else

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
They were looking at the £150m or whatever it is that make up our net weekly contributions to the EU,...
I wish those debating would stop talking in terms of the net contribution. If we leave we get to re-allocate the ENTIRE contribution. We currently pay a shed load of cash and then the EU decides on what 'worthy causes' it is reallocated to the regions.

If all the money stayed at home, then a UK government, delivering a manifesto it was voted in for, would allocate the entire tax take, not unelected commissioners with pet projects.

So we might decide, purely as an example, that UK farmers should sink or swim. The equivalent sum of all the CAP subsidies disappears. Or we might decide that the TUC should exist purely by virtue of the subscriptions its constituent members raise: goodbye subsidy, etc.

EnglishTony

2,552 posts

98 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
As long as Irish and Commonwealth citizens living in the UK can vote in it and some British citizens living in the EU etc for over 15 years can't the referendum is a scam.

That it appears to be being used by Boris Johnson to unseat his friend and become Prime Minister is distasteful and another scam.

That the Government is happy to use it to deflect the electorate's attention away from their appalling performance is a scam.

That the opposition is happy to use it to criticise the Govt without offering any valid alternative is a scam.

Which leaves us with the UKIP whose sad, deluded fantasies of a Britain without the EU demonstrate just how massively they have been scammed.

Not that scamming the electorate is anything new.




V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
EnglishTony said:
Not that scamming the electorate is anything new.
Democracy's a scam!

EnglishTony

2,552 posts

98 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
V8mate said:
EnglishTony said:
Not that scamming the electorate is anything new.
Democracy's a scam!
1 man,1 vote.

I'm the man, deal with it....

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
V8mate said:
Kermit power said:
They were looking at the £150m or whatever it is that make up our net weekly contributions to the EU,...
I wish those debating would stop talking in terms of the net contribution. If we leave we get to re-allocate the ENTIRE contribution. We currently pay a shed load of cash and then the EU decides on what 'worthy causes' it is reallocated to the regions.

If all the money stayed at home, then a UK government, delivering a manifesto it was voted in for, would allocate the entire tax take, not unelected commissioners with pet projects.

So we might decide, purely as an example, that UK farmers should sink or swim. The equivalent sum of all the CAP subsidies disappears. Or we might decide that the TUC should exist purely by virtue of the subscriptions its constituent members raise: goodbye subsidy, etc.
This thread isn't debating membership of the EU though. Make it £300m if you prefer. It's still a relatively trivial amount in the grand scheme of things, and the point was to ask why we're so animated about this one small part, and perfectly happy to ignore the much, much bigger stuff.

It's like going to the doctor and saying "I don't want to talk about my cancer, I insist you fix my piles instead!"

mondeoman

11,430 posts

265 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
Derek Smith said:
One thing that does worry me is that my kids have all had the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty. That's changed. Equal opportunities should be the one thing that is to the forefront of politicians, even Blair and Cameron.
This is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Your children did not have the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty. They had the possibility of choosing further education without financial penalty directly to themselves at the point of consumption. It still had to be paid for!

The current system is, to my mind, far, far fairer than the one when your kids and I went through Uni.

Back then, the taxpayer had to pay for our education, whether I went on to become something worthy but low paid, or massively well paid doing something that contributed little to society. Yes, we need the former, and it's fair that they should be funded by society, but why should society pay for the latter?

Students still get their education free at the point of delivery today, and they only start to pay back their student loads if/when they start to earn over a certain amount. Earn less than this for long enough (ie, you're doing one of the worthy but low paid jobs), and society still picks up your tab. Earn more, and you pay back a percentage of your future earnings, which seems fair enough if you're earning more as a result of doing your degree. The only loophole I'd like to close is the matter of people getting their degree here and then avoiding paying back their student loan by leaving the country and coining it in elsewhere.
Back in the day though, there wasn't the proliferation of "nonsense" degrees - most were vocational (no yoghurt knitting etc...), but lots of engineering, and a focus on quality degrees, not quantity (wasn't it something like only 5-10% went on to FE?). So, for the country, it was a price worth paying. And the expectation was that better educated would earn more, and pay more tax, therefore repaying the investment.

Now though, with, what 50+% expected to go on to FE, doing sports injury degrees, then I'd agree, that no, its not a price worth paying. Perhaps we should move back to funding all "worthwhile / vocational" degrees and a limited number or english / history / arts types. Might help.

cymtriks

4,560 posts

244 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
Kermit power said:
Derek Smith said:
One Christmas, I was given a banana (stolen from the docks - handy having an uncle who worked there) and ate half of it in front of my relatives as a treat.
You've got some pretty weird relatives if they thought watching you eat half a banana was a treat! hehe
You're too young to remember real shortages aren't you?

These are things that I remember old people telling me were treats in the 30's / 40's

An egg
A cup of hot milk with cinnamon and nutmeg
Fudge made of mashed carrot
A Woolton Pie (vegetable peelings in gravy)
"Wine" made out of any old vegetable
Chocolate truffles (made of 3 tablespoons of dried milk, 2 of sugar and 1 of cocoa - that's all)
A bananna

I've actually had some of this stuff and, trust me, granny's cooking is not best if you want taste. But if you are nearly starving Granny did know how to make everything go far enough to stop you actually starving, which explains what those "treats" were about.

Sorry to go off topic smile

wc98

10,334 posts

139 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
cymtriks said:
Kermit power said:
Derek Smith said:
One Christmas, I was given a banana (stolen from the docks - handy having an uncle who worked there) and ate half of it in front of my relatives as a treat.
You've got some pretty weird relatives if they thought watching you eat half a banana was a treat! hehe
You're too young to remember real shortages aren't you?

These are things that I remember old people telling me were treats in the 30's / 40's

An egg
A cup of hot milk with cinnamon and nutmeg
Fudge made of mashed carrot
A Woolton Pie (vegetable peelings in gravy)
"Wine" made out of any old vegetable
Chocolate truffles (made of 3 tablespoons of dried milk, 2 of sugar and 1 of cocoa - that's all)
A bananna

I've actually had some of this stuff and, trust me, granny's cooking is not best if you want taste. But if you are nearly starving Granny did know how to make everything go far enough to stop you actually starving, which explains what those "treats" were about.

Sorry to go off topic smile
might save the nhs a fortune if we went back to similar diets .

Kermit power

Original Poster:

28,634 posts

212 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
cymtriks said:
Kermit power said:
Derek Smith said:
One Christmas, I was given a banana (stolen from the docks - handy having an uncle who worked there) and ate half of it in front of my relatives as a treat.
You've got some pretty weird relatives if they thought watching you eat half a banana was a treat! hehe
You're too young to remember real shortages aren't you?

These are things that I remember old people telling me were treats in the 30's / 40's

An egg
A cup of hot milk with cinnamon and nutmeg
Fudge made of mashed carrot
A Woolton Pie (vegetable peelings in gravy)
"Wine" made out of any old vegetable
Chocolate truffles (made of 3 tablespoons of dried milk, 2 of sugar and 1 of cocoa - that's all)
A bananna

I've actually had some of this stuff and, trust me, granny's cooking is not best if you want taste. But if you are nearly starving Granny did know how to make everything go far enough to stop you actually starving, which explains what those "treats" were about.

Sorry to go off topic smile
Indeed so. My father will never forget the day my Gran won an egg in a raffle. She proudly boiled it and served it to him, only to discover as soon as he cracked it open that it was off! hehe

Mr GrimNasty

8,172 posts

169 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
If you haven't tried a 1941 vintage of rhubarb wine, you haven't lived.

SPS

1,306 posts

259 months

Wednesday 25th May 2016
quotequote all
We stay in we get screwed - we leave - we get screwed.
The political "elite" and crew, billionaires and multi nationals will always win.
Simplesssssssssss!

Guybrush

4,330 posts

205 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
Yes, the country was broke in 1946. Broke from war, a war to fight off a dictatorship which wanted to rule us all... rolleyes

Oceanic

731 posts

100 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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When your local MP (Conservative) can't answer basic questions on what would happen post BREXIT you do have to wonder why this referendum is happening so soon.

e21Mark

16,205 posts

172 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
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I'm still trying to work out how those in government can be proven to be liars and hypocrites yet remain in power, as if nothing ever happened? Are they Teflon?

Halb

53,012 posts

182 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
INertia and the human need for stability.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
Having the chance to vote in or out isn't a scam, unless you believe the Government will fail to put into effect an out vote.

The scam is the more and more ludicrous projected effects put out by the in brigade which are immediately belittled as nonsense by the out brigade.

I bet most of the public is now more confused than ever.