Elderly 'should carry on working'
Sep 5 2008
David Blunkett wrote:
it should not be assumed the government had "prime responsibility" to support the elderly.
David Blunkett wrote:
"My presumption is this. That all of us, every one of us who is capable of doing so, should aspire to continue with some meaningful activity to the point of our incapacity overtaking us.
Work til you drop. Coming from one of the few people to benefit from a final salary scheme and who only was in post for a few years.
Sep 5 2008
#2
revol68 wrote:
If only we could find some meaningful activity.
Sep 5 2008
#3
Capitalists need to get more serious about global warming. How are they going to stick all us old farts out on ice floes when all the ice floes are gone?
Sep 5 2008
#4
LauritzTheAgitator wrote:
Capitalists need to get more serious about global warming. How are they going to stick all us old farts out on ice floes when all the ice floes are gone?
You're not thinking like a capitalist. Think of the money to be made on water wings and kayaks
Sep 5 2008
#5
My granda is 81 and only retired his lifelong building site job 2 yrs ago. He is hard as fuck though.
I on the other hand intend to contribute as little as possible to society, so it balances out.
Sep 5 2008
#6
You can get a full state pension with only 30 years NI contributions now. But not until, you're 68, looks like i'm going to have to try a lot harder to stretch out my studying.
Sep 5 2008
#7
Good luck with the efforts to spreadout your studies.
The situation with workers having to work longer and longer is of fundamental importance to the furure of the class struggle. Up until the beginning of this century most workers expected to work until they were 65 at most and this was one of the few 'benefits' that capitalism had to offer. Now this has gone out of the window. Now many workers will be working until they literally drop dead. If I remember rightly, most manual male workers on average die at 68. Thus, no break, no matter how brief, from wage slavery. The anger about this should not be underestimated.
Sep 5 2008
#8
Most manual workers are expected to be severely disabled by the age of 55, and life expectancy in deprived wards is 65, according to the report I scoured for freedom.
Sep 5 2008
#9
ernie wrote:
Good luck with the efforts to spreadout your studies.
The situation with workers having to work longer and longer is of fundamental importance to the furure of the class struggle. Up until the beginning of this century most workers expected to work until they were 65 at most and this was one of the few 'benefits' that capitalism had to offer. Now this has gone out of the window. Now many workers will be working until they literally drop dead. If I remember rightly, most manual male workers on average die at 68. Thus, no break, no matter how brief, from wage slavery. The anger about this should not be underestimated.
I'm pinning some of my hopes on Euromillions tonight.
I'm not sure how much anger there will be. I don't know many people who have much in the way of pensions or faith in what they do have.
Sep 5 2008
#10
Thank fuck for my castle
Sep 5 2008
#11
Shit I forgot the Euro millions this week. Last week I got my first ever ticket. If my work syndicate wins I will probably kill them.
Sep 5 2008
#12
Just pay me a pound every week and I'll throw bits of paper at you - in fact I'll go one better than the lottery and make it blank paper so you can actually use it.
Sep 5 2008
#13
Thank fuck I left england
Sep 6 2008
#14
I don't really see how a couple of years retirement make up for a long lifetime working in some shite job buying someone else their Jaguar! Our aim should not be to make reparation to people who have wasted their lives making widgets but to remake the world in such a way that work, leisure and life are not such firmly divided categories.
Defence of retirement age shows a startling lack of imagination...... let's pretend for a moment that a revolution could really change things and not just allow us enough time to enjoy the plastic patio furniture the (libcom) factory might give us when we reach 65.
Sep 7 2008
#15
fair point
If only we could find some meaningful activity.