Expensive expenses

[Johnmelad502]

The problem is that MPs are well underpaid. Dentist £100k. GP £120k Head of local authority up to £240K. MP - £64k. Pay them more and they won't need to claim daft expenses.

Dentist and GPs spend years at study and then have to pass seriously difficult exams, MPs just get voted into their jobs. Big difference.

Head of LAs get what their under-performing councils will give them, not their money is it and they have no shareholders to answer to.

 

[joe-90]

Many MPs are QCs and lawyers earning far more in the real world than dentists. They need paying for the skills they bring.

 

[bengasman]

Many MPs are QCs and lawyers earning far more in the real world than dentists. They need paying for the skills they bring.

very true.
And if you are not satisfied with the pay, you should lobby for an increase, not defraud the system.

A lawyer should know what it means when the book says:
necessary for the work
value for money
beyond reproach
etc.

I am a plumber, and I use my internet connection for a substantial part to collect knowledge for my work. But I can only claim a small amount of my tax for it. No way could I claim two and a half thousand quid for a telly. No way is that justified for a mp either.
When the banking trouble started, Gordon climbed on his high horse and talked about:

the moral compass

Methinks he is going to eat those words.

£6000 cleaning bill?
Claiming a mortgage you don't have?
Claiming 20,000 for a house that your spouse already claims for?
Cleaning your moat??? I don't care if your moat has mud 20 foot deep, it does not hinder your work in your constituency.

 

[Johnmelad502]

When the banking trouble started, Gordon climbed on his high horse and talked about:

the moral compass. Methinks he is going to eat those words.

A moral compass will only work if you actually have any morals. MPs and solicitors, of course don't have any.

How many solicitors does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. One to climb the ladder, one to shake the ladder and one to sue the ladder company.

 

[bengasman]

I am benefiting form all this. Plumbers used to be the baddies.
We are now waaaaaay passed by politicians, bankers and lawyers.

 

[joe-90]

30 years ago MPs were paid the same amount as a GP. Today they get half of what a dopey GP gets. MPs are important people - they manage the country. They should be paid a reasonable wage for doing that. GPs earn £120k - so should MPs.

 

[Johnmelad502]

30 years ago MPs were paid the same amount as a GP. Today they get half of what a dopey GP gets. MPs are important people - they manage the country. They should be paid a reasonable wage for doing that. GPs earn £120k - so should MPs.

GPs save lives, MPs save money by getting you and me to pay for their second homes etc.

Whatever it is you are taking, I don't want any.

 

[bengasman]

... MPs are important people - they manage the country...

Tell you what, I know a lot of people who can manage a country into a multi-trillion pound debt, with a collapsing economy, unemployment at record highs, and crime so far off the scale that the police officially don't investigate anymore, but send a civilian girl around so you can get your crime number.

In fact, I can do that all by myself without the help of 600 mp's.

If, on the other hand, there is a group who can SOLVE those problems, I'd be quite happy if they got per month what these muppets get per year.

 

[joe-90]

That's the fault of democracy - not those elected. We need higher taxes, lower wages etc - so which party would you elected to deliver that? They'd never get elected. Democracy is government via popularity - not doing what is right for the country. The system was bound to fail. We've had a ten year party under New Labour - now we have to pay for it.

 

[dextrous]

30 years ago MPs were paid the same amount as a GP. Today they get half of what a dopey GP gets. MPs are important people - they manage the country. They should be paid a reasonable wage for doing that. GPs earn £120k - so should MPs.

Or, GPs should get 60k!! It's all our money, after all.

 

[bengasman]

... The system was bound to fail. We've had a ten year party under New Labour - now we have to pay for it.

And it will be a lot more than a decade before this mess is sorted out.

The problem with higher taxes, and we already pay more than ever in history, is the Sweden/Holland result. You get an enormous outflux of top people.
What we need, is cutting the unnecessary parts of government spending.
How many billion was that for an abandoned nhs computer?
Olympic bill estimated at 4 billion, and quite possibly exceeding 14 billion.
6 billion for id cards, that will not stop a single terrorist, because it is politically correct to give anyone 24 hours to show it.
"Erh, Sir, you look a bit like Bin Laden"
No officer, my name is Rashid.
"Can I see your id card?"
No officer, can I show it tomorrow?"
"yes that will do fine."

Honestly..

 

[joe-90]

We are living beyond our means. We need higher taxes and less wages. Less borrowing and living on credit. We need to turn the clock back 50 years and live frugally as we did when i was a kid. We need less people and a smaller economy. Get out of Europe.

 

[bengasman]

Or, GPs should get 60k!! It's all our money, after all.

Free market is what I say.
If you are a shyte gp, 60K is still too much. If you are really very good, they got my blessing to make £160k.

I don't trust the nhs as long as between 5000 and 10000 people a year die from mistakes and poor management. It ain't cheap, and certainly not free, but I'd rather pay for my medical care out of my own pocket, than having to go to a nhs doctor and spend 4 hours in a waiting room between the rabble.

 

[bengasman]

We are living beyond our means. We need higher taxes and less wages....

I sincerely doubt that you have a clear idea how much tax we are paying already. Take a wild guess.
The average was published just this week, together with the prognosis for next year. Scary.

 

[joe-90]

I think it's somewhere around 60 - 65 %. Whatever it is we need to pay either more tax or cut fat cat wages. Head of BBC on £609,000. Ridiculous.
You'll find it pretty hard to find any senior manager in the BBC or NHS that doesn't earn double what an MP earns.