Apparently 20% of all the public sector workers in the UK went on stike today some 600,000 people over pensions
The government has been on the telly saying the cuts are fair, it is fair for people to pay more for less pension, it is fair for people to work longer etc etc.
The government could solve this issue very easily. Give public sector workers the option of going for a state pension or for a private pension. Simple. If they want to change over let them. Personally I don’t see what the fuss is. If people don’t like the state pension let them keep their pension contributions and go private.
What is the government’s reason for not giving people the choice?
Another thing you see on the news is people giving public workers a hard time, I just heard a BBC reporter asking a protester why should the taxpayer pay for your pension. Okay straw-man argument, that is not the issue.
The issue with this change in pension conditions is simply down to the fact that the government is going back on it’s word. If there was a private company that had hundreds of thousands of customers and came out and said look, we know we told you this 10 years ago or 20 years ago, but we need to change the product we said you would get for your money. You will have to pay more, get less and work longer.
I think people would be in the streets asking for the government to do something, people would be outside the companies headquarters looking for blood. And I think the majority of the population would support the people protesting.
Yet if it’s the government, they get a pass. Why? Why does the general population give the government a pass if they are going to screw over government workers. What is the mentality that supports people who protest against private companies but doesn’t care if the government shafts people?
To me it’s a fascinating question. Could it be that people don’t like paying taxes so they like to see people who get their taxes being paid less. Maybe people are glad that the government is not raising taxes and is hitting the government workers instead.
Could it be as simple as that, people support the government because the government is not coming after them for more taxes. I suppose it could be but I think it is more likely that people like to see public sector workers punished in a way.
Punished because government workers have decided to take on a job which does not add to the economy and a job which depends on the productivity of other people to support them. Maybe they think government workers are a drain on the economy and should be punished for taking that job.
(To be clear I class unproductive government workers as people who are not in operational roles)
If this is the case I can’t say I blame them. If no one wanted to work for the government the government would have to get smaller and therefore taxes would have to be reduced.
To get back to the original point, people should be given the choice of who provides their pension. And if people work for the government they cannot expect sympathy from the people who pay their wages (the taxpayer) if things are bad and their pay packages are shrunk. It was their choice to work for the government, they have to live with their choices.
Of course this doesn’t solve the problem. Even people who work for the private sector have to pay at least some of their wages to the government. And the government can decide to do the same thing to people in the private sector and as they do to the public sector.
Basically what it comes down to is that the government does not give people complete freedom so they have people by the balls. It is not like the private sector where you pay someone voluntarily and if you don’t like the service you can go somewhere else. The government forces you to buy their services whether you like the service you get or not.
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