Is It Now Time That This Foreign Aid Madness Was Ended?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/foreignaid/article-3520878/A-nation-roars-official-foreign-aid-e-petition-biggest-newspaper-fastest-100-000-secured-Commons-debate-YOU.html

[-Talbot-]

You're a week late AOG. http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1482528.html


*It took less than 24 hours to reach the crucial target of 100,000 signatures*

I kept my eye on the petition ... it didn't get to the target in less than 24 hours

[ToraToraTora]

yes I agree sp but it would take about 50 years to implement, no government looks that far ahead!

[viv41]

I signed and sp , how do you propose to live when you are old, are you putting away money now ??

[sp1814]

viv41

I've got two company pensions.

When I was at school, my main worry was unemployment. After getting my first job, my main worry was having enough money when I retired.

So I always contributed a little extra from my salary into my company pension.

It meant forgoing a few luxuries for a while in my 20s, but you don't get something for nothing in this world.

[sp1814]

AOG

I suspect that your knowledge of the success or otherwise of the entire African continent is pretty slim.

I might be wrong of course.

I'd wager that upon reading this post, you'll fling yourself at Google, looking for links to prove your point, not realising that your point (that the whole continent has managed 'nothing') is for want of a better word...cobblers

[Old_Geezer]

Getting rid of state pensions just indicates that the government feels no obligation for the well being of citizens. If money for it is collected for the kitty then transferring responsibility elsewhere achives no benefit. Removal of both collection and cost cancel out.

One can remove winter fuel allowance t those retired in warmer climates as long as one is prepared to pay for extra monitoring and paying out summer cooling allowance instead. Folk pay in to cover bills in old age, they should be able to expect to be treated fairly when the time comes to be supported.

[viv41]

But not everybdoy can have company pensions and so rely on the state and also I hope you don't mean the pensioners get 'something for nothing'. My Dad for example paid his NI for all his long working life so he could get a dencent pension in retirement (in his 70's) and why shouldn't he have ..... I get tired of pensioners being picked on because of the state pension and if we didn't give so much foreign aid, our pensioners might not have to worry so much about keeping warm in the winter and so on.

[Old_Geezer]

I find it difficult to believe we can't afford the low level of charitable aid we presently send. That said it should be ensured it goes to valid uses which seems questionable at present. One wonders what ulterior motive is behind some of the spends.

[naomi24]

SP, //you don't get something for nothing in this world.//

People who won’t go to work do. However, those pensioners who have worked all their lives have paid for their pensions, just as you are doing.

[viv41]

Sorry OG, I think all the money should be spent here. We have homeless youngsters on the streets, families struggling to cope and future pensioners wondering how they are going to make ends meet! Not to mention the struggling NHS.

[viv41]

naomi - that's more or less what I told him. I think that comment was an insult !!

[sp1814]

naomi24

My point is - those who have paid NI contributions would receive their pensions.

However, I would propose that future generations fund their own pensions. Their NI contributions would be reduced so that they could fund their own old age.

Some people are not eligible for company pensions...that's true...but they will have the option to pay into private pension schemes.

[sp1814]

This is the reason why tackling pensions is an absolute necessity:

https://fullfact.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/benefits_and_tax_credits.png

[sp1814]

The UK has committed to spending 0.7% of its GDP, about £12bn, on foreign aid. It is said to be the first nation in the G7 to meet a target set by the UN 45 years ago.

Most of the money is spent by the Department for International Development (DfID). Three of its priorities for the year include helping to halve malaria deaths in 10 of the worst affected countries, immunise more than 55 million children against preventable diseases and encourage nine million children into primary school.

Last year, nearly 60% of the foreign aid budget went to developing countries as bilateral aid. About 40% went to big international organisations such as the UN and The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

That's from:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34176846

[sp1814]

I think that part of the problem we now have is the narrative that aid 'goes to corrupt African dictators, and the Indian space programme'.

I suspect the truth is a little different from what we are told in certain sections of the press.

[retrocop]

Nigeria is an oil producing country and they are incapable, due to their corruption, of turning a profit and being a successful African Nation. One of a few examples and yet we give them more monetary aid to line the pockets of the corrupt there still!

[retrocop]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/13/nigeria-oil-corruption-ridabu

[Old_Geezer]

IMO human beings have a moral responsibility to others regardless of where but practicalities dictate one gives priority to one's own nation first.

Folk already do fund their own state pension. The only factor being that today's collected tax is used to pay today's bills. Privatisation merely shifts responsibility from our government to individuals and commercial profit making companies. It doesn't reduce any costs.

[sp1814]

OG

Shifting NI contributions to the individual gives the employee greater responsibility in looking after themselves.

It takes away the burden of collecting and distributing these funds away from government and into the hands of pension companies.

[viv41]

Bur the state pension is NOT a benefit - people pay in for it and again, I use my Dad as an example!