IS THE UK A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY NOW ?

by Hairyhegoat 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  NewChapter

  Why do immigrants get blamed for being paid so little? Why don't the companies that extort work at slave wages get blamed? Why do the weak always get blamed as the rich keep all the money? If your businesses paid a fair wage this wouldn't be a problem. But they don't So maybe you could be mad at them. It's like blaming a woman for sexual harrassment because she is beautiful and tempted her harrasser. How will closing the borders prevent these businesses from sending jobs out of the country? It seems the problem is not with the immigrants but with the souless businesses.

  We have the same problems in America---but I'm not going to blame a poor class of people that are just trying to eat. I blame the companies that take advantage of their disadvantage. When things get scary, it's human nature to look for a group of people to blame even if they aren't the cause. Look for the cause and go after it. Germany suffered terrible economic crisis and it was easy to blame the Jews. It is flawed reasoning. But that is my opinion, of course.

  NC
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  NewChapter

  LOL Beks. I can't tell you how many times I've worked on a post and once posted I see you beat me and you usually say the same thing.
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  mummatron

  I can't see how working for £3.00 per hour is gonna make any of 'em rich... even if they work 3 jobs. But £3.00 per hour is probably a LOT more than they would get "back home"... where they were probably either starving... running from insurgents... dodging bullets... or hiding from bombs...

  It's a lot more complex than that. The majority of immigrants (in my area of the UK anyway) are from EU member nations who have the right to work here. Mainly from the newer EU states like Romania and Bulgaria where the cost of living is considerably cheaper than it is here. They come over, often 'seduced' by companies doing a mass recruitment drive advertising the jobs they have available here (not advertising them in the UK, or if they do, not offering them to UK candidates) with a 'golden hello' incentive which helps them to move here, pay the bond deposit on a rented house etc. BUT, these workers then get paid less than the minimum wage (the employers flaut the rules on pay & tax by whatever means possible to get staff at the cheapest rate possible) and find themselves stuck here where the cost of living is 2 to 3x higher than back home. You see them shopping in the supermarket with all the really cheap bread, noodles and tinned food in their trolleys because they can't afford much in the way of decent meat, fish, fruit or vegetables. They've been exploited, the locals have been denied work, everyone loses except the employer and the Inland Revenue.
• 

  Berengaria

  ((((((New Chapter)))))))

  Good folks gotta keep fighting! I can't tell you how inspiring it is to see your posts and know that there are others who give a darn!
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  AGuest

  we give billions to oil companies to drill oil.

  Dear Beks and NewChapter... peace to you, both... and thank you. Funny how no one mentioned that Big Oil reported, what, a 69% profit last quarter? 69%. Of a couple trillion dollars. How much is that, exactly? Even funnier is that every poster on this board, faced with the same circumstances as some of these immigrants, and certainly many 3rd Worlders... would do the exact same thing: cross whatever border, at risk of breaking whatever laws... perhaps even personal injury... or death... to feed themselves or their families. Oh, wait... maybe not: as dear Beks stated, "we" have our various safety nets (public housing, unemployment benefits, public health care and hospitals... not to mention insurance, workers' comp, social security, medicaid, food stamps, etc., which all of "us" can access... should the situation every warrant it).

  Good lordy, ya'll's piece of the pie can't be THAT small, can it?

  Again, peace... warm, covering, and all that... to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA
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  AGuest

  Thank you for shedding even more light on the matter, dear mummatron (peace to you!). Either way, as dear Beks said... the wrong folks are being blamed. Easier to do that, for some, though, eh?

  Again, peace to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA
• 

  mummatron

  Third world countries don't have things such as public housing, unemployment benefits or public health care and hospitals.

  True, but the Liberal Democrat & Conservative coalition government are making huge cuts in these areas in an attempt to reduce the huge deficit in public funds. Seriously ill patients are having to travel long distances for dialysis and chemotherapy because their smaller local hospices are being shut down. Unemployment benefit is roughly £60 a week - that will pay for a week's food for a family of 3 or 4 (and that's stretching the budget)and nothing else. When I was unemployed for 8 weeks, 5 years ago due to having been made redundant I had to survive on credit.

  Here's a crazy example for you: The government has cut funding for Breastfeeding Awareness week which is completely counter-productive to their money-saving efforts in the long-term as the more women who are encouraged and supported to breastfeed would mean that less funds would be required to be spent on treating diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer etc which breastfeeding can prevent.
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  NewChapter

  Geeez--Michelle Obama supported breast feeding and they painted her as the devil incarnate. In America, if a prominent person supports anything healthy, well then we live in a nanny state.

  NC
• 

  tec

  I don't think any country, where the average citizen owns a car or two, a tv or two, a computer or two, groceries on the table, games, toys, new clothes, etc, etc... can be considered third world. Even the less than average citizens, who have a place to live and food to eat and clothes to wear, have it better than the average person in a third world country. I think so, anyway.

  I agree also with the statement that the businesses are the ones who are hurting 'their own', by seeking out those who will work for less, just to feed and help their families. The businesses are the ones taking advantage of the foreign worker for their bottom line. Good point! Sometimes we just need to see that, to 'get' it.

  Peace,

  Tammy
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  Berengaria

  Here's a crazy example for you: The government has cut funding for Breastfeeding Awareness week which is completely counter-productive to their money-saving efforts in the long-term as the more women who are encouraged and supported to breastfeed would mean that less funds would be required to be spent on treating diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer etc which breastfeeding can prevent.

  Sure, but the formula companies profits might be threatened if the public is aware of how desirable breastfeeding is.