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Loftgroov

Listed below are comments made by Loftgroov between Thursday, 29th January 2009 and Thursday, 18th June 2009.

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Reducing Sir Fred Goodwin's pension 11:56am on 18 Jun 2009 Murdoch1000 - But my understanding of the situation is that he got this large pension as a result of his "severence package". Had he been "sacked" rather than be invited to leave he would not have been entitled to this pension - or at least to the value that it represents.

He has been rewarded for failure. End of story.
Treasury wants to cut pensions tax break 2:03pm on 20 Apr 2009 #68 "With civil servants being vilified by the media as overpaid loafers, when most of them earn less than they would for similar jobs in the private sector, the only incentive for joining is probably the benefits. Take those away and who wants to be a civil servant."

Don’t you believe it.

The Civil Servants I know (who work in the MoD) are more than happy to just keep below the radar, such is the lifestyle they lead - and these are not senior people in the organisation. They broadly get 30+ days leave a year, a final salary pension, flexi time, repreated team building days (last one was actually all off sailing in Weymouth for 3 whole days at taxpayer expense), a 37 hour week, hardly any of what I would deem pressure in their job, concrete job security... and all for slightly less pay than what they’d get in the private sector as an equivalent – and I do mean slightly.

For some bizarre reason people do comparisons with Fred Goodwin. He is hardly your average private sector worker.

Many public sector workers I know are enjoying a serious gravy train. Many don't even realise it, and just think that what they do is what working for a living actually is - but these are those who've probably not hard private sector careers.

For the record, my last private sector pay rise was 0%, my last bonus was £200 (whoopie!), my annual leave is only 23 days, I have to pay into a stock market linked personal pension, 12 co-workers have been made redundant due to the recession, and I've never had an away day ever......

So I can think of many MANY reasons to be a local authority worker or a Civil Servant!
Treasury wants to cut pensions tax break 12:17pm on 20 Apr 2009 #33 - I think this needs to be turned into some sort of 'public awareness broadcast'. The BBC could screen it after Eastenders.
Treasury wants to cut pensions tax break 11:25am on 20 Apr 2009 #8 – “I do not resent those in the public sector who have a guaranteed pension, as it is merely compensation for an entire working lifetime of low pay and generally poor conditions.”

I don’t know what kind of swanky office you might work in, but I can assure you many in the private sector are not working under superb conditions or with great pay. I’ve worked in both public sector (for 5 years) and the private sector (3 years now). Quite the opposite is common, as most private firms look to cut back on all sorts in an effort to reduce their cost base.

By comparison, most public sector positions have quite good pay deals under Labour. I know that people doing my job (engineering) in the private sector are on broadly the same pay, perhaps very slightly less, but for more annual leave, flexi time, final salary pension – the works. Oh…and a far nicer and less stressed office working environment.

My Wife works in the public sector. Her last annual pay rise was 9%. In the large private sector company I work for, the average pay rise across the board at Xmas was 0% - nothing. There is a recession on and pay rises were ruled out. That would NEVER happen in the public sector…..

Believe me - there is serious scope to play with public sector pensions before many public sector employees become "worse off" than their private sector counterparts.
Treasury wants to cut pensions tax break 11:10am on 20 Apr 2009 Surely the main pension reform needs to be stopping final salary pension schemes for the public sector. These days it’s an absolute myth that those in the public sector get paid far less than those in the private sector. Sure, there are a few bigwigs in the private sector earning loads, but the average person isn’t.

Public sector employs are the non wealth generating part of the economy, although I accept they provide essential services. However, for this, they receive pretty much parity in terms of pay, more annual leave (usually), more “flexi time” and “training days”, and far greater job security. On top of that they ALSO get gold plated pensions at HUGE cost to the taxpayer in general.

Parity is needed in terms of pensions. Gold plated final salary schemes for the (now huge under Labour) public sector need to be scrapped. I can only imagine what a huge saving that would represent for the public purse. If they want to strike over it – let them – there is a recession on with half the private sector being made redundant, so plenty of people to fill their jobs of required.
Taxpayers to insure £500bn of bank assets 09:29am on 24 Feb 2009 So hands up then.... who voted Labour in the last GE then?

To all those that did I hope you're enjoying the multi-cultural, "diverse" and now bankrupt nation we've become.
Rock revival 12:48pm on 23 Feb 2009 I don’t see why the LTV issue is necessarily a problem as long as the borrower is prudent with their finances. I took out a 95% mortgage with Northern Rock about 4 years ago. I immediately chose to make overpayments of £100 a month over and above what I was required to pay in order to bring down the loan quicker over the longer term. I now have just under £9000 in overpayments to draw down upon on my mortgage alone should I ever need to should my financial circumstances take a turn for the worst.

It’s not the case that everyone who takes out a 95%-100% mortgage is some sort of debt-crazed irresponsible maniac, hell bent on defaulting on their loan. The so called affordability of mortgages problem is largely fiction. Many people can service a loan such as this quite easily. What’s needed is a step change in many people’s views about the quality of life they seem to think they are entitled to. You don’t HAVE to buy a new car, you don’t HAVE to go on expensive holidays, you don’t HAVE to buy designer clothes and handbags, you don’t HAVE to spend half the weekend in the pub paying £3-4 a pint. When a few more people learn to accept this you’ll see a few more people suddenly being able to service their mortgages quite easily
Bonus buck stops with Brown 11:26am on 06 Feb 2009 This issue of paying a bonus to the many because the problems were caused by a few is a total nonsense. They all work for the same company.

I work for a large engineering consultancy that has had to lay off 5% of its workforce due to the downturn. We got ZERO bonuses and ZERO pay rises this year, despite usually getting both in more prosperous years previously. This is despite many of us working in profitable sections of the company (my section turned a 9% profit in 2008 of a few million). The fact is the company as a whole has made big losses elsewhere meaning they are not in a position to reward staff with bonuses.

The bankers, even those who are on low/medium salaries, need to understand that their bonus is the fact they still have jobs. Their bonus is the fact they haven’t been made redundant! The problem is that for two long they have clearly considered their bonus to be some sort of divine right – payable regardless – whereas the very notion of a bonus is that it should be seen as a reward. You do not reward companies, and those that work for them, when you are -£8bn for the year…..
Blubbing bankers 1:00pm on 29 Jan 2009 #38 - Oh yes, I'm sure that would work just fine.

If it was as easy as just writing off debt to China, don't you think more countries would do it?

What do you think that would lead to in terms of a Country's credit rating? Which foreign investors would ever.... EVER... put money into that country again?

And in respect of China, a nuclear power, it wouldn't exactly lead to get relations would it - if you catch my drift.
Blubbing bankers 12:58pm on 29 Jan 2009 "Blubbing bankers".

I can think of a word that rhymes with 'Banker' that would better describe the majority of the attendees.

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