Is 'benefit fraud' a serious problem for Britain?

Pure denial.

People use the blocking feature in different ways, some folks will block someone, then unblock them, then block them again - it's like a game.

Ghostie's plank doesn't work like this: you walk the plank you never come back. 

It's why I don't use it lightly.

The point that I'm emphasising is that the broken finger nail analogy is the one that's used for ruining the economy. People on welfare benefits may be reprimanded if found guilty of fraud, their names often end up in the local newspaper. Or even worse, on the tv.

I never hear of the people who owe £millions, or £billions receiving the same treatment.  I remember a tv documentary many years ago highlighting the scale of tax evasion.  If and when the culprits were ever cornered they'd be asked to 'make an offer'.  Jail, sanctions, court appearances and public humiliation reservd only for working class people.

Neither do I see tv programmes dedicated to exposing the extravagant lifestyles of the tax evaders who rob our economy of much needed revenue.  I'm sure many of us would like to see programmes such as 'Tax cheats street', showing these greedy bast1ds living an opulant lifestyle when A+E depts are running on a showstring.

I'd love to see programmes on the 'mansion class people', showing how little they pay, their life styles subsidised by some of the poorest people in society.  Maybe an investigative programme into why the taxpayer picks up the tab to pay for the maintenance of a 240 bedroom house that belongs to one of the richest women in the world.

  Remember the MP's expenses fiddle?  They were allowed to pay back the money they'd fraudulantly claimed, without being sanctioned, without being sacked for dishonesty.  The same people pass laws though that see working class people go hungry with stuid comments like 'we're all in this together'.  No we're not.  We never hear these people called scroungers or blamed for the problems in the economy, despite them and their class being entirely responsible and neither do we employ an army of people to snoop on them.

I hope Macky isn't thown off as he's being polite. I'd also like him to answer some of these points and possibly consider why many people find the difference in attitudes to rich and poor so appalling.  I'd especially like an explanation why it's the poorest named, shamed and blamed for the problems in the eonomy when it's obviously the fault of the wealthiest in society that cause infinitely more damage to the economy.

He hasn't been blocked - behaving like a bonehead isn't great but it doesn't contravene the rules either.

 “Scapegoating [is] the social process whereby the hostility and grievances of an angry, frustrated group are directed away from the real causes of a social problem onto a target group demonized as malevolent wrongdoers.”

 Anger and demonization are in integral part of any scapegoating strategy. It relies on the mobilization of popular hatred against its target. 

While the focus is on issues such as benefit fraud and other deflective issues, people seem to forget some of the more major issues which this lady below speaks about & contrasts the differences between benefit fraud and other types of fraud like banking fraud for example. 

Now THAT is my kind of woman.

She knows her history, she knows how Britain ticks, she knows how the world ticks, she knows what's right and what's wrong and I salute her.

Excellent!  Well Macky, any comments?  Maybe we need a few more snoopers employed to get these criminal scroungers in court instead of spying on poor people making a few quid to top up their miserable amount of benefit? 

And I'll wager four hundred doubloons that she knows how to handle a musket too!

Kayak, an eye opener?  Still blame the poor? 

pffft! You really think Kayak will be reading this?

The last I saw she was trying to blow holes in Siren with some kind of heat-seeking cannon - given that it's a ghost ship that's a bit like trying to shoot down a rain cloud with a fucking water pistol.

..or proving that poor people are wrecking the economy

Hah! And even as "HMS Britain" is being blown to bits around us:

benefit sanctions remove all income for first fortnight then after whilst sanction lasts income is at 40% of what it was

i know this from bitter experience mackytom

only ones sanctioned who get owt in first fortnight are those with children although they can only get hardship payment (the one at 40% of income)

hope this clarifys this

meanwhile fraudulent activities continue by big buisness in britain with many well known companies paying no corporation tax in last financial year

is justice too much to ask for ?

it seems yes as a poor person now cannot access legal aid , something i would gladly do is press civil case v multinationals defrauding to the tune of billions the countries in which they make their profits

As per usual Ghostliner's threads tend to initiate a little investigation & are thought provoking.

There are many underlying deeper issues other than the OP.

Such isssues as corruption, propaganda, manipulation, scapegoating, etc. 

The images below speak for themselves in my opinion as it shows the multinational companies influences working in co-operation with the govt. & forging policies to be meet specific ends.   

Y'mean we're getting lied to by the people who own everything to deflect attention away from themselves?  Nah, that must be a lie cos I read it in the newspaper....by journalists when writing stories make it short, make it sweet and make it up.

we live in a pseudo democracy. Unfortunately, there are millions who believe in the sham. Corruption exists elsewhere, so too propaganda, in other countries. Here? Many people do not question it or do not have the time, too busy caught up in the system.

How do you change human greed?   

I think you'll find your ship is no more. Sad to see it go but it was a luxury you couldn't afford. ;)

I'm actually looking to see if you blocked FB. You really shouldn't block him, his country has been through quite a lot lately. He is very intelligent and knows a lot of history. And don't forget that he has to translate most of what he says into English. Maybe it doesn't always translate well.

Either way, if you block those who disagree with you you'll have no debate and your thread will just end up being a couple of people who moan about everyone who owns their own house or a duck pond.

Life is not just rich and poor, there are a lot of people inbetween.

kayak, fb isn't French and he speaks almost perfect English when he wants to. He's been blocked becuase he trolls the same stuff on every thread and GL wanted a proper discussion here without stupid comments.  If you read back through the thread I think you'll see the only frivolous remarks are those by yourself.  There's lots of info here that you should read I think.

GL started the thread exactly because of some of the misconceptions about the economy, the poor and indeed the rich who had been escaping criticism by some, despite the obvious cause of the economic problems.  I'd ask you to read some of he excellent posts by others and then maybe comment.

I didn't watch the video. I've seen enough tv programmes about benefit cheats. I also think you'll find that the cases of benefit fraud don't account for benefit cheats. The benefit cheats are doing it legally and giving society two fingers. The ones that commit large scale fraud are usually claiming for multiple people that don't even exist.