Minimum wage for young people is pathetic

I agree with all you have writen below aleedsfella, I was recently done by a speed camera. This goverment is not interested in the people, they just want to milk us for every pound they can get. This bilderberg group is the same as them illuminatti arnt they? I tell ya cuzz, this fine land of ares has turned into a facsist police state.

oh god don't get me started on the economy! the fact is that britain and most of europe are a spent force. we have no major industry left and no natural resourses left. People need to source their news from the net and not Browns Broadcasting Corperation or any of the other government controlled media. Their are no green shoots, the British economy is dead. the markets and banks are running purely on bailout money. The funny thing is that our economy is now almost totally dependend on consumer spending aka shopping, it is simply unsustainable, if the government stopped paying benefits and enforcing the minimum wage this country would grind to a halt. The government are just playing for time till the next election and who ever wins is screwed. 50% of money spent in some areas is state hand outs (jsa, income support, tax credits etc) they dare not turn the tap off.

I hear people asking if this will be worst than the 90's recession ? and the answer is! its the same recession! we never pulled out of it. they just masked it by creating the housing boom and then rolling out stupid amounts of credit. so they have been compounding the problem for over a decade. Quantitative easing aka printing money has never in the history of economics. this time last year the world was laughing at Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe and his Quantitative easing. That ended with hyper inflation, as it always does. why do the british public think it will work out for us ? it just devalues the money already in circulation! its insane. some may begin to think its deliberate, devalue the pound and hello the Euro! I could go on for ever on this subject but people need to form their own opinions. my opinion is that the rulers (and trust me its not our government) are crashing the economy so they can centralize everything one world bank and one world government. aka "The New World Order" and to be honest all the rubbish we argue about between our selfs about such as the battle of the sex's, race, class etc is simply to keep us busy with each other while the gov' carry on regardless

To anyone still in control of their own mind and who is willing to admit they may have been a bit of a mug! There is a free and legal download of a film/Doc called "Zeitgeist Addendum" if you have more brain cells than teeth you must watch it! I was furious after watching it! it explains the fractional reserve banking system and how we are all actually slaves to it! it was brought into existence to replace slavery. under the old system of slavery the slave owner had to feed, cloth and house his slave. now with the fraction reserve banking system the slaves feed cloth and house them selves. so watch Zeitgeist Addendum and if you want to dig deeper google/you tube............. "The Bilderberg Group" these people control you and your so called elected officials. its amazing how every elected head of state over the past few decades has become a Bilderberg member first ? Blair, Brown, Bush, Bush, Thatcher, Clinton, Regan.....the list is endless.the only person with the courage to try rebuff these people was John F Kennedy and he was shut up big style. And no i'm not a nut case I just question things! its unusual these days I know.

Aleedsfella only the likes of people like me and you can for-see the mess that this country is heading into, the government are now commited to paying all the wages to these administration jobs, not forgetting their pensions, and then there is the army of one-parent familys that they have encouraged over the years and the money it costs to keep them,
Quantitative easing is now Gordans only hope, what the country once borrowed yearly is now borrowed monthly, anyone who thought that their pile of cash in the bank was a good nest egg for the the future is in for a shock, as the way we are going, the £ is going to be worth less and less as the months of this depression drag on.

P.S. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation it would be £9-70 an hour now! not £5-73 as it stands now. Screw it! I withdraw my Labour and if more people would do so then CrashGordon and his pathetic party would have the kind of serious problem they deserve. oh and I hope you are all looking forward to repaying the bank bailouts, As it gonna mean two thirds of your income going to crashGordon and his banker friends in taxation.

minimum wage is a joke full stop! I am 38 years old and due to the current financial mess the industry I worked in for twenty years (printing) has collapsed. I now find myself out of work, I did try the min' wage. Fork lift driving for an agency, It was almost funny! I could not live on it I live alone in a rented flat since the divorce so all the bills are mine. Also 20% goes to the x wife. its a joke out their minimum wage is becoming the bench mark salary in this country. I for one refuse to play anymore, I did not run this country into the ground and I am not willing to grovel at the bottom of lifes ladder while the ba****ds who caused all this count their millions.
Their is alot of bad feelings out there to anyone unfortunate enough to loose their job. I have to question your thinking on the benefits system (I feel no shame I have payed into the system for 20 years. I view it as a tax rebate and two fingers to the government). But think about it! our country (well whats left of it) is diving fast into economic collapse and alot of people are attacking the benefits system? their are going to be lots more people loosing their jobs in the near future, and you seem to be determind to hack away at your only saftey I really do not understand the logic? Yes their are people who are lazy and will not work. But they are the minority and this insane attack on benefits will be turned on the majority. And if you want to look for the biggest drain on the state it the female! she pays in far less and takes out 3/4 of the kitty.... Family allowance, working tax credits, tax credits, single parent benefits etc. It's time to stop getting frustrated with life and knocking lumps out of each other, and time to get together and unite against the scum in westminster! they are the root of all our problems................Tony/Leeds/38/Retired

Minimum wage so very low?

Thanks for small mercy, some people would say.

Not me!

The people in control in Parliament, who have been a Labour Government, have done very little to help the people who put them there.

The Labour Government under Gordon Brown made the poorest people in the UK, even more poor, by increasing their tax from 10% to 20%.

How mad is that?

I lived separate from my parents at 16. I had rent and bills to pay, but my wages were too low for that, and I couldn't find another job, so I had to do overtime (which I got paid the same as my regular work for). I was doing 40 hours a week, and still struggling to get by. And, at 16, you're not entitled to any benefits unless you have kids or you've been kicked out by your parents. And you can't get a council house.

I was still paying taxes like everyone else though!

Isn't the minimum age, rate 5:52 or has that changed?

Tini, I totally agree with you and the person that wrote this gripe. It is an unfair law and should be changed so that people are not payed according to a persons age.

Personally I believe this practice is discrimination of age and the law should be challenged in the courts.

To: the Truth. The Whole Truth,

Just because you live at home does not mean you don't pay rent. A lot of parents do ask for thier children to pay rent if they are not in full time education and therefore should be able to earn a decent wage.