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Andy Burnham promises to keep the state pension triple lock if he becomes PM

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066132953785118852?s=46&t=Gsn9rlDEZH5vXP97Cgifnw

Question. Is there any major politician committed to removing the state pension triple lock?

From what I'm hearing on this thread, doing so would be absolute political gold dust. I'm amazed all our politicians are failing to appreciate the magic.

you mistake PB for public opinion, not all out there have the mullah that posters here have.

Regular pb.com posters are overwhelmingly males over the age of 60 who either don't work, don't need to work, or officially work but barely bother.

Opinions tend to be conventional liberal centre-left, with a few exceptions.

Except I could right now off the top of my head list out 50 regular posters who are not at all conventional liberal centre-left.

I'm not going to, all will be relieved to hear, but I definitely could.

Go on then. Name the 50.

Too torrid. But you'd be there obviously. And just from this page of this thread, so a tiny sample, Malcolm, Lucky, Blanche, Alga, RCS, Bart, TSE, Jim, Malmesbury, Contrarian, Williamglenn ... that's a dozen already.

Can't move for all you not-centre-lefters.

Andy Burnham promises to keep the state pension triple lock if he becomes PM

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066132953785118852?s=46&t=Gsn9rlDEZH5vXP97Cgifnw

Question. Is there any major politician committed to removing the state pension triple lock?

From what I'm hearing on this thread, doing so would be absolute political gold dust. I'm amazed all our politicians are failing to appreciate the magic.

you mistake PB for public opinion, not all out there have the mullah that posters here have.

Regular pb.com posters are overwhelmingly males over the age of 60 who either don't work, don't need to work, or officially work but barely bother.

Opinions tend to be conventional liberal centre-left, with a few exceptions.

Except I could right now off the top of my head list out 50 regular posters who are not at all conventional liberal centre-left.

I'm not going to, all will be relieved to hear, but I definitely could.

Go on then. Name the 50.

Andy Burnham promises to keep the state pension triple lock if he becomes PM

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066132953785118852?s=46&t=Gsn9rlDEZH5vXP97Cgifnw

Question. Is there any major politician committed to removing the state pension triple lock?

From what I'm hearing on this thread, doing so would be absolute political gold dust. I'm amazed all our politicians are failing to appreciate the magic.

you mistake PB for public opinion, not all out there have the mullah that posters here have.

Regular pb.com posters are overwhelmingly males over the age of 60 who either don't work, don't need to work, or officially work but barely bother.

Opinions tend to be conventional liberal centre-left, with a few exceptions.

Except I could right now off the top of my head list out 50 regular posters who are not at all conventional liberal centre-left.

I'm not going to, all will be relieved to hear, but I definitely could.

Burnham needs to win Makerfield. There's hardly any votes to be won there by saying he'd scrap the triple lock, but quite a few could potentially be lost.
I'd treat this pronouncement with a pinch of salt.

In a GE not one tory wanker on here would vote for Burnham if he did scrap the TL. It's a catastrophically bad net electoral negative for everybody but the Greens so they aren't going to promise to do it or actually do it,

This conservative and pensioner most certainly would vote to scrap TL

Indeed I would go further and ensure that the pension itself was not awarded to millionaires

Obviously I'm with the ob consensus that the triple lock is stupid, but I'm all in favour of a universal pension. Means testing the pension is a massive disincentive to saving.

It is simply not affordable and new thinking is required

Financial Year	State Pension Spending (% of GDP)	Notes
1948 (approx.)	2.0%	Post-war level of state pension spending
1991–92	4.0%
1992–93	4.0%
1993–94	4.0%
1994–95	3.9%
1995–96	3.9%
1996–97	3.8%
1997–98	3.8%
1998–99	3.9%
2000s (typical range)	3.3–3.7%	Broadly stable before the financial crisis
2021–22	4.8%	Latest historical figure from the State Pension Age Review
2031–32 (projected)	4.9%	Official projection
2041–42 (projected)	5.5%	Official projection
2051–52 (projected)	6.2%	Official projection
2061–62 (projected)	7.3%	Official projection
2071–72 (projected)	8.1%	Official projection

It's just about affordable if we get the dependency ratio back down towards 3.0, but at it's at the moment nudging 3.6 and heading for 4.0.

Solutions;

Mum's have more kids, but they can't afford to stay at home and we need the workers.

Better support for families, but people resent free child care, long maternity leave and tend to support the two child cap.

People having children at an younger age, but don't get me started on single mums or teenage pregnancies.

Higher immigration, particularly people with or wanting to have children; Coming over here stealing our jobs and living on benefits (at the same time?)

Seems all the neceasrry measure to rebalance the population are unpopular and keeping on ignoring it unsustainable.

Peter.

You seem to have omitted the glaringly obvious alternative solution of ...

Automation and efficiency, but people object to machines doing what people used to do.

Though we are going down that path. Which is not AI, it is just a continuation of automation that we have done and some have objected to since the age of the original Luddites.

And just exactly do you keep these revenue creating automated factories here generating taxes if unlike millions of people they can easily be moved anywhere?

Income tax works because most people realistically can’t leave their country despite all the people who are forever claiming they’ll leave if someone they don’t like gets elected.

Robots like Capital are far more liquid than Labour.

Then there is the second problem; Circulation.

Most businesses can be more efficient using technology and AI, they can make a higher margin from their customers, but they still need customers.

If machines replace workers, workers stop being consumers and if consumers can’t consume factories automated or not can’t sell.

It’s the underlying problem with fewer and fewer people controlling more and more wealth and trickle down.

If what trickles down isn’t enough to water the plant the plant dies!

Peter.

Andy Burnham promises to keep the state pension triple lock if he becomes PM

https://x.com/politlcsuk/status/2066132953785118852?s=46&t=Gsn9rlDEZH5vXP97Cgifnw

Question. Is there any major politician committed to removing the state pension triple lock?

From what I'm hearing on this thread, doing so would be absolute political gold dust. I'm amazed all our politicians are failing to appreciate the magic.

you mistake PB for public opinion, not all out there have the mullah that posters here have.

Regular pb.com posters are overwhelmingly males over the age of 60 who either don't work, don't need to work, or officially work but barely bother.

Opinions tend to be conventional liberal centre-left, with a few exceptions.

Except I could right now off the top of my head list out 50 regular posters who are not at all conventional liberal centre-left.

I'm not going to, all will be relieved to hear, but I definitely could.