Not Maggie.

One of the biggest financial obstacles I faced during four years of involuntary unemployment was the huge slice of my remaining retirement savings taken out by taxes that mostly went for entitlements as I tapped that money to feed my family and put my kids though college. It's kind of hard to feel much sympatico for those drowning in the same pool you're in when they keep climbing up on your shoulders.

I dispute the tacit supposition above that it is just some roulette wheel in the sky that determines these outcomes. That's bullshit. And it's an incredibly destructive meme to sell to those still in the pool.

Absolutely. Let those still in the pool drown....for their own good

No, they need to swim...you can't swim for them. And I'll be damned if I'll let them drown me just because they can't.

Funny how the people who sell the abovementioned meme most vigorously are those who are are getting a slice of the proceeds themselves.

In what way am I getting a slice of the proceeds myself? Right now, I am a tax` paying member of the established order....of course I represent a lot of people who are currentl drowning. See.....sometimes it's good to shout at the drowning man to "Swim dammit!" but other times it really is better to drag him out and rescuscitate him.

For free?

No, make them pay - take their house. Oh, wait - they're broke and homeless...

Actually I am paid a very modest allowance (£9,400 per annum before tax) by the Council in order to cover costs incurred during my duties as an elected member. The people I represent? No I don't charge them. Those who are in work pay Council tax a portion of which goes to paying Councillors the aforementioned allowance. Those not in work are exempt from Council tax and therefore do not contribute financially in any way for the representation they recieve. At no point are any of my constituents charged for this representation.

representing them can mean anything from putting their views to the Council body, to researching and representing them directly to organisations such as the Housing Associations, Anti Social Behaviour Units, Police etc.

On several occassions I have attended interviews at Housing Advice in order to provide moral support and add weight to their claim for assistance.

Erm...what? Dana is a (presumably paid) government official who was elected on the basis of a particular ideological platform.

How about you AND them not drowning? Maybe the guy on the high dive can tread water with both of you (when you were forcably unemployed).

Yeah. Them and people who aren't focused on their own pocketbook to the exclusion of what might be good for other people/our country/the world.:smashfrea

The "drowning people" can't pay her.

Surely *some* of the people you represent pay taxes.

No, but everybody else does.

Tell me about this. Why couldn't you get a job?

Yah, pretty poorly paid :P After tax my allowance works out at around £670 per month. For this I work anywhere between 25 and 50 hours a week.