I heard Gordon Brown yesterday talking about a new consultation on ways to fund elderly care. This appears to involve a compulsory new age insurance scheme (careful, don't call it a tax) to pay for the looming gap in caring for people who are living longer.
Allegedly there are no fixed ideas about how the scheme will work. So there will be forums for listening. Bottom line here, we have to fund our dotage somehow. The choices are either for people to save privately, the government to divert existing revenues, or raise new ones. The problem for the UK government is that people are not saving enough privately. That's because their taxes and cost of living are high enough that early in their careers people are in debt and don't get into the habit of saving.
Well, I'm tired of being consulted where there really is little chance that my opinions will be heard or will change anything. If you really want new ideas, fine. If all you want to do is sell the thing you have decided upon, don't call it a consultation.
Also recently there is a proposal to change the title of some Financial Services Advisors to sales people if all they do is sell one company's products. Good idea. Gordon, why not call your consultations something more honest? Sales meetings?
Comments