Charity Is Killing The Economy

[Snugglybear]

Er, isn't this going to be encourage? Isn't it what 'The Big Society' is all about?

As in, the Government isn't going to be doing much for you, it's too tied up bailing out the financial system, you're going to have to get volunteers to look after your weak and old and sick.

[Jack's Creation]

I do not any-more give money to any charity my son works for a national charity that regularly tugs at your heart strings for £3 a week on TV ,he tells me of massive salary's, big cars, trips abroad which he questions the validity .

I now give around 5 hrs of my time to the elderly around where i live and have the benefit of seeing their gratitude.

I know also of others Boomers taking this route

An old girlfriends father, ran a huge charity in the 90's-big name celebrity and corporate ( think 'healthy' margarine) endorsed, huge events with tens of 1000's of people involved.

The charity it was supporting never actually received a penny (expenses and very high wages ate everything). The offices in Mayfair had lovely carpet's, though.

[I want a house!]

I would like to see young volunteers, they wont get paid but can put the experience on their CV BUT THEY DONT WANT TO DO IT, we have a notice on our window asking for volunteers, but we never get a young person wanting to work for us, we are opposite a job centre and see young people going in and out all the time, but they never cross the road and ask us for work.

People have to eat in order to be able to do Charity. If they are at the job centre, means they are not getting paid much at all. Imagine how hungry they are and are looking for a job that pays.

Off topic slightly but isn't it obscene how much directors of charities get.

[SarahBell]

Charities pay a lot of salaries too.

I bet if people knew how many members of the same families were paid by charities they'd be quite horrified.

[babesagainstmachines]

Imagine if everybody gave their time, resources and effort for free. No rents to pay, no food bills, in fact no economy at all, but everybody would still live, probably much less stressed.

Why is not having an economy a bad thing...?

It would still be an economy, just not a monetary one.

http://www.thevenusproject.com/

[fallingbuzzard]

I'm not surprised it wasn't you.

I don't agree with you about volunteer experience. Any moron, more or less, can get a job working for nothing in a charity shop?

Having that experience doesn't mean that any sensible branach manager would ever employ them. Especially above a more commercially minded person, i.e. the kind that wouldn't work for free, but had common sense and enthusiasm that becomes obvious at interview. The kind that wants to work hard 5/6 days a week, and be paid £60+ a day and enjoy it.

Working for free in order to get a job in a non-commercial organisation is a trap.

No you dont get it, we dont get young people coming in and asking to work, the jobs are not salaried, they will not get paid, however if they want to get a paid job say in a shop, then a volunteer job with experience in till work, customer service stock control and housekeeping, will look good on their CV and actually help their prospects,

In most charity shops only the managers get paid, I actually applied for a job as a manager in another charity shop at min wage, they had 300 applicants and the person

who got the job used to be a branch manager for woolworths with over 20 years retail experience.( and no it wasnt me)

[OnionTerror]

I'm not surprised it wasn't you.

I don't agree with you about volunteer experience. Any moron, more or less, can get a job working for nothing in a charity shop?

Having that experience doesn't mean that any sensible branach manager would ever employ them. Especially above a more commercially minded person, i.e. the kind that wouldn't work for free, but had common sense and enthusiasm that becomes obvious at interview. The kind that wants to work hard 5/6 days a week, and be paid £60+ a day and enjoy it.

Working for free in order to get a job in a non-commercial organisation is a trap.

There have known ppl I know who have had charity work experience get jobs in both the public and private sector. If your working in a charity shop, its a spring board into retail..gaining experience in handling money, stock, that sort of thing. Some ppl, especially the long term unemployed have to start somewhere, and often voluntary work is looked upon very favourably by employers - I know, i've had experience of this myself...

If you want to get into social work, its much easier to get a paid social workers job if you've volunteered as a social care assistant. Same with the CAB, mental health charities, and so on. Ppl become PCSOs in order to get into the Police. A friend of mine volunteers as a drug counsellor (he's also doing a masters in it)...it's a prerequisite of the course...he wont get a job in that field without this valuable experience..they wont take you on without having this experience.

Basically, your talking cobblers...

[200p]

We had a discussion about the reduction in the number of interns, due to the increasing costs and red tape to businesses.

Working for free is a reality in this tough job market. Consider it an investment of your time for experience, and you shall receive a return on your investment.

[porca misèria]

Imagine if everybody gave their time, resources and effort for free. No rents to pay, no food bills, in fact no economy at all, but everybody would still live, probably much less stressed.

It's been done. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia actually abolished money a generation ago. Today's nearest example is North Korea.

[ARIMA]

Imagine if everybody gave their time, resources and effort for free. No rents to pay, no food bills, in fact no economy at all, but everybody would still live, probably much less stressed.

Why is not having an economy a bad thing...?

Communist

[Lepista]

Communist

I was only taking charity work to it's logical extreme.

Are you calling all charity workers communists?

[blankster]

Now that the public sector is being forced to look into replacing paid employees with volunteers, how long before the private sector follows suit. If the job is something people would like to do - even if only for a short time or occasionally - and it's relatively unskilled, there will be people who'd do it for nothing. For instance, I imagine a lot of well-off petrolheads would jump at the chance to work a week in the Aston Martin factory for nothing, even if it is just cleaning and general dogsbody.

Voluntarisation makes a mockery of the minimum wage. In effect you can't pay people between 1p and hour and £5.92 an hour, but 0p and £5.93 are OK.

Are you calling all charity workers communists?

I've known some charity workers who have political views to the right of the average HPC-er - and that's saying something!

One has to look at why people volunteer.

1) To do something they feel needs to be done, but wouldn't be done otherwise. (e.g. driver for hospital car service)

2) To gain new experience that might be relevant in future employment. (e.g. work experience at a vet's practice)

3) To do something that interests them that they wouldn't have the chance to do otherwise. (e.g. restoring an old bus)

Edited November 8, 2010 by blankster

[PopGun]

If the cost of living came down, there wouldn't need to have a population in full employment in full time work.

I.e. deflation would help us. Decrease the money supply.

Imagine a society where we could work a few days work, and THAT WOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH. The rest of the time can be spent doing what you want: charity work, being creative, or being lazy.

In the eighties I remember being lectured to by a local the Politician/MP at my Junior School (remember them?) We were going to be the generation that could reach for the stars.

Thanks to the ever increasing birth-rate and magic perpetual growth, employers would be climbing over each other to employ the best out of an ever shrinking workforce. They’d be 0% unemployment, with workers holding all the cards.

We all know what happened next. TBTB made sure this natural balance of power was well and truly intercepted. The society that you described was supposed to be the compensation; however consumerism, fiat debt and high house prices soon put paid to that as well. Of course this all depended on there being enough suckers buying in to the dream world for sale.

Instead of patting themselves on the back, people slavishly working over 45 hours a week should take a very hard look at themselves in the mirror.

[blankster]

n the eighties I remember being lectured to by a local the Politician/MP at my Junior School

Going back further, in the 60's were were told how increasing automation would mean less back breaking work and better standard of living for everyone. Apart form the unions, nobody thought it would put people out of work, just make the job easier. The biggest doomsday scenario then, after nudlear war, was the 'population explosion'. Britain's population was forecast to double by the year 2000. In fact it went up by about 10%.

[Lepista]

All forms of Govt are communist by nature becuase they dictact what goes.

Its just some Govts allow you a little more free enterprise than others until things go wrong and they feel threatened they are losing power then they introduce all sorts of measures like curfews, forced labour and restrictions on travel.

We are only missing the curfews atm.

In what way is doing work for free linked to government? Now I'm really confused.

[Sledgehead]

Imagine if everybody gave their time, resources and effort for free. No rents to pay, no food bills, in fact no economy at all, but everybody would still live, probably much less stressed.

... Imagine all the people, living life in peace, you-whooooo, oo-oo-oo- ....

_

[Sledgehead]

In what way is doing work for free linked to government? Now I'm really confused.

Because working for free is stealing from the government

[Lepista]

The Govt relies on charity to fill their gaps. If there werent gaps, then charity wouldnt exist in its current form.

Because working for free is stealing from the government

It can't be both...?

[Sledgehead]

Communist

surely, you meant anarchist.

Communism is the polar opposite.

[Lepista]

... Imagine all the people, living life in peace, you-whooooo, oo-oo-oo- ....

_

lol!

[Sledgehead]

It can't be both...?

indeed. But I only wrote one of the quotes.

[Sledgehead]

lol!

Nice to be appreciated! Yep, I wrote that joke for nowt! I like to think of it as my way of stealing from the authorities. Be an anarchist : give jokes away!

Edited November 8, 2010 by Sledgehead

[Lepista]

There is some proof that the Government hates charity. Does anybody remember a few months back, where to police women, who worked different shifts, were sacked(?) for helping each other out whilst working and babysitting for each other?

By doing it for free for each other, the government were threatened, as they were essentially losing taxable income, had they gone out to someone "trained" (and getting an income) for doing the same job for both of them.

The more work that is done "as a favour", or "for free" or "as a good turn", the less money that is then made, and the less control that the government will have.

Just watch the regulation put into place to stop this "dangerous practice" so that the only people able to do a job are ones that you have to employ.

Another example might be the training that is now required to carry out household electrical repairs. Surely it is only a matter of time before any building work has to be carried out by government approved people (and therefore the government gets a slice of the action)?