A mean world with mean minds in control
Three welfare "reforms" in the UK between 2007 and 2012.
Each of those reforms restricted the flow of vital income support to the bottom half of society
Why do journalists accept politicians’ use of lying words like "reform" when they mean to restrict and tighten the screw on welfare recipients?
Musings of a Lay Economist:
The Market knows best? Even when what you need is a must-have product like housing and have to pay the price whatever?
Scarcity generates price; abundance keeps prices at minimum—therefore production for profit does not want abundance.
See Thorstein Veblen on the antagonism between Industry and Business.
Read up on economic sabotage to maintain maximum profitability
Business interests consider society as a resource to exploit for profit; Industry wants to provide what society needs with maximum efficiency (minimum input costs). If this sounds like a naive oversimplification to some of my friends here, may I suspect that Veblen’s critique of the “leisure class” is yet to be encountered?
Well, I wanted to talk about the mean nature of the British “Welfare” state and its workings via the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the hotbed of Human Rights abuses. I mean to say when the very basic survival needs of an individual (food, clothing, shelter) are tied to whether or not she/he is a “jobseeker”, slavery is being enforced.
The alternative, it may be asked? Scrap the DWP… this is the demand from Scotland Scrap DWP and replace it with Unconditional Basic Income, enough for a simple but healthful lifestyle. This is our rightful share of the monetized value of the scientific/ industrial heritage from previous generations. Without this resource, no efforts of “wealth creators” would produce the rich fruits they claim as their own.
A simple metaphor illustrates this:
“A world famous computer engineer and designer/manufacturer is getting ready for a day of creative work. He starts up his laptop but nothing happens. After some investigation he finds that there is an electrical power failure in his district...
and worse, no power stations, no power grid, no modern infrastructure...
'...What a nightmare!' he realises on waking up.”,
On 4 July a political earthquake, high on the metaphorical Richter Scale was experienced in Britain. Labour acquired unprecedented majority in the House of Commons, over 3:1, significantly bigger than New Labour won in 1997.
This is the time for abstainers to revive interest in party politics: do not let Sir Starmer to do a Tony Blair with the Party now. The danger is real as Blair is hovering in the background as “advisor”.