The mainstream media has recently been awash with government
statements that the UK economy is doing well – certainly better than expected. Also,
Brexit is “not a disaster” (D. Cameron at Davos – well he’d have to start thinking
that wouldn’t he – for the sake of his sanity) There are more folk employed
than ever in the UK. Everything in fact is going swimmingly. At the same time
we hear that working class youngsters are increasingly fearful of attending
university because of sky rocketing debt. Deprived areas in the UK are seeing –
for the first time – a decline in health and life expectancy. Life expectancy
and health have been social positive v negative indicators since the Booth & Rowntree poverty reports of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In my twisted ‘wrong’ world of out here, I see the
generation currently under 40 with their faces stuck in their phones (see last
week’s blog) economically, socially, environmentally, blighted. And – thanks to
the highly regarded BES (British Election Survey) we now know that Corbyn’s
youthquake was NOT. Young people did not come out en masse to vote for their
future in Theresa May’s disastrous snap general election. And who could blame
them, suffocating as they are under the economic mismanagement and careless
economics and social selfishness that has become entrenched.
Life crushing debt from the moment they leave the
parental home is standard now.
Homelessness – overt and hidden is at epidemic levels
in the UK.
Insecure, low paid, future-bleak jobs or worse –
zero hours contracts (see blog 174. Zero
hours is not a contract) have quickly become accepted norms.
Never being able to buy homes or even have a secure tenancy
in a decent property – which was the golden post-war promise to Britain, is the
new reality. And this, when our cinema screens are awash with sentimental WWI
& WWII films.
And – no pensions.
As company after company slough off their pension
responsibilities – whether it’s Sir Philip Green to buy yachts or Tata steel in
Wales – because Cameron’s government vetoed French and German attempts to protect
EU steel from Chinese over-production or most recently Carillion – the company
that enjoyed government contracts long after it was in a mess and has now
handed its pension deficit over to the government for the tax payer to pick up
(while continuing to pay bonuses and shareholder dividends) or Barclays and any
number of other companies – because – well everyone else is doing it.
Save me from my parallel universe and prove me
wrong.
PLEASE
The truth of course is always more straightforward
than it is presented. It’s not about complicated contradictions. It is the
simple old equation that when a tiny minority get into a frenzy of too much
wealth and too much power there is not enough left of resources, compassion,
care and humanity for the vast majority. In other words everything goes to
shit. It has happened before if your memory stretches back that far The Great
Depression of the 1930s – if not so then just go back as far as 2008. The thing
is we live in a speeded up world and the gaps between these crises will get
shorter.
We must deconstruct what is meant by The Economy. When capitalism is as
unfettered as it is right now The Economy
is not anything to do with wellbeing or fairness or the majority of people
doing well. That’s nonsense unless you are a delusional or self-serving quote Rex Tillerson who still buys into the
idea of trickle-down economics i.e. if those at the top get richer there will
be an economic benefit which will trickle down to us mere mortals. That has NEVER
worked.
So it is simply this. There may be more money
sloshing about and moving around. There may be more profits being made. There
are definitely more profits being skimmed off. There may be more billionaires
buying art (see blog 253. Souls for Sale)
But the number of folk benefitting from all this sloshing around wealth is tiny.
Miniscule. The disconnect and the apparent confusion exists in that huge, ever
growing cavern between those who have accumulated more wealth than they could
spend in 100 lifetimes and those who cannot get clean water or a secure job or
a roof over their heads or medical care for their chilren.
I would – as I often do – point you to other posts
on this blog where I’ve outlined this thread of thought but there are far too many
to choose from…
*
And thanks to The National – one of the newspapers –
along with The Guardian, The Independent and The Glasgow Herald that provide me
with therapy by regularly printing my letters (see blog 244. A Litter of Letters) thus helping me let
off sardonic steam and stay sane. This week they printed a combination of x2
letters I wrote about that wanker Gavin Williamson – our Secretary of State for
Defence…