Rich get richer, poor get poorer

[squidge]

I don't read the guardian but a couple of friends posted two articles on facebook in the last couple of days and I wondered if they were accurate in what they are saying. Taxation and economics are a bit of a mystery to me and I hate conspiracy theories but it seems to me that this government has it's priorities wrong.

This is the first article

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/szx_EG12cWm90XkxrBkdEvQ/view.m?id=15&gid=politics/2011/feb/08/tory-funds-half-city-banks-financial-sector&cat=politics

And this the second

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/szx_EG12cWm90XkxrBkdEvQ/view.m?id=15&gid=commentisfree/2011/feb/07/tax-city-heist-of-century&cat=commentisfree

Words (almost) fail me!

[andrew.bowles30]

it dosent matter which gov is in they all make us a promis then we vote them in then they hammer us but if the lst gov did leave us in a mess then it needs sorting like any other company becouse the gov are a company after all.times are hard but life is what we make it but us poor will be still poor no matter what the gov do
if i ran my pub the way the gov run the country i probably be made bankrupt or in gail

[rob murray]

Fine, this shows the condems conniving to force down the amount of tax revenues that can be raised...which drives the public sector cuts agenda...less tax revenues = less services...or does it !

[squidge]

That's my question rob... Does it? Seems to me that the MORE revenue we are getting the less need there is for cuts but I know it's kind of simplistic so... Is it right?

[ducati]

I didn't read the articles, I'm too young to go over to the dark side with the Grauniad, but you are right Squidge the rich always do get richer and so do most of the poor. That is the way of the world.

[rob murray]

That's my question rob... Does it? Seems to me that the MORE revenue we are getting the less need there is for cuts but I know it's kind of simplistic so... Is it right?

I would say that the public sector cuts agenda is driven purely by political philosophy, the cons DNA is driven by a hatred for any more than the absolute basics of public service, in their view services have to be provided by the "market", or if at all by volunteers ( old fashioned voluntarism ) With falling tax revenues and the bogus mess labour left public finances ( what about the bank mess eh ! ) it gives them something to hide behind whilst engineering cuts on a we must all share the pain basis. Meanwhile they cant just let the country suffer the job cuts so they trumpet on about how private sector growth will soak up public sector job losses but can it ? Caithness, at its current population, cannot exist without a robust public sector nor can any other remote area...public sector job cuts in caithness cannot in the short / medium term be picked up by the private sector as it is to small to do this on its own as it stands ( hence me trumpeting on about assistance to help this process ). So we really have a one size fits all political strategy...nation wide cuts...jobs being picked up by the private sector...fine it may fit south east england...but the rest of the UK ??

[andrew.bowles30]

i must agree but why cut front line jobs we pay for at a high price get rid of the paper pushers all the property which is rented by the gov some thy dont even use get rid of stupid jobs within councils stop moving jobs round to make them look differant when they are not we want the services we pay for i think we must be one of the highest taxed countrys in the world

[bekisman]

Rob Murray: 'bogus mess labour left public finances'
Laws told reporters: "When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as chief secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.
"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said: 'Dear chief secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left,' which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting."
The letter recalls a similar note left by Tory Reginald Maudling to his Labour successor James Callaghan in 1964: "Good luck, old cock ... Sorry to leave it in such a mess."

Seem to make it habit?

[rob murray]

Rob Murray: 'bogus mess labour left public finances'
Laws told reporters: "When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as chief secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.
"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said: 'Dear chief secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left,' which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting."
The letter recalls a similar note left by Tory Reginald Maudling to his Labour successor James Callaghan in 1964: "Good luck, old cock ... Sorry to leave it in such a mess."

Seem to make it habit?


The same could be said for heath in 1974 and major in 1997. Whats habitual is the ideological fuelled attacks on the state as witnessed since 1979...have you ever heard of what is called deficit financing...been done the world over on many occasions...no money...then run the country short term on a deficit until conditions bounce back and we trade our way forward. Tell me where you see the sense in public sector cutbacks under the pretence that the private sector ( battling fuel led cost pushes, vat increases,leading to rising inflation ) is robust enough to pick up the slack...nah, never in a milllion years....why blame labour..its not them that is forcing this nonsense through which will mean rising unemployment. Its the same old same we are all in this mess together....except the real culprits..the banks...and this is where Labour is really culpable..( and the cons as they suported it ) by allowing banks a free rein so as to rake in the tax revenues...except one day they werent there and a massive big debt had to be dealt with...hence nae money !

[ducati]

Ideology is mentioned when it comes to cuts. I agree. The Gov. has had to reduce the local council grants. They’ve had to, it's where most of the money goes. It is the councils that choose which jobs and services go.

[DMFB]

All I can say is I am glad that I am in my dotage years as times ahead dont look good at this rate.

[Blazing Sporrans]

Good luck to anyone if they work in the public sector and earning over £21k. With a three year pay freeze, VAT going up, interest rates looking like they are on the way up, inflation going up, public sector spending cuts, reviews into public sector pensions set to increase contributions, fuel duty supposedly on the increase, then the nett effect will probably be something like a 10-20% reduction in pay in real terms (depending on how much they punt your pension contributions up by) :(