This morning seems to be one for infographics. Having just done one on tax it is essential to do one on social security. These comes from the new report 'Counting the Cuts' from the Centre for Welfare Reform. They have encouraged their widespread distribution so I will use several:
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To all of which there are conclusions:
And all of this is unnecessary. We could be closing the tax gap instead.
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“David Cameron defends ‘moral mission’ on welfare.” “The prime minister said claims by the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, that recent changes to the benefits system had left many people facing hunger and destitution were “simply not true”.”
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/19/david-cameron-moral-mission-welfare-archbishop-westminster
The battle lines could not be more clearly drawn!
Indeed
And I still do not get why politicians can’t say so
Labour and LibDem’s reticence has to do in large part with their fiscal and monetary orthodoxy which is part political and part due to a genuine belief. If you could get to the bottom of Balls’ commitment to put the next Labour Government into a fiscal surplus you would have your answer. Balls is an interesting figure because he is where neo-liberalism and Labour are united as one. He presumably sees very clearly into both worlds and then makes the commitments he does. Probably his stance has to do with a deep recognition of the power behind neo-liberalism and his recognition that there is just no way to buck this force. Clinton and Obama, and Blair and Brown, made the same choice and had great success, mostly, as politicians. Of course, the American’s are more dependent on the largess of Money Manager Capitalism (to quote the Minskyans) to fund their campaigns. The dependence is more direct. But nonetheless a similar Realpolitik obtains here. We are the naive chumps to think we could have a politics which escapes the rule of this sector. In my recent experience attending conferences and seminars discussing current affairs there is a striking quietism with respect to the present moment. The powers that be are most times hardly acknowledged and when they are, are basically accepted.
David
I agree
We have to be explicit about that power we are challenging
Richard
The problem that you allude to Richard is really Labour’s ( & LibDem) reticence to be more critical about all this.Undoubtedly they are worried with the public’s drift rightwards on attitudes to benefits. The Right led by the populist D/Mail and other Right wing press has been successful in the demonisation of many of these groups. Many English have either forgotten what the welfare state does for those ( any of us) who hit serious misfortune or whose education never covered social democracy, welfare & social integration ( which is second nature to most in Scandinavia, Germany, France etc.,)
In the end Labour clearly has to lead vigorously from the front on this giving a narrative of growing inequality and the disproportionate attack on the weakest; but it needs to do so in terms too of the economic ‘perverse’ effects of all this on hospitals, mental illness, poor and school drop outs, people living on the street, drugs and crime etc., It is up to Labour to juxtapose the social models of the divided USA and say Denmark ( the happiest country in the world). Polls continue to show Labour in the lead. Most Brits are not Right Wing Tories.
You can not have a one-sided narrative on anything.
The news media have long supported the ¨scrounging benefits crooks¨ theme.
Labour; what can I say?
They can only go with the flow. Move left and the press will bury them, move right and the press will bury them. No room to move!
I see the next election being fought in the various media….with Labour being wrong-footed.
I see the rhetoric of victimisation being increased. If the Conservatives win next time, I fully expect the elderly, chronically-ill and very poor to be sacrificed on the balanced budget altar.
Although it may be that the battle has started and is moving, in a very USA way, towards demonisation (looking at the ¨team¨ at ConCent I can see who is pushing that way):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2562518/The-truth-Labour-apologists-paedophilia-Police-probe-child-sex-group-linked-party-officials-wake-Savile.html
Looks like a new low is starting in politics.
Hmmmmmm:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2561751/Yes-NHS-finite-resources-But-denying-life-saving-drugs-whove-good-innings-barbaric.html
If the measure of life and death is ‘how much you contribute to the economy’ then it is just as well that the plutocrats have private health care! Since Thatcher, the notion of a human being being assessed by ‘measurable productivity’ has gathered pace. As a teacher, I experience the disastrous introduction of this concept into education -we’ve seen the results! The next step is the concept of the ‘useless eater.’ As Michael hudson has often said: ‘It’s a race to the bottom.’
I note that NHS England have backtracked on the data trawling:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/19/nhs_england_delays_gp_data_grab_for_six_months_after_uproar/
Simon,
If the measure of life and death is ‘how much you contribute to the economy’ then anyone working in finance, advertising or estate agency should be culled since the harm they do to everyone else far outdoes the good.
Someone who sits in a flat in Winson Green & smokes herb doesn’t actually HURT anyone else, unlike, say, a hedge fund analyst or corporate takeover specialist.
Everything THEY do makes other people poorer.
Personally I take a certain vicarious pleasure in the folks of Winson Green spliffing up & boozing. I know I’d do the same if I had the chance & the nerve (& fewer chillun).