{"id":19902,"date":"2013-04-02T07:21:36","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T06:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=19902"},"modified":"2013-04-02T07:21:36","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T06:21:36","slug":"how-did-we-reach-such-a-state-of-depravity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2013\/04\/02\/how-did-we-reach-such-a-state-of-depravity\/","title":{"rendered":"How did we reach such a state of depravity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night I wrote that the Tories really do believe that all unemployment is voluntary <\/a>and if only the market were let free everyone would be in\u00a0work, albeit that they were utterly\u00a0indifferent\u00a0to the wage rate.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0wrote\u00a0before reading two\u00a0articles\u00a0that have appeared over night. The first is in the Telegraph, and says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The minimum wage for millions of people could have to be capped or frozen in future if it risks damaging jobs or the economy, the Government has said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

It has told the Low Pay Commission, which sets the minimum wage, that it must formally consider its impact on \u201cemployment and the economy\u201d, before agreeing future increases.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second comes from the Guardian and\u00a0trails<\/a>\u00a0a speech Osborne is to make today in which he will\u00a0apparently say:<\/p>\n

For too long, we've had a system where people who did the right thing \u2014 who get up in the morning and work hard \u2014 felt penalised for it, while people who did wrong thing got rewarded for it. That's wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Except, as I\u00a0pointed\u00a0out yesterday<\/a>, those out of work are very largely seeking work or were, (as Osborne will now admit<\/a>) as a result of Tory policy in the 1980s, addressed by Labour from 2002<\/a>, deemed unemployable when that was not\u00a0necessarily\u00a0the case.<\/p>\n

So we have the absurd situation where a Liberal Democrat can now claim<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of employment is now above its pre-recession peak, but the employment rate is below the pre-recession peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that we believe that caution is required - particularly as the minimum wage rate is now at its highest ever level relative to average earnings for adults, and remains high for young people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The minimum wage is \u00a36.19 an hour. At 40 hours a week that \u00a312,875 a year.<\/p>\n

Is this government really saying that's a dangerous level of pay?<\/p>\n

Are they really saying that this pay rate is dragging the economy down?<\/p>\n

Are they really saying this level is making work pay?<\/p>\n

Is it really their view that if only we made the poor poorer by cutting their pay, freezing their benefits, forcing them out of their homes and increasing their cost of living this country\u00a0will become\u00a0competitive\u00a0again?<\/p>\n

If they are the only reason can be that they really do think that\u00a0all\u00a0unemployment is voluntary and if only there was no minimum wage and no beenfits\u00a0system\u00a0then all economic problems would be solved as exploitation ran rampant across the economy.<\/p>\n

But if so this is the sign of what can\u00a0only, and very appropriately, be described as a callous mentality that is utterly without empathy, care or\u00a0concern.<\/p>\n

But that's the modern\u00a0Conservative\u00a0Party, aided and\u00a0abetted\u00a0by too many in other parties, by neoliberal economists and a cruel media.<\/p>\n

All of which begs the real question, which is how did we reach such a state of\u00a0depravity?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night I wrote that the Tories really do believe that all unemployment is voluntary and if only the market were let free everyone would
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