If large corporations paid their fair share of tax, there would not be the need to drastically cut the welfare state. Taxing the corporations would provide the finances to help improve the NHS and to pay nurses and auxiliaries a proper liveable wage.
Press Release: response to OECD Action Plan on corporate tax avoidance « Escape from Europe.
How do the politicians who push through these things, expect people to live?
Comment by the Rev Paul Nicholson, of Taxpayers Against Poverty via paurina.wordpress.com. I also endorse every word.
Ministers at the Department of Work and Pensions repeat ad nauseam their mantra: “It is not fair for taxpayers to be asked to pay for the cost of spare bedrooms, or housing benefit” which is high in central London because rents are high etc, etc. Therefore the poorest citizens are thrust into unmanageable debt by caps and cuts in housing benefit, possible eviction, forced migration, undue stress and misery. As a citizen who pays income and council tax, VAT and the excise duty on my evening glass of wine, I steam with indignation each time I am used by ministers to justify such draconian measures making people poorer.
I am glad my taxation is used to enable my fellow citizens, both in and out of work, to buy enough food, clothes, fuel, transport and other necessities, to pay council tax and the rent of secure homes, when they have no other means to do so; and bewildered by the short-sightedness of a policy which deliberately reduces the totally inadequate adult JSA of £67.50 a week by creating rent arrears, with debt-related mental health problems and high extra costs for a hard-pressed NHS.
The self-evident unfairness is the current policy of dumping national debt and deficit reduction on the incomes of the squeezed middle and poorest citizens, while the higher-paid taxpayers experience no financial inconvenience. Meanwhile the OECD reports that $11.5 trillion, including bonuses, is parked in overseas accounts and the Treasury is aware that£100bn of property in central London alone is registered overseas – both out of reach of the taxman. That really is unfair.
Another re-blog, this about the benefits cap: The-500-benefits-cap.
And a re-blog about how the media is moulding peoples thinking, to help push through the unacceptable: The media trickery and social-engineering
The problem with the privatisation of the NHS.
To me, Joanne, describes what I found during my short time as a member of the Green Party, especially here in Manchester. I have found, those who class themselves as Marxists and other far-left doctrines, to be an elitist bunch. They shout down anyone who dares say anything they disagree with. The situation in Brighton, where one member of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas’s ex-PA, has been working against the good work her fellow colleagues are doing, under trying conditions. Tim Jackson, (Prosperity without Growth) addressed a Green Party conference, and urged the Green Party to be bold and state, we cannot have more growth. He stated, ‘Labour – Social Democracy demands more, will only happen with growth. Capital Growth is a shark, Labour supports this inequality and unsustainable growth’. Some of them even dismiss the idea of Green Economics, what they want is a consumer society but with the riches more fairly distributed. That is, of course for those of us in the Global North. They do not consider the implications for those in the Global South. In fact Peter Cranie at a hustings for leadership of the Green Party. Claimed, it was only right that the thousands who are affected by floods in Bangladesh, should emigrate to the UK. It does not seem to understand, it is are excessive consumption of natural resources that are the cause of the floods. Therefore, moving people, will not solve the problem but will help exasperate the situation. Unfortunately, the left, of which, Caroline Lucas is one, decided to ignore Tim Jackson’s advice. And have continued with calls for more spending and consumption of natural resources. I do not know why they are in the Green Party, which was originally the Ecology Party.
When Mckenzie Wark appeared on Novara, Resonance FM on May 28th 2013 he argued that a critical theory that does not confront environmental problems as one of its central problems was not worth discussing (I am paraphrasing – what he actually said was is more complicated and is transcribed below). Oddly, in this interview Wark managed to simultaneously acknowledge the validity of the environmental crisis as a theoretical problem – while also denying its implications in practice. For me this was a significant moment for Novara since it was certainly the best attempt they have yet made (that I am aware of) to engage with the ecological problem. Unfortunately, while Wark has many good ideas, his convoluted take on ecological theory is a classic example of extravagant lengths intellectuals (and especially the environmentally disengaged radical left) devise to continue to dismiss the most fundamental challenges posed by the ecological…
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“When it comes to climate change, we’re avoiding tough decisions instead of stepping up to the challenge, pure and simple.” She could of been writing about the UK Green Party, whose pursuit of populist politics and not coming out strongly for a total change of economic and environmental policies. At the start of the financial crisis, Caroline Lucas and the Green Party were urged by Tim Jackson, to take a strong stance on the economy and the environment. But instead they have pursued a policy of just ‘more of the same’, showing a complete lack of leadership. When members proposed a complete ban on ‘fracking’, Caroline Lucas urged the motion be changed to a moratorium, instead. What happened to protecting the environment for future generations?
Quiet Climate Milestones – EcoWatch: Cutting Edge Environmental News Service.
And here in Manchester, we still have a lack of leadership from Manchester City Council even after two presentations from Kevin Anderson and Manchester environmental groups with their Steady State Manchester. Under the leadership of Richard Leese and unelected Howard Bernstein, the council has continued to pursue a ‘business as usual’ policy. A policy of of ‘keep making the same mistakes and hope this time, it will turn out different’! Unfortunately, I have found local Green Party members with a similar mind-set.
One of the problems those fighting for action on climate change, consumerism and for a more democratic politics, is getting the general public to take notice. This press release from the BBC, about ‘The Century of Self’, a TV series which explores Freud, the PR and advertising industries. Describing how corporations and politicians have developed these tools to manipulate the public at large.
BBC – Press Office – The Century of the Self.
And of course, the political elite like to frighten people with the perceived threat from Muslim extremists, as an excuse for removing basic freedoms from the public. The blog below looks into a recent press release from Europol, which seems to suggest there has been an increase in religious inspired terrorism in Europe. Ylva Nilsson goes on the explain the report indicated, the increase in terrorism has been by separatists and left-wingers and not religiously motivated
http://blogs.euobserver.com/nilsson/2013/05/04/about-spin-and-diy/
Some background information about Iain Duncan Smith, somebody who seems intent in taking Britain back to the Edwardian period.
A universal welfare state is the essential bedrock of a civilised country. A civilised country ensures that no one goes without healthcare because they can’t afford it, no one is treated as if worthless because they cannot work, and that anyone who loses their job needn’t fear destitution for themselves or for their family if they don’t find another job instantly. A civilised country ensures that no one needs to work when they are too young or too old or too disabled or too ill. This is not a system that can be replaced by random acts of charity: to become civilised, we pay taxes and national insurance and we all benefit.
Iain Duncan Smith became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in May 2010 – a role he has held ever since, despite efforts by David Cameron to unseat him in the 2012 reshuffle. He has
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Here in Manchester, Manchester City Council has taken a very different approach. This can be seen clearly in Hulme, with its redevelopment in the 1990s, an ASDA was one of the first retail units built. The other smaller retail units and the very small market were built later, and as such have struggled to exist. In fact, the market is now a B&Ms, with a few ex-stallholders still having a presence. The council repeated their mistakes in Bradford, with the area being renamed New Eastlands and a large ASDA being built near to the stadium. A large supermarket is to built in Ancoats, now referred to as New Islington, with very few local business still in existence. The gentrification of Manchester has been a total failure but politicians still enthuse about Manchester’s success!
patricktsudlow 