From the ONS this morning:
Real earnings are falling.
Bonuses excluded this is the lowest increase ever recorded.
And Osborne has the nerve to say the economy is recovering.
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Absolute horror story here of how the Coalition though Duncan-Smith are punishing the disabled http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2865-coalition-wages-war-on-disabled-with-580-increase-in-esa-sanction I hope this can be seen by non-B&W members, if not I’ll find another link. If there’s a recovery, what’s the point in any of this?
despicable. and given that it was ATOS who decided what these people were and were not capable of, you can be sure that the vast majority had unrealistic expectations placed on them. people are dying as a result of these sanctions (another story from the Guardian from last week (link) with link to petition calling for inquiry into death):
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/03/victims-britains-harsh-welfare-sanctions
i honestly believe if the Tories could they would line the sick and the poor up and shoot them.
I have to disagree with your last comment
I do not think that true
But the workhouse does appear to beckon
This is surely approaching fascism and has an almost eugenics like feel to it where those who cannot survive in the corporate wealth-syphoning world are seen as unworthy untermenschen. The fact that a high percentage of the british public don’t seem to care about this is highly disturbing and supports research indicative of a lowering of empathy in our society.
The workhouse does indeed beckon alongside the rest of the rentier world of the 19th century. I never thought I would live to see this, how sad and unnecessary.
Richard Wolff speaks well on the issue of wages-he put it thus:
1) Wages have virtually flatlined since c, 1974
2) production has risen significantly and parted company with wage levels in that years.
3) The gap between the the wage curve and the productivity curve has been filled by bank loans creating private debt.
So: Not only has the corporate worlds depressed wages it has controlled the renting of the money that should have been in the economy from wages rising with productivity! heaven for the corporate world and debt peonage for the rest of us.
The point about private debt is an important one. Much of our industry has been outsourced, and what is left is almost entirely in private hands. This has meant we have had to rely on a mainly poorly paid service industry.
Like the US, for the past thirty years, consumption has had to be heavily supplemented with debt because people are not paid enough to properly drive the economy.
As the figures show, wages and investment are way down and household debt is £1.4 trillion, signifying a credit grown “recovery” relying on rising asset prices. As I said before, all it needs is a slight rise in interest rates to bring the whole edifice to come crashing down.
“is almost entirely in private hands.”
…..almost entirely in foreign hands, I meant to say.
Richard, you may disagree with gratefulpleb’s comment about the Tories wanting to line us against the wall and shoot us. You should see the world through our eyes. That’s just what it feels like. The Tory-led Coalition Government has done nothing but defecate and urinate on me and my fellow disabled people from a great height ever since it got into office. I’ve lost money because of the bedroom tax, I’ve been through agonies because of the WCA (I’m still waiting for the outcome of that), and I have PIP assessment to come. Many have been through far worse than I have. Yet Cameron had a disabled son!
Their friends in UKIP are even more explicit in their hatred and contempt for us, with UKIP councillors and Party candidates calling for disabled foetuses to be compulsorily aborted, disabled people to be sterilised, etc. But you are right: the workhouse _does_ beckon, and if Mr Duncan Smith has his way, we shall soon be there.
I agree about their dislike of the disabled
I find that deeply troubling
i’ve also got health problems and have been through most of the rigmarole your talking about. the cuts to housing benefit hit me really bad; i had to move into accommodation that would have made a healthy person sick. i ended up getting pneumonia twice in the six months i was there and the second bout has given me arthritis. so like you say, we’ve got plenty reason to feel that they’re leaving us for dead. not that i’m complaining, there’s a great many more who haven’t got the ability to fight back or navigate the ridiculous benefits system and their stories go largely untold. god help them.
but Richards point is a fair one… they wouldn’t waste the precious commodity that is our labours on purpose. after all, who would muck out their stables or mop their floors or make their beds?
best of luck with the claims/assessments/appeals fella.
The most saddening thing is that a significant part of the populace has accepted this vilification and near torture of the vulnerable as a sort of schadenfreude-ridden for of entertainment to help them feel a little better about THEIR poorly paid jobs. The scapegoat psychology is blatant which is why we it has fascistic feel about it.
For a society to sink this low is very shocking indeed. I say this knowing that there are many, like Richard, who care a great deal.