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Extending retirement and the young unemployed
Whilst there may be an apparent problem paying
pensions coming up on the horizon, I wonder if the government stance
that lies behind the drive to stop people retiring simply sets up a
whole heap of problems for the young and makes the older generation
more of a hindrance than a help.
What will happen to the young in the coming years, will they rebel
to demand work, or will they be funnelled into the military or some
other quasi social conscription in the next 5-10 years? Thereby
encouraging the journey towards a war in Europe after nearly 60
years of relative peace..
In recent years there has been a lot of talk about the right to die,
coupled with exposure around the appalling lack of care within
elderly services. It’s starting to smell like a real opportunity to
simply turn people off once they reach a certain age or level
dependency. Logan’s Run style without the false promise of
"Sanctuary". I can imagine a Cameron or even a Blair explaining that
“as a country we simply cannot afford” all these old people anymore!
As we are living longer, would it not be better to have a longer
retirement by choice and give the young an opportunity to experience
the world of work with their potentially greater level of energy,
drive and ambition. It might also give the young a chance to pay for
there education too. The state requires us to work from the age of 5
to 16 in formal education and then spend the next 4-5 in higher
education and then to work until we are 67. So basically we might
have the first 5 years in freedom and the last 5-10 years to live in
freedom, the other 50-60 years we are required to work and pay an
overall 60% in taxation, banking fees, insurances etc. Not a fair or
free society at all! Oh and the top 10% probably only pay 5-10% in
these “living costs”.
Communism - A contributory factor in the
poverty and wealth gap
Perhaps the fall of communism has placed the west
well on its way to a return into the extremes of poverty and obscene
wealth. At least communism provided a moral and economic reason
within the west to filter down wealth and better living standards to
the masses, simply because "the west" had to prove capitalism was
"better". Now that communism has almost disappeared, unabated
capitalism can trample the masses.
Oligarchs were viewed as obscene 10/15 years ago, now they are a
global presence from Russia to China and all points west.
As wealth spreads east the current financial crises is in part panic
and in part perhaps it is a ploy to reduce western living standards
for the masses so that the super rich can maintain their world
status and avoid letting go of top table status.
Rebalancing Incomes.
It seems that all the grumblings about pay cuts,
pension cuts and the extraordinary disparity between average pay and
the top 10-15% could quite easily be remedied.
The Government (that's the people that claim to represent the
people) could introduce a law that created real clarity by setting
an absolute limit on the difference between the highest and lowest
paid in any company or organisation.
A suggestion is 10/1, but the coalition might want to set this at
15/1 or even 20/1, Labour might be in favour (publicly) of say 8/1.
The figures could be worked so that the very rich stay very rich.
This would simplify and clarify pay, companies that are doing well
would pay well right across the board….
This would stop the growingly abusive treatment of those in the low
to middle income range without turning into a communist nightmare
where people can’t be bothered to work because they get paid
anyway!!
So at say 12 to 1
The bankers could still pay themselves say £6,000,000 a year, but
the lowest paid employee in that company would have to be paid about
£500,000 a year!
Even at 50/1 the lowest paid bank employee would have to be paid a
massive £120,000 a year! Within many companies the pay ratio is now
well in excess of 80/1.
So at say 12/1 A company executive might earn £250,000 a year so the
lowest paid employee would then get £20,800 a year.
Perhaps then we really would all be in it together, with or without
the double dip recession/depression/collapse.
UK Isolation to keep the rich rich, or
are we trying to be a Switzerland!
If we threw our lot in with the EU mainstream, the
ego driven power mongers (80% of our politicians) would have to give
up THEIR power, not ours, the people.
What have the 90% or is that 99% to loose from joining a strong
large scale block. Remember it is our politicians that want to strip
away workers rights, Human rights, freedom of information rights, in
fact many mainland European rights we have gained from the EU. Most
western EU people have a higher standard of living than the 90% in
the UK
I am all for diversity and freedom, but not when it only enriches 1%
or is that 10% of the population.
So the current government is hell bent on power and protecting
vested interests. Are they simply clinging to power, ego and their
wealth? Is the politicians basic human nature (for personal power
and wealth) overriding the so called national interest?
Thatcher, Society and Individual
Unadulterated Greed
It's early days, but Margaret Thatcher is credited
with much good by her supporters and causing much suffering by her
detractors. When she first came to power she started selling off
assets like no tomorrow. She took on the over powerful unions,
opened up banking and share dealing, putting the nations economic
trust and emphasis into the city.
One might say, with some justification, that some of the changes
made during the early part of her rule were much needed. Things had
got out of hand, industrial unrest, power cuts, the 3 day week; all
had been unwell for 10 or 12 years under both parties. The country
needed reorganising. The Labour Party was struggling to find it’s
way, News International and other covers added to the ridicule and
unelectable quality of Labour. She had a virtual free reign.
(Falklands aside)
Then they (or she) decided to let most of the north of England
disintegrate into long term unemployment. Millions of people and
thousands of communities were simply abandoned and closed down as
uneconomic. Heavy industry, mining, even car making were for the
most part jettisoned as “we” could not compete in the global market.
We were no longer going to be a hive of industry. Instead we would
become the financial and service centre to the world. So investing
the way Germany and others had was not considered viable.
Perhaps this choice was the beginning of the ever growing wealth
gap, but more importantly this was also the end of community and
social cohesion, she promoted individualism at the expense of
community. Even taxing people individually in their homes (poll tax)
rather than as a family. Avoiding even trying to bring individual
responsibility and community together because that might look like
socialism, or is that being too generous. Perhaps as she once
hinted, “there is no such thing as society”. So she simply believed
in dog eat dog with the minimum, if any rules. Much it seems was
adopted from the far right views we often associate the warmongering
American far right. A brutal and self centred approach based in
fear, with an unhealthy desire to dominate and crush.
After shutting down whole swathes in the north, call centres started
springing up, only to close down again because of competition
elsewhere in the world. (Ever tried calling BT!) It’s no coincidence
that the south east has prospered, the economic balance shifted
south. Pay disparity grew rapidly and has continued. There are
pockets in the north, there has been some recovery but it remains
limited. The prosperity was indirectly paid for by the financial
starvation in the north coupled with selling off assets.
We no longer make much; we will probably loose the bulk of our
banking sector in the next five years. There is almost nothing left
to sell. We have not invested in high education, but crucially we no
longer need an uneducated workforce to work in heavy industry or
mining. So what to do with the growing wrongly educated young… Well
we keep posturing for war with countries in the Middle East. Europe
seems to recovering while the UK commits suicide with Brexit. No,
that’s too scary and we can’t make the stuff of war any more. Oh,
wait, yes we do, that’s one industry that’s still bringing in the
bacon. But not the heavy stuff, Ugh.
Perhaps Margaret Thatcher is now to be known as the Rusty Witch as
she is long gone from power. The impact of her choices and beliefs
is still deeply rumbling across society and indeed the unadulterated
capitalist globalisation seems to rumble on virtually unabated.
Perhaps the need for individualism will fade in time, automaton
consumers will prevail. Small enclaves of people with soft hearts,
organic minds and a need for social cohesion and community will be
all that remains in tiny corners hidden from the monolith of self
centred capitalist greed.
We need a combination of socialism and capitalism, anyone know how?
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