| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re: Not propaganda - just fact! | |
| Posted by: | Kathleen Healy | |
| Date/Time: | 06/05/26 11:06:00 |
| There isn't a problem with some people being very wealthy. It becomes a problem when wealth and power concentrates to the extent that it creates great inequalities of wealth and power. Eventually it harms economic growth, particularly in an economy that relies on consumption. Rising poverty and a sense that the tax system is unfair leads to social tensions. This discussion prompted me to re read some of Capital, Thomas Pickety's 2013 book. It's interesting, the process he wrote about has accelerated and is more clearly evident. We have an elite who now own a bigger share of wealth than in 2013, a larger and increasingly poorer group at the bottom, 50% of people hold just 5% of the countries wealth, and a middle that feels over taxed and dissatisfied. Graduates are very heavily taxed. They pay an additional 9% tax on earnings over 28k. Under the latest plan, graduates will pay it back for up to 30 years. Many will be pay it for the whole term. Interest is added and compounds from the day the first loan is drawn. There is an older cohort, many of whom currently don't feel the squeeze felt by younger people. They vote and they support the status quo. What will happen over time though? as natural processes create an older generation with little wealth, or a middle aged generation who realise they will have little wealth to sustain them in old age. It's an interesting question because it is the educated middle that are the drivers of change, not the poorest. The shift away from post war wealth sharing has been cross party. I read an article once in praise of Tony Blair. It said his task was to broaden and deepen Margaret Thatcher's reforms and he did. Well done they said. It's true, he introduced student loans, kept the ban on Councils building housing. It wasn't lifted till 2018, after years of governments watching a housing crisis unfold. When you see where Blair is now, it's clear that his concern was never ordinary working folk. If you look at who funds the various parties, you can see that they are all answerable to the same lobby. Starmer's leadership bid was funded by wealthy individuals. He refused to say who his backers where until after he was elected. Liz Truss is opening an exclusive, invitation only, club in Mayfair. Joining fee half a million. A club for the pro growth, global elite. Odd, history shows that policies that distribute wealth create the greatest economic growth. See the the massive reduction of the post war debt under redistributive policies. I can't imagine that's what they have in mind though, maybe they mean pro growth of their own private wealth. We live, as they say, in interesting times. |