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Tel’s Tales (Feb)
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POVERTY-CAUSING 2-CHILD LIMIT: GORDON SPOKE OUT
On the Today Programme (14 May), Gordon Brown stated that the 2-child cap should be scrapped, and added “the tragedy is we are writing the future history of our country by neglecting children, who have been condemned to poverty… Poverty has increased by 600,000 in the last few years”.
After demanding an urgent review of austerity-era policies, Gordon concluded, “The average loss per family, due to the cap is some £60 per week… A family that’s already struggling cannot afford to lose £60 a week”.
ENTRENCHED WEALTH NEEDS TO BE FULLY TAXED
Back in 2008, there was hope that the financial crash would strengthen the argument of those who said handing tax breaks to bankers and the super-rich in search of financial gain brought only instability and a relatively small number of winners. Those voices weren’t heard and instead we soldier on, unable to confront the fact that a minority of people and businesses, by virtue of their wealth, wield tremendous power and entrenched their elevated position while everyone else scrabbles to maintain some semblance of their previous standard of living… Global wealth inequality has risen significantly:
Oxfam reports that the richest 1% has grabbed two thirds of all new wealth created since 2020… Labour plans to tackle some of the tax loopholes used by the super-rich.
That should be a starting point for a wider, government-sponsored debate about entrenched wealth and how it should be taxed in an effective way.
Extracted from an article by The Observer’s in – house economist
”HOUSEBUILDING IS A ROUTE TO BIGGER HOMES FOR ALL, NOT JUST THE RICH”
The following is an extract from an article by Labour MP, Torsten Bell, in The Observer 4 August 2024.
”Building more homes will help bring down housing costs if we keep at it.
(housing costs for the average family have doubled from 9% to 17% of income since 1980).
People rent dilapidated and hard-to-heat homes because they have no choice – with too few properties meaning no competition between landlords to up their game.
New research from Sweden using detailed data on people and their homes since 1990, has a wider lesson about who gains from building. Yes, those on higher incomes tend to move into new builds initially, but generally everyone enjoys bigger, better homes. And who is the floor space boost biggest for? Those on the lowest incomes. Building is an agenda for the many, not the few”.
THE RIOTS WERE A WAKE-UP CALL
The following is an extract from an article by Dame Sara Khan, published in The Observer.
“The debate about the causes of the riots will persist, and rightly so, but one factor that cannot be ignored is the role of far-right leaders and organisations, who for years have cynically exploited tensions and incidents. From spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories, these agitators have persistently disseminated extremist propaganda in an attempt to radicalise and recruit people. While careful not to fall foul of counter-terrorism laws, they have been at the forefront of inciting hatred against minorities including Muslims and Jews, but also asylum seekers and refugees …Research from the 2011 English riots suggests that strong community cohesion, a shared identity, community pride and having a stake in their neighbourhood, stopped or reduced people rioting in the area; 71% of the riots occurred in the areas ranked in the worst 10% for social cohesion… It is easy to take our plural and cohesive society for granted. Threats old and new continue to undermine our ability to live well together and yet we lack the necessary strategic approach to prevent this. This must now be addressed”.
(Dame Sara Khan, was counter-extremism commissioner, 2018-2021, and government independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience 2021-2024).
WHAT ABOUT A GLOBAL WEALTH TAX?
* A minimum tax (equal to 2% of wealth) on global billionaires would raise $200bn – $250bn (£150bn – £200bn) a year in tax revenue from about 3,000 billionaires globally. Extending the tax to
centimillionaires (who have a $100m or more in assets) would generate an additional $100bn – $140bn.
* Christian Hallum, a senior tax policy advisor at Oxfam has said – “Everyone in the top 1% has been doing extremely well for decades and paying lower effective tax rates than most households”.
COUNCILS NEED A CASH INJECTION TO FIX SERVICES
Fourteen years of Conservative budget reductions have resulted in my own local authority plummeting from being one of the highest-performing “beacon” authorities in England to one that is now in debt and heading towards the bottom rung of the ladder. The closure of children’s centres, care homes and budget cuts in every service area, from special needs education and social care to library services, have resulted in a threadbare support network locally. This is being replicated across the country.
This Labour Government has been pretending that it can rebuild our essential services without having the courage or commitment to introduce a tax regime in which wealth is more fairly distributed and that raises enough revenue to invest in improving these services. There will never be a better opportunity to start rebuilding our local services and communities.
Peter Riddle, The Guardian.
THE DECLINE OF GLOBALISATION
For decades, the neoliberal economic order championed a vision of a borderless world, where goods and services flowed freely with minimal barriers. This ideal dominated global trade policy and corporate strategy, rendering “protectionism” taboo in mainstream debate. However, since the global financial crash, sceptism about globalisation has steadily grown.
An increasing focus on justice, sustainability and better working conditions has reshaped trade priorities worldwide. There has also been a growing shift toward producing goods closer to home, either through increased domestic manufacturing or by developing nearby supply chains. However wealthy nations, led by the US, have consistently resisted granting poorer countries the flexibility to modernise, while claiming exceptions to rules they enforce on others. During the pandemic, the US prioritised its pharmaceutical industry profits over global vaccine access.
Globalisation’s decline began long before Trump, with his protectionist policies reflecting rather than dividing this shift.
Extracted from The Guardian Editorial.
IMPORTANT POINTS TO NOTE
*Staff in schools in deprived areas estimated that 44% of pupils had come to school hungry over the past year.
*Nearly a quarter of NHS primary care staff and 40% of teachers said they had dipped into their own pockets to help pupils and patients.
*40% of Britons want public services improved, compared with 27% who choose tax reductions.
*At the General Election, only 8% of
18-to 29-year-olds voted for the Tories.
*What emerges in Charles Dickens’ depiction of riots is the abandonment of all civilised values resulting from the mass hysterical groupthink that “others” and foreigners are causing problems.
*”People do not understand how a Labour government has decided to pick the pockets of pensioners and, at the same time, leave the richest in our society untouched”.
Sharon Graham (Unite) speaking at the TUC.