The Autumn Statement

Today is the so called Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in which he will reveal the extent of the cut to Government Services which is needed to balance our income and expenditure account.

We spend more than we take in and the borrowing, which is done on the 'market' costs us in interest alone as much as it takes to run our defence.   

Clearly one couldn't run a family budget in deficit and expect to continue indefinitely but it is interesting that the major aspect in cutting the National indebtedness is to make those family budgets unsustainable. There are millions of people "in work" just scraping by. The minimum wage which is below the living wage is insufficient to clear the essentials. 'Rent' and 'Child Care' are two of the main unavoidable costs that the modern family has to contend with since, in the case of a single parent or a couple who have to obtain two wage packets, child care is common. No longer can one parent stay at home to look after the kids which I think is a shocking reflection of our society. The unmarried mother has to struggle to be a Mom and a valued employee and part of the diminishment in the attitude and the educational attainment of our youngsters is due to not having a parent in the home at the end of the school day.  In those sections of the country where there is real poverty, parents have to have two jobs, further distancing themselves from their children and furthering the creation of a sub culture leading inevitably to real criminality.

The unwillingness to build affordable housing and particularly rent controlled housing, to provide in fact public sector financed housing for those who will never be able to afford their own house, has led to a Market structured building program, which coupled with Councils selling off their housing stock to make good the hole in their accounts left by the withdrawal of government grants has little interest I social housing. With a withdrawal of the public hand in the housing system it has become a free-for-all for exploitation. Properties that are for sale from the Councils are snapped up by the wealthy property agents who then rent out their newly purchased houses to the people who were previously protected by Council rules. Rents are no longer protected, repairs to the property are no longer part of the Councils responsibilities and being part of the Market, have to contend with what the owner deems a profit.

Of course it can not be sustainable if we don't balance the books but the one instrument that is never spoken of these days on either side of the house, in a climate of withdrawing claimant money from the poorest sections of our society, Taxation. No one mentions taxation. 

In all Parliaments, prior Margret Thatcher, the use of taxation (a penny in the pound) was the way the Exchequer used to fund everything and one usually expected an adjustment. No longer.

Since Ronald Reagan and Margret became joined at the hip, the move to reduce direct taxation and transfer it to indirect taxation (VAT) has moved relentlessly downwards. The top rate of tax has fallen to a rate which was common to the the middle class, the middle class have fallen to the rate the working class used to pay and many of the working class, escape paying tax altogether. How can we fund a public sector without tax revenue. Easy,  "demolish the public sector". Escape the responsibility government had of caring for the poorer, the sick,  the vulnerable parts of our society and become more like the Americans, a society that only has space for winners, losers must if possible be phased out or at the very least, become the responsibility of the charity industry.