The stakes are high. No crocodile tears!

The stakes are very high. Climate change is accelerating, inequality is at historic levels, unemployment is rampant and many countries are bankrupt. The financial industry continues to teeter on the brink of collapse, threatening the entire global economy. And despite all this our political system has proved incapable of effecting the structural transformations necessary to bring about real change. The time is right for a new approach, a new progressive system and a new economy. Having more of the same failed medicine is clearly never going to work. We cannot simply shed crocodile tears.

The plan that I have consistently argued, begins with the recognition that a huge amount of people around the  country understand that the system is broken, and that we must work to replace it with something different. Many of these epeople are already campaigning through blogs and social networking and some are now beginning to work in their local communities to bring about change; whilst others campaign at meetings. Others are just waiting for an opportunity, which we must provide. My hope is to bring these people of all ages together with other progressive organisations to build a movement to propel us all towards a new economy. We can achieve a sustainable and fair economy and our blogs can act as a catalyst for change. We cannot continue in a state of denial- our future world and today’s environment is at stake.

A money printer for us all!

Britain’s poorest people face a nightmare of increasing deprivation as coalition cuts bite even deeper this year. Trade Unions and Charities have recently reported their grave concerns. For our failed societal systems and for those in control, it seems they need to resort to quantitative easing, were money is printed to try to save their system and their wealth. For the remainder and the majority of our society, it leads to increased poverty.

Citizens Advice centres throughout the UK have reported that its bureaus are referring more very hungry families to food banks than ever before. And the charity warned numbers will rise further as welfare cuts take billions out of the economy next month.

In another report, Shelter the Housing Charity warned that more than five million families in England face the choice of putting food on the table or keeping a roof over their heads. Four in every 10 families have had to cut down on food spending, because they were struggling to pay their mortgage or rent, according to a YouGov poll of 4,000 families for the charity.

A Trade Union representative said: “The only growth sector is food banks and soup kitchens.” We have only had a 20 per cent so far of the cuts planned by the coalition government”. A point consistently argued at our Birmingham and area meetings.

“The cuts to welfare on April 6 2013 will make the poor pay for multi- national violations and a crisis created by the banks.

A TUC Regional Spokesperson also stated: “The impending cuts, on top of already severe reductions in welfare payments, will drive the most vulnerable people into even deeper poverty. Trade Unions, Pensioner groups and Charities throughout the UK are calling for a change of direction.

In Birmingham, whole communities face having to loose their NHS Walk in Centres. Yet another attack upon our precious NHS. The City also is facing unprecedented cuts. Many other areas face a future of even more reductions in services.

Lets dispose of this dismal future, because society can  be changed. We can achieve this , but we must be organised. We can achieve a peaceful world and forge a decent future for us all.

One reason, it is occurring today is down to the Government following an austerity policy, which is clearly not working; but suits those that have wealth and power, and not those that have worked there bones throughout their lives. In one form or another, we have all contributed. The vast majority of the country are not tax dodgers or scroungers. The real culprits are mainly the major worldwide companies, who are often literally bankrupt, and rely upon fictitious capital, but still exploit us all.

Perhaps, we could all be provided with a money printer!

The government is to axe an extra £2.5 billion from Britain’s overall welfare budget from April 6th 2013. We surely must resist.

For an alternative economic and political analysis and ways forward, please read my earlier posts. We need a more affective strategy and action to counteract all these cuts and the tissues of lies peddled out by the mainstream media and the Government. 

The poorest in our society should not pay for a economic slump; caused mainly by the Banks and a social system out of control. Surely a printer for all is in order! We can do much better and create a fair society!

Ivor Timson Msc(Econ)

Save our NHS!

The National Health Service we all depend upon could soon be just a fond memory,  if its place is taken by a profit based health- market, where only money talks.

The Government’s new plans for the NHS could spell the end of its precious, pioneering ‘free for all at the point of need’ principle. It could be turned into a profit-driven free-for-all in the very worst sense.

New legislation means that NHS managers are being pressed to order services from profit-making private providers, costing us extra money, at the expense of genuine healthcare.

Action we need to take. By persuading these managers to adopt safeguards that will protect our health services from ambitious corporations for whom cost comes before care.

What we must do – Encourage the new managers – known as Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – to adopt two safety clauses that have been drawn up by lawyers for the national campaigning group, 38 Degrees.

Important we act now. – Because your local CCG is currently finalising plans that could completely change the way it delivers its service.

Please see my previous post on the Clinical Commissioning Groups, which are making decisions as I type.

And please locate or form a local group now and for starters request a meeting as well as organising local campaign groups. It is not too late.

Further savage cuts!

Council leaders in Coventry say they need to save £61m over the next three years to help meet a budget shortfall.

The council said the measures it was looking at included cutting £3m from its community services, including adult social care, libraries and wardens.

Leaders at the Labour-run council also say council tax will increase by 2% next year. Previously they were also said to be cutting up to 800 jobs.

Union officials said the cuts could potentially mean “Armageddon” The number of job losses planned at councils in England and Wales because of Government spending cuts has increased to over 37,000 in recent weeks.
The GMB union said 27 local authorities had announced or threatened staff losses, with many more set to follow suit as the scale of their budget cuts becomes known.

Thousands of workers in Birmingham, Walsall, Croydon, Sheffield and Rhondda Cynon Taff faced having new terms and conditions imposed on them, while councils across the country were having to make huge savings over the next four years, the union added.

And please remember- 76 percent of the current cuts have yet to be implement.

It was reiterated the warnings that entire services run by the authority, which has an annual budget of about £1bn, would have to be “decommissioned” to meet the budget shortfall. He said he also expected the figures of claims to rise. But he did not seem certain. Does he know anything?

The council leader ”said the authority could only afford to borrow £429m of the £757m figure without having to get special dispensation from the government to take out more loans”.

All this ‘bunkum’ about what can be affected financially should be treated very cautiously. After the last World War we were apparently broke, but we still created a National Health Service.

The West Midlands Pensioners are proud to have supported these mainly women workers in their struggles.

It has been announced that almost £4bn a year off the governments welfare bill will be slashed by uprating Britain’s poorest families by just 1% a year until 2015. I assume this will affect people on Pension Credit, but at the time of writing this is not clear. Austerity measures will be extended to 2018, as debt-cutting targets are missed, the Autumn Statement revealed. Other information to follow and must mention the proposed 3 pence petrol increases to be intoduced in the new year. We surely must plan for even larger campaigns in the New Year. Happy festivities to all.

Sack the lot!

The corrupt and greedy bankers have clearly let down their very own system. So much for responsible capitalism. Surely, now the time has come for an accountable National Investment Bank and a People’s Bank aligned with all the Countrywide Credit Unions.

The system is in disarray and totally discredited and even the deficit reduction plan has failed. Time for a real campaign and genuine discussion on these alternatives and a new and fair system. We simply cannot allow our precious services to be further fragmented and privatised for the Banks incompetence and failure.

Wage freeze for the rich!

Fightback on wages as the rich get richer. 

Result of years of below-inflation pay increases, a two-year pay freeze since 2010 and refusal by local government employers to pay the Chancellor’s promised £250 to the 69% earning less than £21,000 during the pay freeze, have recently emerged. For part time workers – more than half the workforce – purchasing power is now at 2002 levels and many are working in poverty. Near were I live in Birmingham, the Council prepare for even more cuts which should be resisted. Key findings from the report from Unison, titled Living on the Edge include:

1. 1.7 million people worked in local government in England and Wales in 2010 – around a quarter of the 6.9 million working in the public sector. Three quarters of the local government workforce are women. Well over half of the workforce works part time.

2. Local government (like the rest of the public sector) has a much higher proportion of women in its workforce than the private sector. Local government has a much higher proportion of part time jobs than the rest of the public sector.

3. Two thirds of the jobs in local government are manual or clerical jobs – almost exactly the same proportion as in the private sector. In the rest of the public sector, only one third of jobs are manual or clerical.

4. Eight per cent of full-time workers and 38% of part-time workers in local government earned less than the Living Wage of £7.20 an hour in 2011. This is a quarter of the workforce.

5. Both full time and part time hourly earnings in local government are well below those in the public sector as a whole. Part time hourly earnings in local government are above those in the private sector (where a quarter earned £6 an hour or less in 2010).

6. High inflation coupled with a pay freeze that began in April 2010 slashed the real value of earnings in local government by 13% between April 2009 and February 2012. A fall this big is unprecedented. Continuing high inflation means that earnings will fall further still.

7. Thanks to the pay freeze and inflation, typical fulltime hourly earnings in local government have sunk back to the levels of the early 1990s. Typical parttime hourly earnings have fallen back to 2002 levels.

8. Low paid local government employees usually need benefits and tax credits to keep their household out of poverty. The higher but still modest minimum income standard is rarely reached.

9. Low paid local government workers and their families are in a financially precarious position. A reduction in hours, a child leaving school or a partner whose eligibility for contribution based social security ceases can all take the household to the edge of poverty. This is despite the fact that the local government employee continues to work. Pay for these workers is poverty pay.

10. Quality of service considerations – and in the case of care workers and others in personal service occupations, considerations of the human rights of clients – are grounds for improving the pay and conditions as well as the training of local government employees. The pretence that jobs such as caring for elderly, frail or otherwise vulnerable people requires but little skill is a symptom of our society’s inability to recognise and value some of the things in life that matter most to most of us. 

Thanks to Unison and False Economy.