Are we all Trussed up...

[Jdsk]

And after years of inhumane actions and attitudes to refugees, illegal deportations, etc. now it's suddenly "all change" and

Liz Truss ‘plans to loosen immigration rules to boost UK economy’

But, given Westminsters recent nasty attitude to migrant workers i.e. you can do the rubbish unpleasant jobs for below minimum wage with no protections and when the "season" is over go way, will all these people sought to boost growth even want to come to the UK?

IME there was an established familial 'supply chain' in many businesses (an example was a food manufacturer I worked with in Lincs) which provided a bridgehead for family & friends to travel over and work. The question is whether that link has been broken in the last couple of years, and I've been in other sectors in the interim.

A lot of commercial organisations have been broken by the changes, especially in food production and processing. The adverse effects on health and social care are easy to identify.

At the welfare level it's much better to have freedom of movement of labour than middlemen systems. The opportunities in the latter for abuse and exploitation are well documented.

At the economic level there's a fascinating reversal of attitudes which involves the assertion that central planning by government can allocate labour resources better than a free market!

Jonathan

[reohn2]

A simple question to you on the current Kwateng Kack.
How can slashing the taxes of the already rich and well off who don't need the extra money,whilst allowing the expenditure of those barely paying any income tax,and who need help the most,to increase at alarming rates,be morally acceptable to any right thinking person?

Similarly, how will keeping Corporation Tax the same as it is now result in massive growth (massive being necessary to cover the borrowing required to give so much to the already wealthy). What they have done is just returned to Osborne's Corporation tax level that was due to be increased as Osborne's cut didn't result in growth (i.e. the cut didn't work).What has changed since 2017 to make 19% Corporation tax suddenly create massive growth (when it didn't in 2017)?

Ian

It just shows the level of thinkology going on within this morally bankrupt Tory government!

[reohn2]

I've just paid £24.27 VAT on a veterinary bill for the loss of a cat.

The cat wasn't owned by anyone, he was a feral that had existed around the village for years, i first noticed him in 2015 when he was a young adult cat which i guess which makes him about 9 years old this year.

Since this summer a few times a week he would visit the garden and i'd feed him a bowl of food, but he didn't look well on Thursday, so in a mission of mercy i captured him, took him to the vets for a check over and all going well to be neutered.
This elusive stray would then be welcome to move in with us if he so wished...

However, the check-up revealed a serous underlying heath issue ( +FIE ) and after much consultation with the vet we decided the most compassionate outcome was euthanasia, which went ahead on Friday morning.
Must admit going home with the empty cat carrier i blubbed a bit.

The bill to include overnight stay, blood tests, euthanasia and disposal of body = £121.27 which includes the full fat 20% VAT charge of £24.27 which will go to the treasury to help fund tax cuts for millionaires.

You've got a good heart Debs.

No doubt IMO

I firmly believe in Karma - Good things comes to good people.

By that reckoning Jacob Reece Mogg must be a saint!

[pete75]

The policies of Truss all part of the European move to the right. Hungary, Poland, the UK and even Sweden have fight right parties in power and it looks like Italy will get one too.

[reohn2]

More Trussness:- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... aving-move

[mumbojumbo]

The right is gaining strength in Europe largely because voters find their policies simple to understand , and also their policies often reflect a prejudiced viewpoint .Rather than correct a tendency to bigotry and nationalism ,they feed off and add to these tendencies.. Regrettably people like narratives which have immediate appeal and require no time invested in analysis and reflection.

[reohn2]

The right is gaining strength in Europe largely because voters find their policies simple to understand , and also their policies often reflect a prejudiced viewpoint .Rather than correct a tendency to bigotry and nationalism ,they feed off and add to these tendencies.. Regrettably people like narratives which have immediate appeal and require no time invested in analysis and reflection.

After Kwanteng's Kludge a journo was interviewing people on the street,about 50% of what appeared to be ordinary working people were saying how the tax cuts could only be a good thing
Little do they realise they wouldn't see increase in income,after energy and mortgage increases quite the reverse in fact.

[jois]

The right is gaining strength in Europe largely because voters find their policies simple to understand , and also their policies often reflect a prejudiced viewpoint .Rather than correct a tendency to bigotry and nationalism ,they feed off and add to these tendencies.. Regrettably people like narratives which have immediate appeal and require no time invested in analysis and reflection.

After Kwanteng's Kludge a journo was interviewing people on the street,about 50% of what appeared to be ordinary working people were saying how the tax cuts could only be a good thing
Little do they realise they wouldn't see increase in income,after energy and mortgage increases quite the reverse in fact.

Income may increase.free income to spend on frivolities will decrease. As I understand it the idea of the tax cuts are to try and get us out of a depression. By washing more money through the economy. The energy/ inflationary presure is not specific to the UK. The inflation may well have something to do with printing most of a trillion pounds to pay people to sit at home for two years and energy costs you can blame on every government for the last 50 years for failing to have a cohesive energy policy.

[reohn2]

Jois
Don't worry Kwatty Kwarteng's fiscal policy of detaxing the rich so that all their money will trickledown to those at the botom of the pile will see us all through the hard times ahead

EDIT:- and he may not be done yet allowing all that tickledownism to continue:- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... gh-earners

[pete75]

The right is gaining strength in Europe largely because voters find their policies simple to understand , and also their policies often reflect a prejudiced viewpoint .Rather than correct a tendency to bigotry and nationalism ,they feed off and add to these tendencies.. Regrettably people like narratives which have immediate appeal and require no time invested in analysis and reflection.

After Kwanteng's Kludge a journo was interviewing people on the street,about 50% of what appeared to be ordinary working people were saying how the tax cuts could only be a good thing
Little do they realise they wouldn't see increase in income,after energy and mortgage increases quite the reverse in fact.

What really does increase the income of poorer people is an increase in the tax free personal allowance, at least in line with inflation. Kwarteng has continured the freeze on this for the next four years. It is, effectively, a stealth tax increase and the 1 pence reduction in tax won't compensate low earners for it. Of course it won't affect the high earners who this "budget" is designed to benefit as they don't get the personal allowance - for every £2 earnt over £100,000 £1 of the tax allowance goes.

[Jdsk]

...
The energy/ inflationary presure is not specific to the UK.
...

Some of the factors are international. But the effects on the poorest vary enormously across countries:


https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2 ... rgy-prices

NB that's from early August 2022 so countries may have introduced interventions since then. The UK has.

Jonathan

[Paulatic]

I’m confused
As a pensioner will this trickledown money be paid straight into my account or do I have to apply for it?

[Biospace]

Neoliberalism's character is one of extreme individualism, with the "better" individuals triumphing over "the second raters" (Ayn Rand terminology) via a vicious social Darwinism. Neo liberalism is libertarian in nature, not an ideology seeking a central power, of the familair "world government" kind. They don't like government, only laws establishing and enforcing fantastic privilege for themselves, even if it does seek a single hegemony of economic rules that always tend to favour the already rich elites seeking ever greater power and riches.

These would-be aristocracies of neoliberalism encourage something of a war of supremacy amongst themselves, as well as upon we second raters.. The English neoliberals of the ERG were concerned to do away with the limits imposed by another neoliberal regime - that of the EU. Their main objective was to gain even greater power, unfettered by anything or anyone. The nationalistic fervour characterising much of Brexit was precisely wrought to get rid of any fetters on those within the ERG seeking greater "freedom" for their capital and their many exploitative behaviours - particularly those most numerous fetters applied by the EU.

The logic of much of the current neoliberal stuff is that wealth and power will migrate ever-upward, eventually concentrating in perhaps just one cabal, syndicate or even individual - the individual or small group of them that own and control everything. Already there's a small number of very rich billionaires who are actually doing nearly-that: exerting vast tranns-national influence and control in every sphere you can name.

So, in that sense, there may well be a drive within neoliberalism for "centralisation of power". But it's not the sort of drive and power of the history of our heretofore, based in nation-states with leaders having visions for their nation as a whole, including its citizens. It's a Hobbesian war of all-against-all, with even the biggest neoliberal beasts wary of the other big neoliberal beasts. They all want to own everything and will do each other down to get it.

Consider Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping and others of their ilk. They all employ a variety of political and economic variations of the neoliberal theme in an attempt to increase their personal hegemony. Use of "the nation" is just like the use of a screwdriver, a dispensable tool. They'll wear it out as they do their screwing.

Cugel

Thanks for that, you put it much better than I would. How do you see the relationship between these multi-billionaires and government, how do the two 'do business' I wonder?

[reohn2]

The right is gaining strength in Europe largely because voters find their policies simple to understand , and also their policies often reflect a prejudiced viewpoint .Rather than correct a tendency to bigotry and nationalism ,they feed off and add to these tendencies.. Regrettably people like narratives which have immediate appeal and require no time invested in analysis and reflection.

After Kwanteng's Kludge a journo was interviewing people on the street,about 50% of what appeared to be ordinary working people were saying how the tax cuts could only be a good thing
Little do they realise they wouldn't see increase in income,after energy and mortgage increases quite the reverse in fact.

What really does increase the income of poorer people is an increase in the tax free personal allowance, at least in line with inflation. Kwarteng has continured the freeze on this for the next four years. It is, effectively, a stealth tax increase and the 1 pence reduction in tax won't compensate low earners for it. Of course it won't affect the high earners who this "budget" is designed to benefit as they don't get the personal allowance - for every £2 earnt over £100,000 £1 of the tax allowance goes.

Yer not wrong!

[Cugel]

Neoliberalism's character is one of extreme individualism, with the "better" individuals triumphing over "the second raters" (Ayn Rand terminology) via a vicious social Darwinism. Neo liberalism is libertarian in nature, not an ideology seeking a central power, of the familair "world government" kind. They don't like government, only laws establishing and enforcing fantastic privilege for themselves, even if it does seek a single hegemony of economic rules that always tend to favour the already rich elites seeking ever greater power and riches.

These would-be aristocracies of neoliberalism encourage something of a war of supremacy amongst themselves, as well as upon we second raters.. The English neoliberals of the ERG were concerned to do away with the limits imposed by another neoliberal regime - that of the EU. Their main objective was to gain even greater power, unfettered by anything or anyone. The nationalistic fervour characterising much of Brexit was precisely wrought to get rid of any fetters on those within the ERG seeking greater "freedom" for their capital and their many exploitative behaviours - particularly those most numerous fetters applied by the EU.

The logic of much of the current neoliberal stuff is that wealth and power will migrate ever-upward, eventually concentrating in perhaps just one cabal, syndicate or even individual - the individual or small group of them that own and control everything. Already there's a small number of very rich billionaires who are actually doing nearly-that: exerting vast tranns-national influence and control in every sphere you can name.

So, in that sense, there may well be a drive within neoliberalism for "centralisation of power". But it's not the sort of drive and power of the history of our heretofore, based in nation-states with leaders having visions for their nation as a whole, including its citizens. It's a Hobbesian war of all-against-all, with even the biggest neoliberal beasts wary of the other big neoliberal beasts. They all want to own everything and will do each other down to get it.

Consider Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping and others of their ilk. They all employ a variety of political and economic variations of the neoliberal theme in an attempt to increase their personal hegemony. Use of "the nation" is just like the use of a screwdriver, a dispensable tool. They'll wear it out as they do their screwing.

Cugel

Thanks for that, you put it much better than I would. How do you see the relationship between these multi-billionaires and government, how do the two 'do business' I wonder?

The relationship is fundamentally one of bribery & corruption. Big business and its quasi mafia-like behaviours benefit from owning politicians who make laws in their favour and rescind laws (" a bonfire of regulations") that hinder them. Politicians benefit from big business mafias by having large gulps of money and various aids-to-power, such as mass media propaganda organs.

These days, the businessmen are also the politicians, in many cases. Look at the "second jobs" of many Tory MPs and who employs them. Consider also the nasty Rees-Mogg type, who pose as representatives of a constituency whilst using their position and power entirely in service of their own gain and that of their helpmeets.

We second-raters are their "customers", as in a sort of large scale protection racket, in which the "protection" is from the very same rascals who are insisting we buy their "protection services". In practice, we are the victims and feedstock of criminal cabals who have managed to decriminalise their activities by making the law just another tool of their oppressions and suppressions of any truly representative government.

The process has been in train for a couple or more centuries now. For other examples, consider the history of The Honourable (ha!) East India Company and the Tory Party of their day.

Cugel