“*Chancellor Rishi Sunak is attempting to absolve the government of responsibility in its management of the crisis by blaming these “global factors” over which, he claims, it has no control – the implication, then, being that workers and consumers must continue to pay for the crisis. But, of course, this isn’t true.*
*Financial Times columnist Martin Sandbu got to the heart of the issue when he asked: “Why does the governor of the Bank of England encourage restraint in wage demands but not call for restraint in businesses’ attempts to protect their profit margins?”*
*He’s absolutely right. We could be squeezing profits instead of pay. Plenty of companies can afford it – just look at Shell and BP, which made $40bn in profits last year. Ultimately, who pays for rising costs is a political decision; it could be bosses and their profits; it could be workers and their pay packets. Politics, not economics, is the determining factor.*”
Class conflict (and inevitably class warfare) is an inherent part of capitalism. Any economic policy or ideology that doesn’t acknowledge the conflicts and balances of power required between workers, managers, owners, landlords and renters is going to be a policy that doesn’t represent the interests of the masses.
This economic climate should be a time to create a strong, class driven political case for economic change. Yet both parties are offering no vision, no economic narrative and no robust criticism of the the economic system that has led to this.
It gets to a point where the “common sense” economic narratives being offered by political leaders simply don’t match the lived experiences of most of the people in the country. Change will come, but not from our current crop of MPs or major parties.
“*The immediate demand, however, has to be to halt the gas price rise today. Labour should be calling for this. However, Kier Starmer, in his response to the government’s statement on the Ukraine emergency last week, pledged that “the British people have always been willing to make sacrifices” in the event of higher prices and economic dislocation from the war.*
*Whatever the intention, this risks handing the government and big business a blank cheque for future price rises. It means any future price hike in gas or oil or some other essentials – or perhaps even future tax rises – can be justified by reference to the war in Ukraine. But if some companies are making fat profits from these high prices, they are essentially profiteering from the crisis. In this context, the British public should not be paying a single penny more to companies like BP*.”
wet.
blanket.
That fails on both counts… it’s not easy, and nor is it a fix.
LOL Novara Media clown news outlet.
Current top story: “Putin’s War is Bad News for the Climate”.
Surprised it isn’t about Putin liberating Trans and Non Binary people in Ukraine, but I guess they’re leaving level 11 for when things hot up.
Cutting bosses profits would be a populist move but isn’t going to do shit about the cost of living crisis.
We are experiencing inflation because the UK economy is experiencing a massive shortage of workers
It’s simple market economics.
Labour voted along with the Tories to put us in this situation.
…private companies have constantly been trying to maximise profits from when the first caveman traded a gazelle rump for a handjob. If this were really the cause for quickly rising costs of living then we would have seen it this bad our entire lives, but we didn’t.
What are “bosses’ profits”? Bosses are paid a salary, shareholders make profits. Which one do they mean?
I suspect they mean shareholders, because reducing the salaries of a few CEOs who earn a few million a year isn’t going to do anything to the cost of living.
Reducing shareholder profits though, that includes ordinary people’s pension funds, ISAs, and money that councils have invested that comes from ordinary people’s council tax.
Trying to pretend that we can fix global fuel prices and global inflation by targeting a few fat cats is nonsense.
Everyone in this thread for some reason giving a massive shit as to whether millionaires pay more taxes:
9 comments
“*Chancellor Rishi Sunak is attempting to absolve the government of responsibility in its management of the crisis by blaming these “global factors” over which, he claims, it has no control – the implication, then, being that workers and consumers must continue to pay for the crisis. But, of course, this isn’t true.*
*Financial Times columnist Martin Sandbu got to the heart of the issue when he asked: “Why does the governor of the Bank of England encourage restraint in wage demands but not call for restraint in businesses’ attempts to protect their profit margins?”*
*He’s absolutely right. We could be squeezing profits instead of pay. Plenty of companies can afford it – just look at Shell and BP, which made $40bn in profits last year. Ultimately, who pays for rising costs is a political decision; it could be bosses and their profits; it could be workers and their pay packets. Politics, not economics, is the determining factor.*”
Class conflict (and inevitably class warfare) is an inherent part of capitalism. Any economic policy or ideology that doesn’t acknowledge the conflicts and balances of power required between workers, managers, owners, landlords and renters is going to be a policy that doesn’t represent the interests of the masses.
This economic climate should be a time to create a strong, class driven political case for economic change. Yet both parties are offering no vision, no economic narrative and no robust criticism of the the economic system that has led to this.
It gets to a point where the “common sense” economic narratives being offered by political leaders simply don’t match the lived experiences of most of the people in the country. Change will come, but not from our current crop of MPs or major parties.
“*The immediate demand, however, has to be to halt the gas price rise today. Labour should be calling for this. However, Kier Starmer, in his response to the government’s statement on the Ukraine emergency last week, pledged that “the British people have always been willing to make sacrifices” in the event of higher prices and economic dislocation from the war.*
*Whatever the intention, this risks handing the government and big business a blank cheque for future price rises. It means any future price hike in gas or oil or some other essentials – or perhaps even future tax rises – can be justified by reference to the war in Ukraine. But if some companies are making fat profits from these high prices, they are essentially profiteering from the crisis. In this context, the British public should not be paying a single penny more to companies like BP*.”
wet.
blanket.
That fails on both counts… it’s not easy, and nor is it a fix.
LOL Novara Media clown news outlet.
Current top story: “Putin’s War is Bad News for the Climate”.
Surprised it isn’t about Putin liberating Trans and Non Binary people in Ukraine, but I guess they’re leaving level 11 for when things hot up.
Cutting bosses profits would be a populist move but isn’t going to do shit about the cost of living crisis.
We are experiencing inflation because the UK economy is experiencing a massive shortage of workers
It’s simple market economics.
Labour voted along with the Tories to put us in this situation.
…private companies have constantly been trying to maximise profits from when the first caveman traded a gazelle rump for a handjob. If this were really the cause for quickly rising costs of living then we would have seen it this bad our entire lives, but we didn’t.
What are “bosses’ profits”? Bosses are paid a salary, shareholders make profits. Which one do they mean?
I suspect they mean shareholders, because reducing the salaries of a few CEOs who earn a few million a year isn’t going to do anything to the cost of living.
Reducing shareholder profits though, that includes ordinary people’s pension funds, ISAs, and money that councils have invested that comes from ordinary people’s council tax.
Trying to pretend that we can fix global fuel prices and global inflation by targeting a few fat cats is nonsense.
Everyone in this thread for some reason giving a massive shit as to whether millionaires pay more taxes:
https://youtu.be/K_LvRPX0rGY