Tuesday 1 October 2013

The true purpose of austerity

So let us look at the strange bedfellows of Quantitative Easing - an esoteric macro financial tool which used to be called "printing money" - and austerity - a way of depriving millions of individuals of relatively small but life-saving sums. What do they have in common? There is surely a parallel here with the Thatcher era, where QE's equivalent was North Sea oil revenue; and austerity's was the Poll Tax. In each case, the Government had huge sums it could devote to propping up institutions whilst they forced revolutionary changes on society, which it kept in place, hungry and obedient by empoverishment. QE has fed £375bn into supposedly shoring up the Balance Sheets of irresponsible banks, which are still claimed not to be sound enough. Sound enough for what? The only answer which makes sense must be that they want to revert to risk-taking; otherwise they would not need beefed up Balance Sheets. If they were traditionally risk-averse, they would not require an enlarged asset cushion. We the people are to be kept empoverished whilst this strengthening of the 1% proceeds unchallenged - desperate so that we are forced into low-pay, so that the employers can pay greater dividends and plough more donations into the Tory Party coffers, to guarantee continuity. As if a period of austerity claimed to be necessary to deal with deficits were not enough - lie that it is - Osborne now plans to extend it into a period of surplus, while even greater profits in better times are reaped by the 1%. And still at the expense of the 99%. At the end of Tory rule, there will be no State or the infrastructure to support the needs of unemployed, ill, disabled or elderly people, just a Feudal Society built on near slavery and patronage. Melodramatic? Yes, but this is what will happen if they are elected in 2015 and continue to boost the banks and deprive the people.

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