HOOD ROBIN
Robin Hood allegedly stole from the rich to give to the poor. Labour now have the principle in reverse. They take from the poor to give to the greedy super-rich.
Labours’ £5billion per year tax raid on the private pension schemes led to a collapse in their value, by as much as 75% even a few year’s ago. Their value today will no doubt be even less. More than £100billion was plundered from private pensions at a time when Labour endorsed the inflation-proof pensions of an ever expanding government sector.
The collapsing share prices are reducing the value of private pensions even further. It is estimated that £20,000 has been wiped off the value of every private pension linked to the stock market.
Labour backtracked from the abolition of the 10% tax band. That such an abolition would affect the poorer members of society did not bother them initially. That was because it was in the interests of the state. For any socialist, the interests of the state are paramount. It was only the public outcry and the various Westminster by-elections that compelled Labour to reverse the abolition.
In bygone years, the unions would seek to represent, in their own way, the interests of their members and promote the defence of the declining manufacturing base of Britain. No more - they are now more interested in promoting political correctness and denigrating their members.
Labour have abandoned the concept that we have to produce things and supply services. They have been dazzled by the shallow glitter of a casino society, and have sought to expand the number and size of casinos and gambling to that end. It is therefore not surprising that Labour are enthralled by the greatest gambling den of all - the City.
Originally, the City arose to fulfil the need to supply finance for manufacturing and trade. Nowadays, it exists to speculate for its own sake and manufacturing can be transferred to China. Labour have been very keen on this to happen and have allowed special tax breaks for equity funds etc.
Meanwhile, ordinary people, particularly those not employed by the state, have needed a new means of providing for their retirement, if they could afford to at all. Housing and the ever increased rise in prices appeared an attractive option. Some hoped that their homes would be their pension, whereas others took out buy-to-let mortgages to expand their property portfolio. Mass immigration reinforced the housing shortage. Prices spiralled.
Meanwhile, the various stock exchanges invented imaginative ways to create commissions by packaging and repackaging mortgage debt. The American sub-prime mortgages were sold and resold across the globe and when those mortgages ran into trouble, the bubble burst.
Now hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money have been, and continue to be, poured into bailing out the banks, whose greed and recklessness created the appalling catastrophe. Labour have just lobbed no less than £500billion to the banks in the latest instalment, and this coming after the many hundreds of billions spent already in bailing out Northern Rock etc [possibly as much as £350billion]. And still the stock exchanges continue to crash! No doubt more £billions will be in the pipeline.
That is more than £14,000 per person in the UK. £28,000 for a pensioner couple and £70,000 for a family of five. This is at a time when drugs such as Aricept, costing only £2.50 per day, are denied to many Alzheimers sufferers.
But then, it is not in the interests of the state to prioritise the poor or the sick.
£37billion of taxpayers’ money is to be invested in bank shares [with other banks possibly wanting such funds themselves in due course] and this is after City bonuses last year reached a staggering £17billion! It is no wonder the financial institutions are insolvent when their own funds have been looted to such an extent - year after year.
Meanwhile, inflation has hit its highest rate for 16 years at 5.2% and unemployment is increasing sharply and will probably exceed 2million by Christmas and some fear it may reach 3million by 2010.
So much for Gordon Brown’s claim to have abolished boom and bust. His latest boast is that the government is ‘creating new opportunities for work’ in ‘insulation, draft proofing and central heating provision’. Presumably, this is skilled work compared to Margaret Hodge’s suggestion that the unemployed can stack shelves at Tescos [see the English Rights Campaign item dated the 24 August 2005].
Labours’ £5billion per year tax raid on the private pension schemes led to a collapse in their value, by as much as 75% even a few year’s ago. Their value today will no doubt be even less. More than £100billion was plundered from private pensions at a time when Labour endorsed the inflation-proof pensions of an ever expanding government sector.
The collapsing share prices are reducing the value of private pensions even further. It is estimated that £20,000 has been wiped off the value of every private pension linked to the stock market.
Labour backtracked from the abolition of the 10% tax band. That such an abolition would affect the poorer members of society did not bother them initially. That was because it was in the interests of the state. For any socialist, the interests of the state are paramount. It was only the public outcry and the various Westminster by-elections that compelled Labour to reverse the abolition.
In bygone years, the unions would seek to represent, in their own way, the interests of their members and promote the defence of the declining manufacturing base of Britain. No more - they are now more interested in promoting political correctness and denigrating their members.
Labour have abandoned the concept that we have to produce things and supply services. They have been dazzled by the shallow glitter of a casino society, and have sought to expand the number and size of casinos and gambling to that end. It is therefore not surprising that Labour are enthralled by the greatest gambling den of all - the City.
Originally, the City arose to fulfil the need to supply finance for manufacturing and trade. Nowadays, it exists to speculate for its own sake and manufacturing can be transferred to China. Labour have been very keen on this to happen and have allowed special tax breaks for equity funds etc.
Meanwhile, ordinary people, particularly those not employed by the state, have needed a new means of providing for their retirement, if they could afford to at all. Housing and the ever increased rise in prices appeared an attractive option. Some hoped that their homes would be their pension, whereas others took out buy-to-let mortgages to expand their property portfolio. Mass immigration reinforced the housing shortage. Prices spiralled.
Meanwhile, the various stock exchanges invented imaginative ways to create commissions by packaging and repackaging mortgage debt. The American sub-prime mortgages were sold and resold across the globe and when those mortgages ran into trouble, the bubble burst.
Now hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money have been, and continue to be, poured into bailing out the banks, whose greed and recklessness created the appalling catastrophe. Labour have just lobbed no less than £500billion to the banks in the latest instalment, and this coming after the many hundreds of billions spent already in bailing out Northern Rock etc [possibly as much as £350billion]. And still the stock exchanges continue to crash! No doubt more £billions will be in the pipeline.
That is more than £14,000 per person in the UK. £28,000 for a pensioner couple and £70,000 for a family of five. This is at a time when drugs such as Aricept, costing only £2.50 per day, are denied to many Alzheimers sufferers.
But then, it is not in the interests of the state to prioritise the poor or the sick.
£37billion of taxpayers’ money is to be invested in bank shares [with other banks possibly wanting such funds themselves in due course] and this is after City bonuses last year reached a staggering £17billion! It is no wonder the financial institutions are insolvent when their own funds have been looted to such an extent - year after year.
Meanwhile, inflation has hit its highest rate for 16 years at 5.2% and unemployment is increasing sharply and will probably exceed 2million by Christmas and some fear it may reach 3million by 2010.
So much for Gordon Brown’s claim to have abolished boom and bust. His latest boast is that the government is ‘creating new opportunities for work’ in ‘insulation, draft proofing and central heating provision’. Presumably, this is skilled work compared to Margaret Hodge’s suggestion that the unemployed can stack shelves at Tescos [see the English Rights Campaign item dated the 24 August 2005].
posted by erc @ 9:43 pm
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