Cabinet Pay Cap Row: Addicted To Austerity?

Angry Ministers are right to point out to the isolated Chancellor and the obdurate May that whatever the sums say, it is socially and politically impossible in a democracy to impose austerity year upon year in an economic model which means it impacts the many but enriches the few. The facts of the matter are simple. Massive quantitative easing by the Bank of England has flooded the financial sector with cash, inflated assets, allowed bosses and footballers and celebrities to receive obscene rewards, while the people who keep the nation safe, fed, healthy and warm, educate children, care for the elderly and comfort the bereaved have to make do on falling incomes.

Too little tax is now raised to pay the bills and because income tax has been progressively reduced while VAT has risen, the latter impacts most upon the poorest. Thatcher had a basic tax rate of 25% and VAT at 15%. To deal with the injustice now being imposed on public sector workers without more borrowing, will require tax rises and that fact has to be faced. Additionally there must be a significant expansion of the money supply at the base of the economy to reboot growth via major infrastructure and social housing investment. That does not require more borrowing. It should be achieved by Dynamic Quantitative Easing, at least to the level of the QE splurge into the City.  What is good for the rich is even better for the poor.

The Tories are just beginning to stir and understand that the combination of Brexit and austerity could prove fatal for their party. If that spurs them into action very good. This blog cares not a jot what happens to the Tory party, but we are getting ever more angry at this abuse of the people. Like half of May’s Cabinet.