The Cost of the Bank Crash
I was still working when the bank crash happened. By the time we began to realise we were going to be asked to bail out the banks, I'd retired. The people I'd worked with in local councils all over Scotland talked about poverty and deprivation in ways we hadn't heard since the Thatcher era. We predicted the current conditions of poverty - and lawlessness.
Since the crash, pensioners like me have been protected - apparently, the Tories think we vote for them - though we won't be from now on if today's Tories have anything to say about it. Already, they refer to our pensions as 'benefits.' If you're a woman born in the early 1950s, you can whistle for your pension. Young people are told they will probably have to work till the age of 70. At least.
But the people who came out of the bank crash worst were the unemployed, the disabled, the young, the unskilled who all took a massive hit from 2008 onwards. 'Zero-hours' contracts appeared. Firms paying on or less than the minimum wage got away with it. Apprentices were only worth a couple of quid an hour.
People in work also suffered: a 5 year wage freeze was normal and, as always, public sector workers suffered most. As wages stalled, tax credits had to be paid by you and me to keep working families afloat. I would love to know just how much the taxpayers have paid out in working tax credits over the past 10 years. This is a subsidy to employers, just as rent allowance is a subsidy to landlords.
The worst sight has been how people are made to suffer on benefits. I've seen people in tears if the computers in the public library go down: they are on a schedule for applying for jobs and stand to have their 'benefits' sanctioned if they don't meet the job centre's requirements.
But you know all this.
Each of the awful stories we see reported - people dying - or worse, committing suicide - on benefits, more and more families having to go to food banks and clothing banks, increasing homelessness and destitution - is a tragedy, but in my opinion there's a bigger tragedy unfolding as we watch. And it began with the bank crash and austerity.
I am always critical of the press in Scotland and the BBC Scotland website, which seem to feature mainly stories of disaster in my country: every weekend brings a long list of murders, rapes, car crashes, etc. You would never guess the number of crimes committed in Scotland had been falling for 20 years until fairly recently. (Reports of rape have been rising but that's because victims feel they can now go to the police and get action). Violent attacks are up (assaults, attempted murder) and gangs have reappeared (I read of a gang fight among men in their 20s and 30s in Pollok last week - that was unheard of in my time). Shop robberies are up. Racist and homophobic attacks are up.
There's a feeling out there of insecurity: people don't feel safe in their own communities. Again.
This is a repeat of the Thatcher era. There were no jobs. With the blessing of the Tories, whole industries were closing down all over Scotland. Young people had no hope of getting a job, never mind an apprenticeship leading to a decent trade. The scandalous differences in educational achievement and life expectancy across Scotland's neighbourhoods appeared.
There was always an element of the sneer when it came to talking about life expectancy in some parts of Scotland, as if people in the poorest areas were feckless and irresponsible, so what could you expect? That sneer is back: we're told poverty is our fault. We eat badly, we drink too much, we don't take care of our health. All this, despite the fact that Scotland has the best NHS service in the UK and one of the best-educated populations in the EU.
And always the message of poverty is forgotten: poverty reduces your choices in food, as in every other aspect of life.
Whatever else we say about the present Tory government, we can say it has failed. Just like the coalition before it. Good government in a democracy isn't about looking after a small group of people from the same background, education and social class as yourself. It's about ensuring the vast majority of the population is well educated, well fed and safe from want.
And that's not happening.
Since the crash, pensioners like me have been protected - apparently, the Tories think we vote for them - though we won't be from now on if today's Tories have anything to say about it. Already, they refer to our pensions as 'benefits.' If you're a woman born in the early 1950s, you can whistle for your pension. Young people are told they will probably have to work till the age of 70. At least.
But the people who came out of the bank crash worst were the unemployed, the disabled, the young, the unskilled who all took a massive hit from 2008 onwards. 'Zero-hours' contracts appeared. Firms paying on or less than the minimum wage got away with it. Apprentices were only worth a couple of quid an hour.
People in work also suffered: a 5 year wage freeze was normal and, as always, public sector workers suffered most. As wages stalled, tax credits had to be paid by you and me to keep working families afloat. I would love to know just how much the taxpayers have paid out in working tax credits over the past 10 years. This is a subsidy to employers, just as rent allowance is a subsidy to landlords.
The worst sight has been how people are made to suffer on benefits. I've seen people in tears if the computers in the public library go down: they are on a schedule for applying for jobs and stand to have their 'benefits' sanctioned if they don't meet the job centre's requirements.
But you know all this.
Each of the awful stories we see reported - people dying - or worse, committing suicide - on benefits, more and more families having to go to food banks and clothing banks, increasing homelessness and destitution - is a tragedy, but in my opinion there's a bigger tragedy unfolding as we watch. And it began with the bank crash and austerity.
I am always critical of the press in Scotland and the BBC Scotland website, which seem to feature mainly stories of disaster in my country: every weekend brings a long list of murders, rapes, car crashes, etc. You would never guess the number of crimes committed in Scotland had been falling for 20 years until fairly recently. (Reports of rape have been rising but that's because victims feel they can now go to the police and get action). Violent attacks are up (assaults, attempted murder) and gangs have reappeared (I read of a gang fight among men in their 20s and 30s in Pollok last week - that was unheard of in my time). Shop robberies are up. Racist and homophobic attacks are up.
There's a feeling out there of insecurity: people don't feel safe in their own communities. Again.
This is a repeat of the Thatcher era. There were no jobs. With the blessing of the Tories, whole industries were closing down all over Scotland. Young people had no hope of getting a job, never mind an apprenticeship leading to a decent trade. The scandalous differences in educational achievement and life expectancy across Scotland's neighbourhoods appeared.
There was always an element of the sneer when it came to talking about life expectancy in some parts of Scotland, as if people in the poorest areas were feckless and irresponsible, so what could you expect? That sneer is back: we're told poverty is our fault. We eat badly, we drink too much, we don't take care of our health. All this, despite the fact that Scotland has the best NHS service in the UK and one of the best-educated populations in the EU.
And always the message of poverty is forgotten: poverty reduces your choices in food, as in every other aspect of life.
Whatever else we say about the present Tory government, we can say it has failed. Just like the coalition before it. Good government in a democracy isn't about looking after a small group of people from the same background, education and social class as yourself. It's about ensuring the vast majority of the population is well educated, well fed and safe from want.
And that's not happening.
Comments
Post a Comment