RACHEL Reeves is honouring her pre-election pledge to the City of London oligarchs – to protect and enhance their wealth at the expense of ordinary people.
The City of London doesn’t generate economic growth nor does it want to. But Reeves wants to cut regulations and increase private investment, calling financial services the economy’s “crown jewels”. The UK has ceded economic control to a creditor oligarchy that’s been destroying the economy for decades. The only growth that will happen on Reeves’s watch is growth in inequality, poverty and social instability.
READ MORE: It’s easy to preach cuts if they don’t affect you
In his latest book, economist Michael Hudson explains that societies that allowed creditor oligarchies to take over failed.
Today in the West, the creditors are in charge. Neoliberalism maintains that free markets know best and governments should stay out of the way. Under this system, society has become increasingly polarised. Income has flowed to the parasitic creditor oligarchy which is killing the host – the productive economy – and impoverishing the population.
Financial capitalism has led to deindustrialisation and the shrinking of the state. Instead of reinvesting profits in people and productive capacity, these predators reward shareholders, drive up share prices with stock buybacks and pay themselves huge bonuses. Rachel Reeves is their useful idiot. That’s why things will only get worse.
READ MORE: Beware of Survation poll showing SNP lead. It contains a warning
But there’s an alternative. The nations whose leaders the West has assassinated, debt-enslaved, sanctioned, bombed and invaded because they had the temerity to resist neoliberalism are uniting within BRICS.
BRICS is creating institutions based on respect for national sovereignty, trade, development and cooperation, not hegemonic domination, indebtedness, sanctions and war. That’s why more and more nations want to become members.
A future sovereign Scotland should join the queue.
Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh
UK inflation rising to 2.3% is not just bad news for those already at the end of their economic tether after years of cruel Tory austerity, it is a massive problem for a seemingly equally heartless Labour.
Outside the pretty nuances of Westminster political speak, Labour’s approach appeared to be “business as usual” because The Economy had to be prioritised.
That was meant to cover all bases from not removing the leave-children-in-poverty two-child benefit cap to the refusal to cap bankers’ bonuses by Starmer and Reeves.
READ MORE: Inflation rises to 2.3 per cent in sharpest increase for two years
The problem is, The Economy is an entity that doesn’t necessarily benefit the majority in health or otherwise. And it is people the government is there to protect.
Saying you’ll prioritise The Economy over real people’s immediate needs regardless, because that in and of itself will feed, clothe and house folk is not just naive, it’s a gnat’s tit away from believing in Truss-style trickle-down economics.
The UK inflation rise to 2.3% leaves the Starmer/Reeves flirtation with Conservative cruelty already in tatters and the public in a lose/lose scenario.
Invest in people and The Economy will follow. Not the other way around…
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
TIME is precious and time in the Scottish Parliament is precious also. So it was a pity that the Scottish Parliament had to use precious time once again at Holyrood to condemn and highlight the actions of the new Labour government at Westminster.
In recent weeks we have had debates in Holyrood regarding the shameful decision by the Labour government to abolish Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) for pensioners who are not eligible for Pension Credit. On Wednesday the debate was about the rise in National Insurance (NI) contributions for employers – action that will impact on jobs nationally, not only in our public sector, but in the hospitality and retail sector and much wider.
READ MORE: SNP to remain largest party at Holyrood as Scottish Labour fall further behind
In only a few short months, the actions of this Labour government have impacted detrimentally on millions of pensioners, and with the employer NI increase the detriment will be felt financially in our NHS, an NHS which will be impacted detrimentally by the removal of the WFA. The employer NI increase will also impact on our hard-pressed charities, which are filling a huge gap in our public services.
This action by the Labour government will certainly not grow the economy, and it will certainly not increase employment. The Chancellor needs a reality check.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
IN the context of the present stushie over inheritance tax for farmers, they often claim that they feed us, as if we were passive townies incapable of producing our own food.
Yet if the state did not chronically deny us our birthright in land, our “wee bit hill and glen”, we’d be able to produce much of our food from allotments. The theft by the state of the people’s land, while demanding our allegiance, has to end.
George Morton
Rosyth
ON page three of The National on Monday there were two brief reports regarding mishaps in Blantyre and Coatbridge. Both reports began with identifying the locations as GLASGOW.
I know we have a “G” postcode, but Blantyre is most definitely NOT in Glasgow, it’s not even in Glasgow district. The second report compounds this error by referring to “an industrial estate in GLASGOW” which turns out to be in Coatbridge, which is considerably further away from Glasgow than Blantyre.
I know they renamed Prestwick Airport “Glasgow-Prestwick” (which I think is farcical) but surely this Glaswegianising of surrounding towns is getting out of control. What’s next? Incidents in FALKIRK being described as Glasgow?
The author of these pieces must have a wonky Satnav, or a serious lack of geographic knowledge.
Barry Stewart
Blantyre
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