Wolfie: Welfare Reform Bill

Saturday 19 February 2011

Welfare Reform Bill

Tory/Liberal Welfare Reform Bill is the most fundamental in changes to the welfare system since the welfare state was set up. Its aim is to reduce welfare spending over the next four years by £5.5 billion about the same as the banks £6bn that the banks have paid out in bonuses this year. The government is set to train its sights on precisely those sectors of society that need help most and to drive down their living standards to maintain and increase the living standards the rich.

According to Cameron, one in every £7 of government spending is devoted to welfare, amounting to £90bn a year, and this isn’t "simply not sustainable." the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere that have swallowed billions of pounds to no avail, to say nothing of the human cost, they are not sustainable. Weapons of mass destruction, such as the Trident nuclear submarine fleet, are also unsustainable, costing tens of billions and contributing nothing to society. The level of tax avoidance in Britain is also unsustainable, costing the exchequer around £80bn annually. The coalition assault on working-class living standards forms part of its on-going campaign to absolve the capitalist class of its responsibility to society.

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Wolfie19 February 2011 at 16:43
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Wolfie21 February 2011 at 20:21
A Big Society for PM's friends

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Privatisation replaces democratic oversight and accountability with a contract culture. Voters and service users lose their say in what will be a get even richer quicker scheme for the companies that win contracts.”

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis accused Mr Cameron of wanting to turn the clock back to a time when access to schools and hospitals was a privilege, not a right.

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Rob Griffiths said: “Mr Cameron’s Big Society will hand over the public sector to a handful of monopolies. This underlines the need for united and militant action to block Con-Dem policies and bring down a government which has no democratic mandate.”

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Die LInke MP Sevim Dagdelen explains why she will be coming to London for the Europe Against Auster

In one week our MP’s are to vote on the biggest changes to our health service since 1948

Ed Miliband warns of ‘‘knee-jerk’’ responses

‘‘It's not the first time we've seen this kind of me first, take what you can culture. The bankers who took millions while destroying people's savings – greedy, selfish and immoral. The MPs who fiddled their expenses – greedy, selfish and immoral. The people who hacked phones to get stories to make money for themselves – greedy, selfish and immoral……Let's not pretend that the crisis of values in our society is confined to a minority only at the bottom when we see the morality of millions of hardworking, decent people under siege from the top as well.’’

Is Imperialism the Final Stage of Capitalism?

At the beginning of the twentieth century capitalism was in a crisis of overproduction and finance capital with the imperialist capitalist nations in a state of conflict and war over resources and markets. At the beginning of the twenty-first century capitalism was in a crisis of overproduction and finance capital and at war over resources and markets. Add to economic stagnation the crisis of the global ecology from capitalisms pursuit of profits from cheap labour and resources. Marx said capitalism cannot be reformed and Lenin saw social democracy as the first (reformist) stage of the social revolution with the second a socialist (revolutionary) stage of the social revolution to replace the capitalist mode of production. In order to solve the contradictions within the capitalist mode of production have we now reached the stage where as Hans Magnus Ezensberger said capitalist (neo-liberal free market) economic policies on the environment, raw materials, energy and labour will put an end to liberal illusions as the capitalist elite resort to the use of a fascist (neo-conservative) authoritarian state to support the capitalist system. And that the ability of the people to see the connection between the capitalist mode of production and the general crisis depends on the degree of politicization and organization of the working class. Lenin saw that socialism was only possible if the proletariat had been prepared for the socialist revolution by the struggle for democracy and that without democracy socialism wasn’t possible. A socialist economy must be organized in a way that doesn’t alienate humanity from nature. Is the choice we face between socialism or barbarism?

Tony Benn

The veteran left-winger Tony Benn is calling for ordinary people to revolt against government plans for the most savage spending cuts since the 1930s. Benn calls for a broad movement of active resistance to the Tory/Liberal coalition government he says that ‘‘Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers' profligacy’’ and that ‘‘This government of millionaires say 'we're all in it together' and 'there is no alternative'. But, for the wealthy, corporation tax is being cut, the bank levy is a pittance, and top salaries and bonuses have already been restored to pre-crash levels’’ He is committed to opposing cuts and privatisation and argues we should liaise with opposition movements in other countries.

The International (English Lyrics)

Arise ye workers from your slumbers Arise ye prisoners of want For reason in revolt now thunders And at last ends the age of cant. Away with all your superstitions Servile masses arise, arise We'll change henceforth the old tradition And spurn the dust to win the prize. So comrades, come rally And the last fight let us face The Internationale unites the human race. No more deluded by reaction On tyrants only we'll make war The soldiers too will take strike action They'll break ranks and fight no more And if those cannibals keep trying To sacrifice us to their pride They soon shall hear the bullets flying We'll shoot the generals on our own side. No saviour from on high delivers No faith have we in prince or peer Our own right hand the chains must shiver Chains of hatred, greed and fear E'er the thieves will out with their booty And give to all a happier lot. Each at the forge must do their duty And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

Mallard Festival

''As the possibility of training as a craftsman grows less, how many sons of toolmakers will become toolmakers? When the last men who have driven and cared for steam loco-motives retire and when engine-drivers will be little different from a bus-driver. What will our society be like as skilled artisans are no longer required. How will we have a sense of self-respect that was found as a craftsman in useful manual work using the skill of hand, eye and brain.'' (Eric Hobsbawm, Worlds of Labour, 1984)

Coalition of Resistance

Steve Turner of Unite says "Doing nothing is not an option", general strikes, like the TUC marches on the 20th of October have to be part of a coordinated economic and political fightback, the march and any general strike has to be followed up by more strikes and marches until organised labour and the people of Britain along with the labour movement and peoples of Europe and Scandinavia make it impossible for our Tory/Liberal coalition government and the governments, EU/ECB, IMF, WTO, World Bank and international finance capital to enforce their austerity measures to solve the realization crises of global capitalism in their class interest.

Latest and final BVA poll before the first round of the French presidential elections

Save Our NHS - Emergency petition

House prices in the USA back to 2002 levels

Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index has fallen for eight months in a row and declined by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2011, following a 3.6% fall in the fourth quarter of 2010 and by the end of March the index showed an annual decline of 5.1% compared with the first quarter of 2010. Minneapolis saw a 10% annual decline, the first market to experience a double digit drop since March 2010 when Las Vegas was down 12% on an annual basis. According to real estate data firm Zillow about 28 % of homeowners in the USA owe more than their house is worth on the mortgage.

New Nuclear Power Stations

British taxpayers face a bill of £15billion for 10 new nuclear reactors which are to be built by the Tory/Liberal Coalition. Ian Jackson for Greenpeace has said the estimated ‘‘Waste Transfer Price’’ of £1billion per reactor is out by £445million and with 10 reactors to pay for, taxpayers will end up paying £4.45billion to make up the shortfall and says the government will have to find an extra £11.2billion in subsidies because the maximum price cap on all other costs has also been underestimated.

NHS Cuts

David Cameron may have also promised that the Tory/Liberal coalition wouldn’t create some American-style private system but then went on to stress his commitment to competition. NHS boss Sir David Nicholson is calling on local MPs to have the courage to support hospital closures. With the NHS functioning as a competitive market, foundation trusts will be required to act like private businesses and have been told that they should withdraw where possible from services where they cannot make a surplus.

The Left and the European Parliament

It is considered good form in some leftist circles – particularly the “far left” – to look down on the European Parliament “What are you doing in this mess?”; “Decisions are taken elsewhere”; “Any change is illusory” I understand, naturally, and share the exasperation generated as much by the structural orientation of European Union policies as by the deep lack of democracy in the way that it functions. I too deplore the “parliamentary cretinism” that leads elected representatives to shut themselves up too frequently in the “bubble” of their assembly, far from real life, and to vastly overestimate their personal ability to change things. But, there is, in my opinion, more to it than that. Francis Wurtz, Parti Communiste Français MEP and President of the European United Left

The world needs a new Marx, but it keeps creating Malcolm Gladwells

‘‘Across Europe, the crisis of social democracy continues’’ ‘‘If Blair remains your idol, it's all about chasing the supposed centre-ground as it's dragged ever rightwards, and the necessity of addressing our chewier social problems via remaining vigilantly nasty on crime, immigration and benefit cheats.’’ ‘‘Ed Miliband, which wants at least tentatively to edge towards the fundamentals, and begin talking not just about the ubiquitous squeezed middle, but "better capitalism" and "life beyond the bottom line". Yesterday, it was good to hear him sum up the Southern Cross care homes saga as the result of treating people "merely as commodities". But he's hemmed in by two big problems: the hostility of his colleagues; and a pronounced aversion to risk, inculcated during those long years at Gordon Brown's knee.’’ ‘‘I'd advise Labour's brighter sparks to go away and read some books, if there were any around……The world arguably needs a new Marx, but it keeps creating Malcolm Gladwells, pirouhetting around their flipcharts and ignoring the real problems.’’ ‘‘Towards the end of last month, the Relationships Foundation published a report that showed that British families were the third most pressured in Europe, ahead of only those in Romania and Bulgaria’’ ‘‘One family in five has either "difficulty" or "great difficulty" in making ends meet, and our working hours remain as crushing as ever (25% of British men work more than 50 hours a week; in Norway, it's 8%). Childcare in the UK eats up twice the proportion of family income that it does for French families, three times that of German families, and four times the figure for Sweden. Our "poor living environment" – based on numbers for teenage pregnancy, as well as adolescent drink and drug use – puts us ahead of only Estonia, and poor old Bulgaria again. And all this after that supposed long boom, with austerity about to make things immeasurably worse.’’

Economic recession failed to curb rising emissions

Climate change emissions increased last year to the highest in history, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency. Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel, a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009. The average global temperature could have increased 4C by 2100. At that stage, the Arctic permafrost enters the danger zone. The methane and carbon dioxide currently locked in the soils will be released into the atmosphere. The Arctic ice cover would disappear permanently, meaning extinction for polar bears and other native species, melting of the Antarctic ice sheets would cause a 5m rise in the sea level, meaning most island nations would become submerged under the sea. Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey would become deserts as mid-Europe reaches temperatures of 50C in summer, with southern England's similar to that of present day southern Morocco. ‘‘Such warming would disrupt the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people across the planet, leading to widespread mass migration and conflict.’’ (Professor Stern of the London School of Economics) "This should be a wake-up call. A chance [of staying below 2 degrees] would be if we had a legally binding international agreement or major moves on clean energy technologies, energy efficiency and other technologies." (Dr. Fatih Birol chief economist of the International Energy Agency) The International Energy Agency estimates that the recession, the worst since the 1930s has had a very small effect on emissions. The agency had hoped that the initial reduction in emissions would be maintained, giving a "breathing space" setting countries on a lower-carbon path, new estimates suggest that hasn’t happened.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn - Was it a stitch-up?

Head of IMF may have been set up “What are the odds that Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest for allegedly sexually assaulting a maid in New York is a plot orchestrated by his French political opponents? And there is a long history of dirty tricks in French politics to bring down candidates. Some politicians on the French right warned darkly of hidden skeletons in Strauss-Kahn's closet that” would come out should he decide to run. Plenty of journalists and analysts in France are abuzz on Twitter and the blogs with conspiracy theories. Some people say it would be unlikely that a maid would come into an occupied room to clean it. (Then again, according to an AP report on the allegations, the maid had been told the room was empty.) Others point out that Sofitel, where DSK was arrested, is a French hotel chain. (What that proves, we're not sure.) The allegation with the most meat comes from tabloid website Le Post, which notes that the first person to tweet the arrest was an activist in the French right-wing UMP party, Jonathan Pinet. He tweeted it before the time of the arrest, Le Post says.

Activists hold May Day Parade

May Day rally in Trafalgar square attracted 10,000 protesters following on from the rally in Hyde Park on the 26th March. Veteran socialist Tony Benn called for the ‘‘majority who create the world's wealth’’ to re-establish their rights over ‘‘the handful who control the world's wealth’’ adding ‘‘All the gains that have been made have been made by people like ourselves, campaigning year in and year out. This week, local authorities have got their elections. We must use our vote to build on what the TUC did on 26 March, and work for a better society for ourselves and our children and grandchildren.’’

What are the best protest songs?

Joan Baez Joe Hill Lyrics - I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead" "I never died" said he, "I never died" said he. "The Copper Bosses killed you Joe, they shot you Joe" they filled you full of lead. "Takes more than guns to kill a man" Says Joe "I didn't die" Says Joe "I didn't die" "In Salt Lake City, Joe," says I, Him standing by my bed, "They framed you on a murder charge," Says Joe, "But I ain't dead," Says Joe, "But I ain't dead." And standing there as big as life and smiling with his eyes. Says Joe "What they can never kill went on to organize, went on to organize" From San Diego up to Maine, in every mine and mill, Where working men defend their rights, it's there you'll find Joe Hill, it's there you'll find Joe Hill! I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead" "I never died" said he, "I never died" said he.

Ken Gill

Ken Gill was General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers-Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Staff and a prominent member of the broad-left during the 1960s and 70s along with Hugh Scanlon and Jack Jones. Ken Gill was chair of the Cuba Solidarity Group and supporter of Fidel Castro, was the only communist to be elected President of the TUC from 1985 to 1986 and was part of the Morning Star supporters group that formed the CPB in the late 1980’s when the old CPGB split and was later dispended. He believed that the Labour Party was central to radical social change, a committed internationalist and was also a cartoonist drawing pictures of political and union figures.

Hugh Scanlon

President of the engineering union from 1968 until 1978 said ‘‘We must have loyalty at all times to principles of trade unionism and socialism’’ and along with Jack Jones General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union led the fight against Ted Heaths government with the slogan Kill the Bill ‘‘Out Brothers, Out’’ 1.5 million engineers went on strike against the Tory Industrial Relations Act and the Amalgamated Union of Engineers was fined £75,000 in 1972 for refusing to comply with the laws imposed by this bill restricting trade union activities.

Greece shows the way to a new ‘‘historic bloc’’

Michael Moore support the NHS

We should heed Michael Moore’s message and not allow our government Tory, Liberal or Labour to privatise the health system in Britain. This has to be the issue that unites the broad left whether socialist or social-democrat against neo-liberal/neo-conservative ideology, as Americans would say ‘‘wake up and smell the coffee’’ this is w...hy half a million people marched through London on the 26th of March for the alternative. Don’t let the Tory/Liberal government get away with privatizing the NHS. MAKE A STAND NOW BEFORE IT’S TO LATE

Labour Representative Committee

Left-Labour Party MP Ernie Roberts argued that none of the parties have the miracle ingredient. So whilst Labour got 8,609,527 votes compared with 10,703,754 for the Tories and was sandwiched between them and the Liberal-Democrats with 6,836,824 votes with the Labour vote down considerably on its 1997 performance when it had 13,518,167 votes to the Tories 9,600,943 votes and the Liberal-Democrats at a mere 5,242,947 votes it still represents the mass party of labour with as Ernie Roberts put it an average of 12 million voters, ‘‘most of them working-class’’ this is where the party should be putting all its efforts into regain power not on the middle class Liberal supporters but with its core Labour supporters.

A Future That Works

Saturday 19 February 2011

Welfare Reform Bill

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