Cuts

Every time one tunes into a current affairs programme or the news, there is waiting a queue of interested parties complaining one after another about the cuts. Whether it is the police, the NHS or social services, the arguments are powerfully put by those who believe their patch is critical to national cohesion. The latest casualty is said to be the Big Society. All these champions are right in detail but wrong in principle. Cuts mean cuts for everyone. Ring fencing was foolish because it creates the illusion that some things can escape. It also spreads the burden unevenly. It was a bad idea.

What is revealed by the wave of protest is just how much the state is paying for that either should not be there in the first place, or should be nothing to do with the state. Having said that there are clearly sections of the community on whom the burden falls disproptionately and to whom a balance of opportunity must be offered.

This should take two forms. Removing the low paid from income tax, at least up to £12,000 p.a earnings. Removing, too, barriers to employment that the nanny state has created so that it is easy to get a part time job because employers find it easier to offer them. Whilst retaining basic protections to avoid exploitation, employers have got to be freed from ludicrous strictures of health and safety, human rights, unsuitable working hours and so on. This does not mean that these important protections should be abolished, simply made the subject of common sense, not detailed prescription.

Current re-examination of Reaganomics reveals their impact was not as hoped and indeed lie at the core of much of what is wrong with the American economy, as well as our own. The principle that that you give to the rich who in turn will create wealth to look after the poor, is right only if it is just one ingredient of a balanced approach.  A cake cannot be made with butter alone.

Tax cuts, especially, must be aimed at the poorest, because it is they for whom tax is the biggest proportionate burden. Additionally, especially and critically, asset inflation beyond true worth must be curbed by structural change, since this destroys the fabric of life for the mass, whilst shifting resourses to the few. Not only does this lead to a top heavy economy which, as we now know, will eventually fall, but when it does, it is found to be without foundation in the facts of  sound money, measurement and mathmatics. 

This is why we now face cuts. There is no way round it. They will hurt. Everybody.

2 Responses to “Cuts”

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