The Root Cause

by Rab Bruce’s Spider

 

Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot

BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social

 

There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in the world at the moment, but I want to take a look at UK domestic news. The headlines over the past few weeks have been bleak, with plans to cut social security for the poor and disabled, with NHS England facing sweeping staff cuts and more privatisation which will have a knock-on effect on Scotland, alongside news that many families cannot afford healthy food for their children, and with reports of an epidemic of shoplifting. Yes, there’s plenty more, but what I think all of these things have in common is poverty.

 

When people are struggling financially, their health, both physical and mental, can suffer. This forces a few to turn to crime like shoplifting, and means that many will struggle to hold down a job or will take on extra jobs just to earn a bit of extra cash.

But poor mental health, exhaustion r an unhealthy diet inevitably places a burden on the Health Service.  Politicians then see an unhealthy population with more and more people falling ill or being unable to work. Their response is also sadly inevitable: they blame the workers and try to push them back into work by cutting social security. This simply reinforces the cycle, creating more poverty and hardship.

 

If more people can be lifted out of poverty, many of the pressures will be eased. Unfortunately, the UK is currently trapped in the neo-liberal mindset which means that employers pay as little as possible in wages in order to extract as many profits as they can. Raising the Minimum Wage would help, but look at the outcry from businesses about the increase in National Insurance contributions. If they feel their profits are to be squeezed, they will simply lay people off, thus placing more burden on the State.

 

That applies to big corporations, but many smaller businesses genuinely cannot afford to pay people a decent wage.

 

As mentioned, Government’s response is to attack the most vulnerable rather than ask the super-wealthy to pay a bit more in tax. This is self-defeating because it will only result in more people becoming poorer in both money and health terms. Cutting social welfare will, in the long run, actually place more strain on the NHS.

 

Is there a solution? Well, breaking out of the neo-liberal consensus would be nice, with the aim of moving to a High Income, High Tax society, but that can’t be done overnight. The UK’s model of society has existed for hundreds of years, with the class divide keeping poor people poor. The post-war years did see some significant changes but, sadly, the neo-liberals fooled everyone into voting for them, and now society is teetering on the brink of fascism, with the poor being as helpless as ever. People cannot afford to buy a house, meaning they end up either remaining at home with their parents or renting which only makes landlords richer.

 

The most obvious solution is one which the UK will not countenance, although I’d like to think that the Government of an independent Scotland might. Universal Basic Income has been trialled in many places and has been shown to improve all sorts of social problems. If everyone has a basic income which is sufficient to live on, then many of the social challenges we face will be greatly reduced.

 

Of course, it won’t happen in the UK because UBI gives more power to workers. If they know they have a guaranteed safety net, they don’t need to put up with any crap from their employer. That’s why businesses hate the idea. At the moment, people are often trapped in low-wage jobs. UBI would give them enough support to enable them to look elsewhere for better-paid employment.

 

As I said, it won’t happen. No Westminster Government is interested in reducing poverty despite what they may say. Just look at the 2-child benefit cap or the treatment of the WASPI Women for evidence of that, along with the proposed attacks on the disabled, many of whom live in poverty already.

 

Which leaves us, I’m afraid, with a dreadful situation where people are turned against each other in order to keep them in their place. Just look at the news headlines about Benefits scroungers or immigrants to see how that shapes opinions. And, all the time, the wealthy become richer and richer at everyone else’s expense.

 

But if Scotland could escape the UK model, just think what we could do if we began building a Wellbeing economy. It might take a while, and it would not be perfect, but it surely couldn’t be any worse than the straitjacket we are currently held in.