Talking Points

Two money-saving initiatives announced separately this week could, in a combined result, help lower Unemployment and save Tax Payer money. The first is to simplify benefits. The spin on this is to clear up the current and highly confusing Benefits system and get correct money to those who are eligible for it. The actual directive, as far as I can see, is to cut Benefit fraud which I imagine must be reasonably easy given the shambles of the system as a whole.

The second is the controversial points system to be imposed on immigrants looking to settle in the UK. The official mandate is to bring the UK in line with other countries like Australia who use the points system to fill employment gaps in their economy. The actual is to cut numbers of incomers, the discussion of which can be found on a hundred different Blogs at the moment.

So if there are less opportunities to claim benefits and more jobs available to British citizens, this can only improve things, right? Bring the unemployment figures down, reduce the amount spent of the Welfare sector and stimulate the economy.

The wealthy 1% in this country may find a straight up Labour Exchange a romantic notion with the remaining 99% working a hard day picking fruit or cleaning hospitals. But the skilled workers who lost their jobs and homes despite excessive bonuses being paid to their bosses will disagree with this. Also, with potentially more people being forced into inferior jobs, what happens to all the extra money no longer needed by the Welfare system. Tax cuts or rebates? Or more stories of government bailouts and fraudulent use of Taxpayer money?

Given that HSBC and Barclays, having announced massive profits today are set to go back to “business as usual” and that there is no government legislation in the pipeline to regulate their behaviour despite their bailouts, I'm quite confident that any initiatives, like those mentioned above, established now or in the future will never be for the benefit of the 99%. Regardless of how they spin it.