Protests, the Banks and the neoliberal coalition

[Staunton]

The neoliberal coalition are even now dismantling our services. David Cameron talks about the 'big society', but this is just another way of saying 'small government'. What is meant by 'small government' is a political system which does not interfere with the interests of big business, and which shirks responsibility for the needs of society in order to cut taxes.

 

Now many people are seduced by the idea of tax cuts, but the kind of cuts that small government deliver are such that the average employee of a multinational – the shop assistants and branch staff, may be better off by a few pounds per week. On the other hand, the CEOs and executives enjoy a weekly reduction in their taxes running into thousands of pounds.

 

Now, you may ask, why does this matter? Well, those who enjoy such enormous tax reductions on their already substantial incomes can and do send their children to public schools such as Eton and Marlborough. And if they or any of their family are ill they can purchase the best medical care available, and get the treatment they need immediately.

 

Small government cuts to state sector services such as the NHS here in Britain, together with education, residential care, and a host of other provisions, mean that the hospitals, schools, universities and care homes that most of us rely on at various times in our life, no longer receive adequate funding, meaning longer waiting lists for medical treatment, poorer education for our children, poorer care for our elderly and vulnerable.

 

Neoliberals justify their claims by the most extraordinary arguments. Ronald Reagan said 'government cant fix the problem, government is the problem', and Margaret Thatcher stated that there is 'no such thing as society'. David Cameron is being a little smarter, inventing the notion of the big society in which volunteers and charities can take over the services that our communities need. But this is just a strategy for avoiding responsibility for funding the services that we, you and me, and our families rely upon. What is ultimately at stake is the very core of public service provision, and what the neoliberal coalition really plan is a handing over of the state institutions to private companies. And instead of our taxes paying for our services, the insurance companies will clean up as health becomes a matter of payment plans and policies. American health and insurance companies are already casting their gaze across the Atlantic and enjoying the prospect of a profit bonanza. We must not stand by and let Cameron, Osborne and the neoliberal coalition dismantle the services we so desperately need if we are to survive as a true society.

[Binster]

It's unfocussed sanctimonious pseudo-political intellectual masturbation like this that means that people don’t have faith any more in public institutions, which are full of people that think there same way you do instead of getting on with their job. Opinions like this have led to massive waste in a state system that could have provided a true utopian society, but unlike Thomas Moore’s idea of equality and fairness, political dogma and misguided beliefs in human nature lead to foolish statements (and policy) like this.

 

Get real. We live in an imperfect democracy, so don’t be surprised it our elected representatives do stuff you don’t like. Judging by the fact this is the first response on this post after over an hour, people don’t really care what you have to say – they are too busy planning their next trip to Meadowhall, or discussing the number of chavs who live their lives on benefits and so on.

 

That’s real world politics for you.

[Bonjon]

And your point is???

[redrobbo]

I think the OP should ask the Mods to change the title of this thread, as the OP mentions nothing at all about Protests and the Banks.

[Bonjon]

I think the OP should ask the Mods to change the title of this thread, as the OP mentions nothing at all about Protests and the Banks.

 

I thought it was just a copy and paste spam bot at first but looking at the OP's other posts I think there just nuts...

[alchresearch]

Yawn. What about the private companies who have axed hundreds or thousands of jobs?

 

I didn't see any protests outside TV studios when ITV got rid of thousands of jobs because of their bad financial decisions (like buying Friends Reunited for £25 million and selling it for £6M).

[Paul2412]

Oh just shut up.

[woodmally]

Oh just shut up.

 

No the Socialist Workers Party have every right to express thier opinon. Collect names and address for thier usless surveys that do nothing and be a blight on our town centre.

 

Joking aside I agree with you. They seem obsessed with protests. I have just read the 7 posts this OP has posted. Apart from the rant about Sainsburys the rest have been political rants.

[Staunton]

Neoliberals firmly believe that ordinary people should play no part in politics. Indeed, neoliberals are hostile to ideas such as democracy and social responsibility. They consider that ordinary individuals should limit themselves to the role of silent spectators while the multinationals and finance companies go about the business of concentrating wealth in the hands of an advantaged elite, and impoverishing whole communities, states and nations in the process. And while they are busy in this endeavour their political representatives in the conservative party here in Britain and the republican party in the USA tell us that we should look after ourselves.

[Darth Vader]

I note the hostile replies to the OP but I can't find anything in the OP that isn't a fair representation of what is going on in our country. I agree wholewheartedly. What is going on is absolutely sickening.

 

However, like redrobbo says, it has limited resemblance to the title.