Alleluia! Glad you caught up with this. It's literally keeping so many awake at nights with genuine terror...
One of our mutuals scores 25 overall on pip assessment, but because he doesn't score a 4 in the primary categories, he will lose his pip completely under the proposed rules. It won't make his RA or brain tumour any better, but hey...
“ We’re all one accident, diagnosis, or layoff away from needing the safety net. And when that moment comes, you’ll want it intact. Not trimmed for efficiency. Not buried in red tape. Not calibrated to fail quietly. This isn’t about “other people.” It’s everyone’s story eventually - we just arrive at different scenes.”
Thank you Bear for your clarity and having a grip on the topic.
I had read this morning about the number of people having their allowance (what a word to use) chopped even though they can’t wash or cook a meal. It brought tears to my eyes and then anger. Anger that a Labour Government would be the carrier of these ills to the poor and vulnerable. Happily cutting new PIP lucky souls allowance from £80 to £50. It makes me want to scream with frustration and rage. What is the rationale? The robot bean counter who runs the Treasury says the books must be balanced. She is a robot, listen to her delivery, never emotion, speaks in phrases and certainly has no heart. I’ve watched Liz Kendall for whom at one l had respect become more pinched and hard hearted. What is the matter with these people that they want to out Tory the Tories. A race to the bottom to see who’s the most hard hearted. It’s shocking. The fact that a Whip resigned her brief to vote against this along with 100 or so others says much.
I had not known about the Scottish system, l have been thinking of moving south but maybe north of the Border would make more sense. We’re all heading one way, as you say we’re all a crisis away from needing help, especially if we live alone as l do with a family who live abroad.
Thank you too for Richard Burgeon’s petition. Good man who l have never valued, l do now. As l do Kit Malibu who gave such a fine speech in the House for the Assisted Dying Bill. Good men with hearts in the right place, neither of them Labour.
I am so sick of things being done to us in our names. All we can do is stand up and be counted but at my worst times it doesn’t seem enough. Thank you as always.
Pretty obvious why this is happening I'd say; removing state provision of health insurance opens up a multi-£Bn private market, plenty of gravy for everyone involved, politicians, the media, everyone. That's all this is about. Greed.
I’m not sure about that. This is the charge chucked at the government whatever denomination. So nothing has really happened over many years to really push this forward. I worked in NHS for quite a few years at management level. Never ever heard it discussed. More interested in why the Scottish plan is not being looked at and why it is the poor and disabled being targeted. That is not going to push people into private care. More likely there but for the grace of God…. At least for the moment
Like you say, it's not a case of if but when. Accident, health crisis, cancer, old age (because we will *all* be more fragile as we age). We might not need help now, but we might need that safety net later on, hoping that there will be something left.
I don't understand Labour's myopic take, abd like you I was really hoping for a bolder, visionary effort to change things for the better.
Why is Economania so upset by the cuts in social security?
Quite apart from the inhumanity of it, it's damaging to the economy. If you're in the UK, that's your economy, so you should be upset too.
When, back in the 1880s, then German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck proposed what his critics called state socialism and we've come to know as social security, we understand he did so because, by giving small but regular amounts of money to the unemployed, the sick and disabled, and those too old and infirm to work, those people were turned into economic assets.
Necessity dictated they spend the money they were given, increasing the velocity of money in the economy and creating an environment which encouraged corporate investment.
Normal taxation, then as now, took care of any potential problems with inflation.
This created what's now known as a virtuous circle, one we should, if we had any education and sense, be emulating. Instead, we're cutting benefits.
This has the effect of reducing the velocity and amount of money in circulation, damaging the economy.
Remember, the claimant spends it with the butcher who spends it with the baker who spends it with the candlestick maker. Social security is security for the whole neighbourhood as, when govt's doing its job, despite the onset of hard times they know there'll still be money circulating in the economy overall.
Further, money that isn't spent or 'loaned' into the economy isn't ever actually created, so it's wildly misleading to misrepresent austerity as savings, just as it is to represent savings as something the national economy needs when what we use for money, government IOUs we remind you, can be & are created to order.
Brilliance once again Mr. Bear, though scary brilliance, as you remind us of the frailty of life and how perilously close we all are to one misstep (metaphorical or actual), that might force us to rely on support outside our personal means.
I remain so utterly frustrated at our 'illustrious' political 'leaders', of all party colours, who fail to understand the logic in supporting society from the bottom up, for the benefit of all.
Welfare payments don't get hoarded in off-shore bank accounts; they get spent, thereby boosting the economy!
Thank you for this. I too have been distracted by the antics of the mango moron for too long and had missed the detail of this.
I cancelled my Labour Party membership this week. A year ago I’d not have envisaged that, but I’ve been extremely disappointed with many of the policy decisions and the lurch towards the right to pander to the Reform inclined voters. I’m glad enough MPs have seen sense to make this an issue. Let’s see what happens.
Alleluia! Glad you caught up with this. It's literally keeping so many awake at nights with genuine terror...
One of our mutuals scores 25 overall on pip assessment, but because he doesn't score a 4 in the primary categories, he will lose his pip completely under the proposed rules. It won't make his RA or brain tumour any better, but hey...
It's an utterly barbaric proposal...
“ We’re all one accident, diagnosis, or layoff away from needing the safety net. And when that moment comes, you’ll want it intact. Not trimmed for efficiency. Not buried in red tape. Not calibrated to fail quietly. This isn’t about “other people.” It’s everyone’s story eventually - we just arrive at different scenes.”
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thank you Bear for your clarity and having a grip on the topic.
I had read this morning about the number of people having their allowance (what a word to use) chopped even though they can’t wash or cook a meal. It brought tears to my eyes and then anger. Anger that a Labour Government would be the carrier of these ills to the poor and vulnerable. Happily cutting new PIP lucky souls allowance from £80 to £50. It makes me want to scream with frustration and rage. What is the rationale? The robot bean counter who runs the Treasury says the books must be balanced. She is a robot, listen to her delivery, never emotion, speaks in phrases and certainly has no heart. I’ve watched Liz Kendall for whom at one l had respect become more pinched and hard hearted. What is the matter with these people that they want to out Tory the Tories. A race to the bottom to see who’s the most hard hearted. It’s shocking. The fact that a Whip resigned her brief to vote against this along with 100 or so others says much.
I had not known about the Scottish system, l have been thinking of moving south but maybe north of the Border would make more sense. We’re all heading one way, as you say we’re all a crisis away from needing help, especially if we live alone as l do with a family who live abroad.
Thank you too for Richard Burgeon’s petition. Good man who l have never valued, l do now. As l do Kit Malibu who gave such a fine speech in the House for the Assisted Dying Bill. Good men with hearts in the right place, neither of them Labour.
I am so sick of things being done to us in our names. All we can do is stand up and be counted but at my worst times it doesn’t seem enough. Thank you as always.
Beth
Pretty obvious why this is happening I'd say; removing state provision of health insurance opens up a multi-£Bn private market, plenty of gravy for everyone involved, politicians, the media, everyone. That's all this is about. Greed.
I’m not sure about that. This is the charge chucked at the government whatever denomination. So nothing has really happened over many years to really push this forward. I worked in NHS for quite a few years at management level. Never ever heard it discussed. More interested in why the Scottish plan is not being looked at and why it is the poor and disabled being targeted. That is not going to push people into private care. More likely there but for the grace of God…. At least for the moment
Again - every single word of this.
Like you say, it's not a case of if but when. Accident, health crisis, cancer, old age (because we will *all* be more fragile as we age). We might not need help now, but we might need that safety net later on, hoping that there will be something left.
I don't understand Labour's myopic take, abd like you I was really hoping for a bolder, visionary effort to change things for the better.
Let's hope they see sense.
Thanks for being here now and making the issues clear for an even wider audience.
Why is Economania so upset by the cuts in social security?
Quite apart from the inhumanity of it, it's damaging to the economy. If you're in the UK, that's your economy, so you should be upset too.
When, back in the 1880s, then German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck proposed what his critics called state socialism and we've come to know as social security, we understand he did so because, by giving small but regular amounts of money to the unemployed, the sick and disabled, and those too old and infirm to work, those people were turned into economic assets.
Necessity dictated they spend the money they were given, increasing the velocity of money in the economy and creating an environment which encouraged corporate investment.
Normal taxation, then as now, took care of any potential problems with inflation.
This created what's now known as a virtuous circle, one we should, if we had any education and sense, be emulating. Instead, we're cutting benefits.
This has the effect of reducing the velocity and amount of money in circulation, damaging the economy.
Remember, the claimant spends it with the butcher who spends it with the baker who spends it with the candlestick maker. Social security is security for the whole neighbourhood as, when govt's doing its job, despite the onset of hard times they know there'll still be money circulating in the economy overall.
Further, money that isn't spent or 'loaned' into the economy isn't ever actually created, so it's wildly misleading to misrepresent austerity as savings, just as it is to represent savings as something the national economy needs when what we use for money, government IOUs we remind you, can be & are created to order.
https://www.economania.co.uk/various-authors/why-social-security.htm
Thank you Bear
I receive PIP due to having complex PTSD, stress and anxiety, I worry so much about these changes
Brilliance once again Mr. Bear, though scary brilliance, as you remind us of the frailty of life and how perilously close we all are to one misstep (metaphorical or actual), that might force us to rely on support outside our personal means.
I remain so utterly frustrated at our 'illustrious' political 'leaders', of all party colours, who fail to understand the logic in supporting society from the bottom up, for the benefit of all.
Welfare payments don't get hoarded in off-shore bank accounts; they get spent, thereby boosting the economy!
Thank you for this. I too have been distracted by the antics of the mango moron for too long and had missed the detail of this.
I cancelled my Labour Party membership this week. A year ago I’d not have envisaged that, but I’ve been extremely disappointed with many of the policy decisions and the lurch towards the right to pander to the Reform inclined voters. I’m glad enough MPs have seen sense to make this an issue. Let’s see what happens.
Thank you.