At that time I was telling you about the dreadful waste of Section 106* money within West Berkshire District Council. Money that was intended to make our lives better, was being used to balance the councils books.
Two years later, following a freedom of information request by the Liberals in opposition, the Newbury Weekly News brought the story to the wider public's attention.
Letters were written, the Conservatives denied any wrong doing. It was the big story for weeks, until the Liberals realised that at the time of my revelation, they had been the ones in control of the council.The Conservatives were simply carrying on a practice that they had implemented years before. They are both as bad as each other.
(* The money paid to the council by developers to get planning applications approved)
Now it’s election time again, only this time it’s the big one “Parliament”. But is anyone telling you the truth now? Will they have the guts to tell you what is really happening to the country?
At the end of March, the three main parties put up their big brains in a televised “chancellors debate”. They spelled out the way forward for the economy. All three were in agreement, the way forward was cuts. All three agreed that the most important cut of all was the deficit. They all said, it would have to be halved over the next four years. Starting with £11 Billion next year, (“we mustn’t go too quick too soon, we could destabilise the fragile recovery”). Almost instantly the money markets spooked and changed our national credit rating from “AAA” to “AAA minus”. Which in turn, meant that the interest we pay on our national debt was changed from 3% to 4%. In real terms that is an increase in interest payments next year of - yes, you’ve guessed it - £11 Billion .
So what is the “Deficit”? And how does it differ from the “National Debt”?
The government and the press talk about the deficit as being the country's overdraft, the money we need to have on hand during the course of a year to pay for every day services like teaching, health care, the police and defence. But it’s not like an overdraft you or I might have had years ago with our own banks, a small amount of leeway that allows us to function until the end of the month, when our next pay cheque turns up. The Deficit that the government talks about, is, as it sounds, the difference between the money it has coming in each year from taxes, and the money it spends. It is a shortfall!
So how does the government go about paying back this overdraft, this shortfall? The answer is simple! It doesn’t. They wait until we’re not looking, and they move the overdraft from their current account, to their mortgage account, (just like Northern Rock used to do) and hope that our grandchildren will have better luck, and that some how they will be able to pay it back.
So when Alistair, Vince and George talk about reducing the “deficit” they aren’t saying they will reduce the amount we owe as a nation. They are saying they will attempt to reduce the amount by which the nations debt will increase each year. In the last year our national debt has gone up by £168 Billion (the Deficit), next year they are saying it will only go up by £157 billion, the year after up by £143 billion, in 2013 up by as little as £125 billion, and in the final year of the coming parliament, the three amigos would have us believe, that if they have got their figures right, they will only have to increase our national debt by £100 billion. Not quite the half they were talking about a few weeks ago, but hey, who’s counting?
In short, excluding any further increase in interest charges, each of the three main parties is planning to increase the nations debt over the next four years by about £690 Billion. God help our grandchildren!
So if there’s to be an increase in the national debt of £690 billion, how much do we owe at the moment?
That is the bit they are not telling us.
Current estimates suggest the national debt stands at £1.2 trillion. That’s a 12 followed by eleven zeros.
If the government's own estimates, and those of the two main opposition parties are correct, in four years time the debt will have increased to almost £1.9 trillion. Or put another way in four years time, almost 10 million people, all earning the average wage of £26,000 a year, will pay around £4,000 per year of income tax for the whole of their adult working life (45 Years) just to pay off the £1.9 trillion. The interest will be a staggering £57 billion per year. That is the income tax every year, of another 14 million workers, all earning £26k per annum.
In short, four years from now, 24 million people in this country will be slaves to the national debt!
So why do we borrow our day to day money? Answer : Because that’s the way the banks want it!
Is it likely that we will ever be able pay off this amount of debt? Well lets look at a simple comparison.
At the end of the second world war Britain owed the USA just short of £4 billion. We agreed to pay that money back at £5 million per month plus interest, in gold bullion. It took sixty six years to settle that debt.
So how much more than £4 billion is £1.9 trillion? If £4 billion was a football - £1.9 trillion is the moon.
Historically we fell into the trap hundreds of years ago, in the days before effective general taxation, when kings had to mortgage the nation to go and fight their wars. What was the guarantee they offered against these loans? The continued effort of the country's work force, us. And what do we get in return? The bill for the interest payments. And who gets the interest? The super rich, to buy their yachts and their beach side paradises. And what do we get for these interest charges? Inflation!
Further, if the Government guarantees these loans with our continued willingness to go to work each day. What happens when the value of the debt exceeds the net worth of the taxation on the total number of workers. Will the lenders call a day on the issue of further loans? No! Because the government has given one further guarantee, that it will always provide more people to tax. How? Immigration!
So why does the government continue with this system?
Because as each group of party leaders gets to the top of government, the true power brokers take them to one side and offers them riches beyond their wildest dreams when they leave office, so as to keep the system in place. They are invited to the top table. Case in point Tony Blair. Or in the case of the Tory party they are the super rich!
So if instead of borrowing our day to day money, we simply printed it, (in the same way Alistair Darling has done this year, to give to the banks, to keep them in the game of musical chairs that is the global banking industry) what would change in all our lives. What cuts could we make if we no longer had to pay interest on the wages of our nurses, firemen, teachers and soldiers.
We Could Cut :
- Income Tax on earnings below £40,000.
- National Insurance to 5% for employees and 0% for employers
- VAT to 10%
- Council Tax to Zero
- Prescription Charges
- Corporation Tax to 10% across the board.
- University Tuition Fees and Student
- Health Care & Social Services
- Education
- State Pension
- Pay for our essential service workers
- Green Energy
We don’t need to be looking for ways to make cuts in our lives! We don’t need to tighten our belts!
We just need to stop being fools! We need to stop being sheep dyed BLUE or RED, allowing ourselves to be fleeced year after year. We need to get away from Party faction. We need to say Enough is Enough.
And we need to do it NOW!
Vote DAVID YATES on the 6th of MAY
Apolitical Democrats
Visit the website at apoliticaldemocrats.org.uk
This communication has been delivered by friends and supporters of the Apolitical Democrats
at no expense to the taxpayer - unlike all the other parties in the Newbury Constituency.
Promoted by Charlie Farrow on behalf of David Yates, 59 Berkeley Road, Newbury RG14 5JG
No comments:
Post a Comment