We are told by the Prime Minister that we must all "tighten our belts". But on the other hand, the government want to abolish the 50% income tax rate on income over £150,000 a year. Most (if not all) of those who caused the banking crisis were in that income bracket. The poor, who had nothing to do with the crash are suffering all kinds of cutbacks in welfare, benefits and so on.
Even for the young who are fortunate enough to be in work, mortgages are near impossible to get unless you have a whacking great deposit saved up, rents are hitting new highs, commuter costs (petrol and rail fares) just keep rising and let's not even start to talk about escalating fuel bills. Those who leave university are being saddled with great debts which are likely to hang over them for many years.
Patrick Collinson, the editor of the Guardian's Money section, wrote on Saturday that he would be the last person to condone the mindless destruction that we've seen recently, but adds,
if we step back a few paces, and we consider how we are abandoning that far larger, law-abiding, younger generation, we should be ashamed of ourselves.
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Meanwhile, in America ...
Warren Buffet, one of America's richest people, wrote in the New York Times last week about how little tax he pays. He said about his tax bill last year,
what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens averaged 36 percent.
He concludes,
My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.
Is it any different in the UK? I fear not. Those who are struggling to survive have many reasons to feel aggrieved. The question is this, will the government listen to them before there are more riots?
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