UK wealth inequality

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How billionaires extract wealth rather than create it

M/Y Topaz is a 147m motor yacht making it the fourth-largest Superyacht in the world. It was custom built in 2012 by Lurssen Yachts in Bremen, Germany and registered in the Cayman Islands. Pic by Yoshi Anahory This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

It is difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of UK wealth inequality, which is twice as high as income inequality. New research published today by the Equality Trust has shown that the five richest families in the UK control as much wealth as the poorest 13 million people and that the number of billionaires has almost doubled over the last decade. The top 1 per cent of the population now owns the same wealth as the bottom 80 per cent of the population.

The other side of the wealth of the property tycoon is the poverty of the family being shunted between different forms of temporary accommodation because they cannot afford to keep a roof over their heads. The other side of the wealth of the private equity manager is the poverty of the worker he laid off to “turn around” his latest investment.

The other side of the wealth of the few is the poverty of the many. Fourteen million people in the UK are living in poverty — 4.6 million of whom are children. Children are going to school “unwashed” and “hungry” — nine out of ten schools in the UK are being forced to distribute clothes to students. 135,000 children will be homeless this Christmas, in a society with hundreds of people so rich that they couldn’t even count their wealth.

These patterns are replicated at the level of the international economy. Globally, the 26 wealthiest billionaires own as much wealth as the bottom 50 per cent of the population. And their wealth is not “earned” either. According to Oxfam, one-third of global billionaire wealth comes from an inheritance while another third comes from “crony connections to government and monopoly”. Much of the rest originates from land, oil or finance.

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Jeremy Corbyn to announce Labour manifesto

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UK’s Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is announcing the Labour manifesto today.

While I am not and have never been a Labour member, I strongly support the current Labour party and their policies. Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party are presenting a real alternative. Instead of sucking up to the rich and powerful they are going to represent ordinary people.

How on earth is democracy so perverted that the rich increase their obscene wealth while we have so many people freezing to death homeless on the streets and so many of the working poor relying on food banks? (The Tories’ Universal Credit has no doubt hugely contributed to that actually.)

I am concerned with delay in addressing the climate crisis. Knowledgeable scientist are virtually unanimously agreed that action needs to be taken immediately.

World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency

Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to “tell it like it is.” On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.

Mitigating and adapting to climate change while honoring the diversity of humans entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems. We are encouraged by a recent surge of concern. Governmental bodies are making climate emergency declarations. Schoolchildren are striking. Ecocide lawsuits are proceeding in the courts. Grassroots citizen movements are demanding change, and many countries, states and provinces, cities, and businesses are responding.

As the Alliance of World Scientists, we stand ready to assist decision-makers in a just transition to a sustainable and equitable future. We urge widespread use of vital signs, which will better allow policymakers, the private sector, and the public to understand the magnitude of this crisis, track progress, and realign priorities for alleviating climate change. The good news is that such transformative change, with social and economic justice for all, promises far greater human well-being than does business as usual. We believe that the prospects will be greatest if decision-makers and all of humanity promptly respond to this warning and declaration of a climate emergency and act to sustain life on planet Earth, our only home.]

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Climate Emergency: The rich have destroyed the planet

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The long-awaited climate-emergency post. I have taken some time to decide what’s necessary to say. This post may be revised and expanded but the main points will remain.

Climate change, the climate emergency or crisis is a fact. The poles are melting, sea levels are rising, seas are turning to acid, polar bears and penguins have nowhere to live. It’s taken repeated record temperatures and a little girl for it to be accepted such was the power of climate denial.

The rich are responsible for having destroyed the planet. They were fully aware of the consequences of their actions but continued regardless. They destroyed the planet for profit, to enrich themselves and funded climate denial. Big oil was aware of climate change and global warming in the sixties and certainly fully aware by the early eighties.

Political parties that deny climate change – right-wing parties like UKIP and Nigel Farage’s Brexit party “In terms of policy, there’s no difference (to UKIP)…” are sucking up to the ultra-rich showing that they present no threat to their interests. ed: many prominent Brexiteers are climate change enthusiasts.

It is safe to assume that the World’s plants and animals do not have a concept of ownership. They do however have as much right to live, to exist. The rich do not own the planet and do not have the right to destroy it.

Unless you’re filthy rich, it’s unlikely whatever you do is going to make any noticeable difference. It is the rich who have superyachts and private jets. It is the rich who fly abroad for meals. It is the rich who travel with entourages. It is the rich that own private islands.

There is an exception – a secondary lesser class of human that is climate-dirty: those who travel a great deal especially those that commute by airplane. People who fly regularly are climate-dirty.

A wider issue: the rich are in charge. Wars are conducted at their behest and for their benefit. The whole bullshit narrative of terrorism and consequent anti-Muslim racism is for them. It is their bullshit narrative to divide and control, to weild their influence. There is one main nation-state behind terrorist attacks, often aided by another one or two nation-states with police and intelligence agencies playing along with it, turning a blind eye. Terrorist attacks are often timed for political objectives of no advantage to Islamists. You have to be really stupid to believe that a disabled old man could achieve so much from a cave in Afghanistan and that it didn’t provide the excuse for yet another war for the dirty black stuff.

edit: I am aware that I have power and influence which I tend to regard as transitory and temporary. The climate emergency is a big deal and I am laying the blame exactly where it belongs.

later: I need to write about corporate climate destruction while this post is about lifestyle climate destruction. Corporate solar exploration appears particularly futile and climate destructive. Trips to outer space for the rich? ed: It’s space tourism for the rich to further destroy the planet.

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Why US/UK/EU politicians are unfairly accusing Russia

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Successful i.e. elected, Neo-Con politicians are unfairly accusing Russia of targetted murders, subverting democracy by interfering in elections using fake news and cyber espionage.

The problem is that it is these Neo-Con shits that are subverting democracy and attempting a distraction by blaming Russia. We know who the real perpetrators are – it’s Cambridge Analytica and it’s parent company SCL Group – Neo-Cons who subvert elections globally using Psychological Operations (Psyops or Psychological Warfare). We know that these nasty bastards were involved in subverting the 2016 Presidential election. We know that they subvert democracy internationally so that elections are effectively bought.

Salisbury Consultant Stephen Davies says no nerve agent

Craig Murray has comprehensively demolished the fake news promoted by the UK govrenment that Russia poisoned British spy Sergei Skripol and his daughter Yulia in the UK town of Salisbury. There is no way that imaginary Novichok nerve agent can be reasonably blamed on Russia: They don’t have any and it can be produced elsewhere.

US and EU politicians have been supporting UK despite the Russian nerve agent fake news being exposed for the bullshit it is over a week ago.

 

 

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Philip Greed, BHS and Lionheart

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Philip Green actually owns three yachts – the new Lionheart at 90 metres, the 63 metre previous Lionheart renamed Lionheart V and a 33 meter fast sports yacht called Lionchase.

Tax evader [ed: avoider. Oops, sorry so easy to make that mistake] Green was appointed by previous Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to advise on austerity.

Sir Philip Green to examine government spending

[H]is appointment was criticised by Paul Kenny, head of the GMB union, who pointed out that Sir Philip’s wife – the named owner of Arcadia – lives in the tax haven of Monaco.

He said: “If we were seeking advice about marketing or selling clothes he is someone you might ask. This is about the health, education and care of millions of our fellow citizens – not about importing cheap clothing.”

And the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civil servants, said: “It’s not that surprising that the millionaires in the cabinet have appointed a billionaire to say that their cuts, which will devastate communities in the UK, are ‘fair’.”

But Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude defended Sir Philip’s appointment, saying he had a “sharp eye for detail” and could guide the government on contracts and leases signed up to in future.

“He’s shown how he can turn around big complex businesses. Government is a huge complex organisation, and while it’s not the same as a business, a lot of the same disciplines are needed,” he added.

Was he advising Osborne?

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