I’m sure I’ve mentioned this kind of Establishment thinking in the past, but it bears repetition – and at times the best kind of repetition is done via a specific example.
Regular followers will already know that – thanks to a deadly combo of incompetence, fraud, market manipulation, QE and Zirp, I have seen my real spending power slashed by 75% over the last eleven years….this despite having highly skilled wealth managers (who, being honest, assumed markets were as well) and having doubled my money on a personal gold investment over that period.
Someone very dear to me has a medical problem at the moment, and to speed things up, last week I saw a top consultant privately. It was the right thing to do, and got results. But a 50-minute session cost £200.
The patient concerned is now in Exeter hospital. Thanks to obvious oilco price manipulation, the price of petrol for the car – while settled at the minute – has been going through the roof. Just getting to and from Exeter over the last ten days has cost me another £200.
Despite some investment reverses over the decade, according to a recent ComRes survey I’m still far better placed to survive the coming onslaught than 90% of people. But the chances of me not dipping into capital over the next three years are close to zero.
How on earth does the Establishment think those on lower incomes are going to survive? Who does it think, among the better-off Silvers, is going to do the consuming? And WTF is Andrew Lansley on if he thinks that the result of Health privatisation is going to be anything other than a return to the 1920s?
The people at The Top are protected from this crap, but most people aren’t. This has nothing to do with Leftwingism, and everything to do with the current economic model not providing (a) enough employment and (b) the wealth required to run a reformed public health service. Attacking sick, old and debt-free consumers with pro-bank policies, frozen pensions, and increased taxes is just another form of Troikaism – viz, an excuse for ignoring the fact that the model is broken.
I have to say, it is hard to find anyone in the Oberbau with even the vaguest appreciation of this. And as for the MSM well, don’t get me started….
The Slog 