The new poor & Socialism

Today a report is out from the Resolution Foundation think-tank. This report relies on data from the Joseph Rowntree foundation. And the report tells us that by 2015 over half of under 18s will be living in homes with incomes "judged to be less than the minimum necessary for a decent standard of living".

Wow. Is this really where we want to be? I don't expect it means that children will be starving. But I do think that it means children are growing up in families which are isolated from wider society. It may actually affect the nourishment of some children in extreme cases. Looking at the levels of pay they calculate to be sufficient, I can say with certainty that they are not planning great luxuries for these children.

There are all sorts of reasons. In our society, the less money you have, the more children you have. The less education you have, the more children you have (particularly true for women). The less money you have, the more religious you are and the more religious you are the more children you have. Immigrants and their descendant are also likely to have more children.

The current age of austerity is reinforcing this trend of relatively impoverished families. And it is a trend we see across the western world. In both Europe and North America. Can this be reversed? Almost everywhere the old have great advantages compared to the young. In healthcare, in retirement ages and in pensions in both the US & UK. In mainland Europe you see it very starkly in employment rights, which leaves a whole generation of young people without work while older people cling to their positions and 'rights'.

It is a strategy of political parties to preserve the privileges of the old. Medical care in America. All benefits to the old are protected in the UK. Pensions already agreed are to be protected everywhere. This is particularly true of parties of the right.

I think the reason is that old people are much more likely to vote.

And the political and journalistic elite have no clue about the pressures ordinary families face.

Why, for instance, should 40 year olds pay taxes to support the pensions of the current claimants, when there is no possibility of claiming that sort of pension when they reach that age? Paying for the luxuries of others? Absurd.

In the UK it can seem lke a bad joke. right wing austerity Government is actually planning to subsidise care for people as they get older so they won't have to sell their homes. At the same time, any family with a home will have their benefits cut if they have a spare room. The reasoning being it would be unfair if they had to sell their house and be left with nothing to leave to their children in their will. This is ridiculous. Why should our taxes be used to preserve the inheritance of some arbitary group of people?

This whole thing is beyond a joke.

This is a generation of children that will grow up with a burning sense of injustice.

Do the current parties of the right actually want to see the left in power for a generation or more?  It is not the policies of Barack Obama that will lead the US to socialism, rather the 'Grapes of wrath' planted in the policies of tea party inspired austerity.