LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY (ZOOM)

‘Tory Party grandee and former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has suggested that the state pension age in the UK be raised to 75 in a bid to reduce public spending. The pension age has already risen twice in the last five years.’

“Lord Frost yesterday (2nd October) suggested that the state pension age should be raised to 75 to shrink public spending and the state.

The Tory grandee, who was former PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, made the remarks at a party conference fringe meeting on the Future of Conservatism.

Urging ministers to make cuts to public spending and taxes and go for growth, he acknowledged that this would require making changes to the state pension.

He said: ‘I do think that the honest truth is that the pension age is going to have to go up quite a long way to solve this problem [of reducing public expenditure].

‘That seems to me the best way of getting out of it in the medium term.’

Asked whether it should go up to 70 years old, he said: ’75, it’s quite a lot higher.’

He added: ‘People are much healthier than they used to be and I think it does need to go up. The big blocks of spending are health, pension and benefits. If you don’t tackle those you’re not really tackling anything.

‘I do think you need to do something also like freezing – or coming close to freezing – the public sector health budget and finding a sort of socially just and accepted way that future spending needs to go to the private sector in some way otherwise it’s just going to absorb sort of half of the budget before too long.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12586719/Lord-Frost-suggests-state-pension-age-raised-75-shrink-public-spending.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

‘Britain has had a Conservative government since 2010, and despite some initial cutbacks by the normally spendthrift party, the government’s outlay has ballooned in recent years. Its annual spending on services – which includes healthcare, welfare benefits, and pensions – soared to £784 billion ($953 billion) in 2022-23, from £713.1 billion ($866 billion) the previous year, according to government statistics.

Meanwhile, the UK’s national debt has risen from 75% of the country’s GDP in 2010 to 100.5% earlier this year.

Between 1948 and 2010, Britons could expect to draw a state pension at 60 for women and 65 for men. This was equalized to 65 for both sexes in 2018, and increased to 66 in 2020. A further increase to 67 is planned by 2028, and to 68 by 2046, although these dates are currently being reviewed and could be brought forward.

At present, there are 28 people aged over 65 for every 100 people of working age in the UK. However, this is to hit predicted to hit 36 per 100 by 2050.’

Empty Vessels

Parliament’s suspended, it’s conference time

For the law givers, the makers of rules,

Sailors all in the sinking ship of fools

Foundering on the rocks of Capital’s crimes.

However they go about bailing out,

It makes no difference as to which crew

Is at the helm, nor, it seems, does the hue

Of the flag they serve under. Without doubt,

Whichever course they navigate, it’ll prove

To be in the wrong direction. No choice,

For those press ganged aboard don’t have a voice

Unless they mutiny, seek to remove

Those they’re expected to understand

Are possessors of both the sea and land.

D. A.

The other candidates in this election don’t want change. Instead they will be wittering on about how they propose to fix the faulty system we live under –  capitalism – so it’s maybe a tiny bit better for you and yours. But every politician says this. In every party. In every election. And they never really fix anything.

The reason they can’t fix capitalism’s problems is because capitalism IS the problem.  

Why? Because it only works for the tiny minority who own most of the wealth.

Capitalism has revolutionised our science and technology so that we can now produce enough for everybody worldwide. That means we could make everything free if we take the world back from the rich and run it collectively as a communally owned resource.

What’s causing poverty, inequality, wars and global warming is that we have a 21st century planet being trashed by an obsolete 19th century economic system that puts profits before meeting needs.

The natural and industrial resources of our planet Earth are the common heritage of all humans.

Universal free access would be simpler, faster, and smarter. And it’s an upgrade the world badly needs, so show your support by voting for the Socialist Party (World Socialist Movement) candidate, 

Danny Lambert.

Object

The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic 

control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the 

whole community.

https://worldsocialism.org/spgb/3-free-standards

Promoted by Adam Buick on behalf of Danny Lambert, both of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, 52 Clapham High St, SW4 7UN. 

Click here for the latest news on our election campaign.

‘Companies in the UK’s private sector have been downsizing their workforce at the fastest rate since the global financial crisis, apart from the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, as output fell in September, according to data published by S&P Global.

The latest flash S&P Global Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figure for the UK slipped to 46.8, down from 48.6 in August, and reached a 32-month low. The reading was well below the 50-mark, which separates growth from contraction, and lower than economists expected, S&P said.

“The disappointing PMI survey results for September mean a recession is looking increasingly likely in the UK,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, warned.

“The steep fall in output signaled by the flash PMI data is consistent with GDP contracting at a quarterly rate of over 0.4%, with a broad-based downturn gathering momentum to hint at few hopes of any imminent improvement.”

The British jobs market is facing an “abrupt turnaround,” prompting companies to shed staff at the fastest pace since the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, excluding the pandemic, S&P said.

“A major concern in the inflation outlook has been wage growth, but with the survey now signalling the sharpest fall in employment since 2009, wage bargaining power is being eroded rapidly,” Williamson added.

Overall, private sector business activity in the UK fell at the fastest rate since March 2009 as the cost-of-living crisis and surging borrowing costs dented demand, S&P concluded.

The British economy will shrink in both 2023 and 2024, The Guardian reported citing a study by the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).

According to the report, persistent inflation, falling real incomes of low-income households, and a shortage of workers will result in a 0.3% drop in the country’s gross domestic product (GPD) this year, and a further 0.2% backslide next year.

“The UK won’t be in recession all of next year, but the recovery will be held back by higher-than-expected inflation and in response, the Bank of England will need to keep interest rates higher for longer,” PIIE president Adam Posen told The Guardian, commenting on the report.

Posen, who used to work on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, noted that the UK economy is also still weighed down by the after-effects of Brexit and will likely suffer from planned cuts to government spending next year.

Last week, the central bank refrained from hiking interest rates for the first time in nearly two years after a surprise drop in inflation in August to 6.7% amid weaker growth in food prices and a reduction in accommodation and air travel costs. However, UK inflation remains the highest among G7 economies.

Posen warned that more rate hikes are possible in the coming months if inflation doesn’t slow further. Karen Dynan, a co-author of the report, mirrored the institute’s warning and said it does not apply to the UK alone.

“While inflation appears to be receding in most countries, it remains decidedly above central bank targets. As a result, most central banks will need to keep their policy rates high over the coming year, with the resulting tight financial conditions holding back demand and slowing economic activity,” she stated.’

 WSM Meeting today at 1930 (1830ut) on ZOOM.

Speaker: Howard Moss

 The following talks have been added to the Audio section of the website,.

‘Enough is Enough’ is Not Enough – by Alan Johnstone, 3rd February 2023

War! What is it Good For? – by David Coggan, 17th February 17 2023

What’s in a Name? – by Glenn Morris, 24th February 2023

The Rewards of Competition – by Richard Field, 17th March 2023

Sustainability Before and After the Revolution – by John Cumming, 24th March 2023

Why Should the Earth Be Privately Owned? – by Adam Buick, 19th May 2023

Degrowth – by Paul Bennett, 26th May 2023

Statistics – How They Are Used In Capitalism and How They Could Be Used in Socialism – by Richard Botterill, 7th July 2023

Work: Paid and Unpaid – by Howard Moss, 23rd July 2023

Look Forwards

History as yet unmade shall be the judge

Of present intentions, whither they pave

A destination either good or grave,

It is not enough to hold an image

Of what might be, but then not realise

It in reality. This world won’t change

Unless people decide to rearrange

Their situation from that which denies

Free access for all to what is needed

For lives to be lived well as possible,

A worldwide commonwealth to enable

Human potential to have succeeded.

This present is merely the passing sum

Of what’s been: look forwards to what’s to come.

D. A,  

‘A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows that top U.S. CEOs saw their total compensation rise by 1,209% between 1978 and 2022 while typical worker pay rose just 15%—a chasm that is fuelling the United Auto Workers strike and other labour actions across the country.

EPI’s Josh Bivens and Jori Kandra found that the CEOs of the 350 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. made 344 times more than a typical worker last year. In 1965, by contrast, the CEO-to-typical-worker pay gap was 21 to 1.

“Top CEO compensation grew roughly 28.1% faster than stock market growth during this period and far eclipsed the slow 15.3% growth in a typical worker’s annual compensation,” Bivens and Kandra noted in their report was released late last week.

The analysis came as the UAW expanded its strikes against General Motors and Stellantis, accusing the auto giants of refusing to engage seriously with the union in contract negotiations.

UAW president Shawn Fain has repeatedly pointed to he exorbitant and rising compensation packages of GM CEO Mary Barra—who made $29 million last year—and other executives as evidence that the companies have chosen to prioritize enriching their leaders even as worker pay stagnates.

The UAW is demanding a 36% wage increase for auto workers in the new four-year contract. Between 2013 and 2022, the CEOs of the Big Three U.S. car manufacturers received a 40% pay boost.

As The Associated Press noted earlier this month, “Fain’s focus on CEO pay is part of a growing trend of emboldened labour unions citing the wealth gap between workers and the top bosses to bolster demand for better pay and working conditions.”

“In June, Netflix shareholders rejected executive pay packages in a non binding vote, just days after the Writers Guild of America wrote letters urging investors to vote against the pay proposals, saying it would be inappropriate amid Hollywood’s ongoing strike by writers,” AP reported. “The WGA wrote similar letters targeting the executive pay at Comcast and NBCUniversal.”

Bivens and Kandra stressed in their analysis that surging CEO pay “is not just a symbolic issue—it has contributed to rising inequality.”

“CEOs are getting paid more because of their leverage over corporate boards, not because of contributions they make to their firms,” they wrote. “Escalating CEO pay in recent decades has likely pulled up the pay of other top earners. This concentration of earnings at the top leaves fewer gains for ordinary workers.” ‘

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ceo-worker-pay