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1/5 Prof Dorling's right call Blair the King in the sense he presided over the highest level of inequality since 1929.
But it was Thatcher who set in motion the huge redistribution of wealth & income in favour of the owners of capital of the last 40 years.
But it was Thatcher who set in motion the huge redistribution of wealth & income in favour of the owners of capital of the last 40 years.
2/5 Thatcher gave owners of capital a bigger share of the cake in three main ways: a/ shifting taxation from capital to working people, b/ crushing the miners/attacking union rights, c/ opening up more of the economy to profit-making through a massive programme of privatisation.
3/5 In 1997, millions of us had high hopes that New Labour would reverse much of this. And there were some advances - the minimum wage, a big investment in the NHS, tax changes that protected those on low incomes. But on the three fundamentals it was business as usual.
4/5 Blair a/ continued to cut corporation tax (31>28%), b/ failed to reverse Thatcher's anti-union legislation, c/ continued to expand private profit making (at taxpayers' expense) by escalating outsourcing & PFI.
In the process, he frittered away the hard-won opportunity of 97.
In the process, he frittered away the hard-won opportunity of 97.
5/5 The three ways to increase inequality point to the ways to reduce it:
- big business & the rich can pay more in tax
- union rights can be expanded
- more of the economy can be run to benefit society rather than for profit.
This isn't about Corbyn, it's about economic justice.
- big business & the rich can pay more in tax
- union rights can be expanded
- more of the economy can be run to benefit society rather than for profit.
This isn't about Corbyn, it's about economic justice.
