The Penalties of Ostrich Politics

and Willful Destruction of the Welfare State and the NHS 

The Plan

The plan to dismantle and privatise the NHS, and the welfare state was planned years ago by the Conservative Party, their chums and their business partners, long before the General Election.  Three generations have been born into the finest of Labour’s creations, and are so now familiar with it that they have come to believe it is an intrinsic part of life in Britain, so that to imagine life without it seems surreal. Basically, complacency has set in. Voters believed Cameron’s lies, didn’t listen to them as apathy reigned, or if they did they had lost all faith in an impotent voting system, and the supposed democratic system which so many fought to preserve.

The Evidence

Plans to bring about ‘welfare reform” were established as long ago as 1995, as  Private  Eye first questioned Unum about the possibility
 of a serious conflict of interest. Tricky questions are asked about the profits which American insurance 
giant Unum  (1) stands to make from its massive media push on income protection 
cover, promoted as the answer to the latest tough welfare 
reforms the insurance company Unum.

Think Left’s post, “Who said, “The NHS will be shown no Mercy”? ” (2) discussed documented evidence of public meetings as long ago as 2007, which David Cameron was aware of, and yet there was denial. If any one of us were to perjure ourselves in a court of law, it is most probable that we would be found guilty of perverting the course of justice or fraud. How have we come to be in a situation where in the highest court in the land, in the House of Commons where laws are made, it is permissible to lie? Is it surprising that apathy results? And in the recent case of the Workfare programme, (3) where the government have been found have acted  unlawfully, how can we tolerate the abuse of power such that laws can be changed retrospectively to let themselves “off the hook”?

Further evidence was presented by  Professor Aeron Davis on NHS privatisation (4)

This radio broadcast  (4) on  Radio New Zealand’s Saturday Morning on Saturday 15 September 2012 presents  facts about the BBC and British Press avoided to tell.

A broadcast from Russia Today, previously presented by Think Left ” (5)

Wealthcare: UK govt bill opens up NHS to private profiteering”  shows the BBC, how it failed to inform or adequately analyse, the implications of the Health and Social Care bill.

A bill restructuring the UK health service has been passed by parliament in spite of mass protests against the controversial reforms. Opposition accuses MPs of pandering to private interests, signing the death warrant of free healthcare in the UK.

In March 2013, Dr Lucy Reynolds (6) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine talks frankly about the future of the NHS.

Unlike in the 1980s, when they fell for the bribes, – see article “If you see Sid”(7), –  people are beginning to realise the trap, and the implications of handing over essential services such as water and energy to profiteers. What else do they seek to own? Our schools, our prisons, our armies, our fire-fighters, our communication systems and our health-care? What power remains? The blackmail caused by fear of homelessness, starvation and disease? To allow such powers to control school curriculum is permit brainwashing a population. To control healthcare, so that only those who can pay can survive is the ultimate power.

The Consequences

The recent attack on the BBC in the wake of the Jimmy Savile affair has also served to gag the media. The public has been repeatedly lied to. The outcome is the calculated, demolition of the welfare state and the NHS, as initiated by  Margaret Thatcher and shamefully continued by New Labour who planted the seeds for what the Coalition are doing now. Labour’s Andy Burnham has pledged to reverse the break up of the NHS. (8) But can we guarantee to return ownership of the NHS to the British people while  global corporations and private health Insurance companies, already have a hold? Is it already too late to reclaim transport and utilities by democratic means?  Are we already in the post-democratic era? (9)

The Problem

The fear and the challenge for future governments is how to reverse the process which has  resulted in transfer of the power from 99% of the people to a very rich minority. In such a case, the world lives in a plutocracy (10), where control rests with few. In order to protect their assets,  they have ensured states sign up to treaties far beyond the terms of current governments. We see inexcusable waste resulting where  people are unemployed, a manufacturing industry which has been dismantled, and a dependency on cheap imports. All this is to suit financial markets.

The Solution 

It is not enough to do nothing. Being silent and hoping you’ll be the one who survives is the action of a fool, as previous wars have taught. Ostrich Politics is no answer. There is no easy solution to reverse the global crisis, and civilisations have fallen before, but we ignore it at our peril.

Where there is division of society, there can be no recovery. When man fights man, where women are silenced by oppression, we are doomed. But there are more of us. Their power is money.  Ultimately money is nothing more than a tool. True power comes from the earth, the resources in it, and the labour of people to work the land.

Positive Money

The government have preyed on fear that Britain is on its knees because somehow it ran out of money. This is ludicrous, since Britain is a sovereign state and can make its own money. (See Modern Monetary Theory or MMT). (11)  and on Think Left (12)

Positive Money puts forward policies where money becomes a tool again, and is put to use  to get the real economy working again. The idea of people working for banks like hamsters on treadmills is not only unsustainable, but so obviously immoral and unworkable, and ordinary people know this. We must insist on honesty from the politicians whose job it is, is to work for the people.

1. Remove the power of banks to create money
2. Return that power to a transparent and accountable process
3. Create money free of debt
4. Create money only when inflation is low and stable
5. Make sure that new money goes into the real economy instead of financial markets
6. Give us control and transparency over how our money is invested  ( Proposals of Positive Money) (13)

Perhaps we should look again at  ideas of sustainability, as discussed by Agenda 21 (14) ? The Social Summit (Copenhagen, March 1995) really brought this out. It produced a Declaration and Programme of Action for Social Development, which stresses the need for full participation of all people in decision-making for their future, and which contains a series of 10 commitments agreed by the governments. These are:

• An enabling environment for social development;
• The goal of eradicating poverty;
• The goal of full employment;
• The promotion of social integration;
• Equality of men and women;
• Education;
• Speeding up the development of the least developed countries;
• Ensuring that structural adjustment programmes include social goals;
• A better resourcing for social development;
• A better framework for international co-operation for social development.

We need to build a world where we recognise true values, with Macroethics (see New Economics Perspectives) (15) , and without that we all are doomed, and that will be the destiny for every one of us.

References and Further Reading:

1. Welfare Reform and the Insurance giant Unum.
2. Who said, “The NHS will be shown no Mercy”? 
3. Owen Jones : Independent: Why did so many Labour MPs accept this brutal, unforgivable attack on vulnerable people?
4.  Professor Aeron Davis speaks  on NHS privatisation
5. Russia Today Uk Government Opens up NHS to Private Profiteering
6. Lucy Reynolds talks to Jill Mountfod on the NHS
7. If you see SID, Think Left 
8. Andy Burnham Pledge to reverse NHS Break up
9. Are we already in the post-democratic era?
10. Capitalism – Neoliberalism, Plutonomy, and Neo-feudalism.
11. What is Modern Monetary Theory? MMT – Truthout
12. Think Left on MMT – The UK is not broke and does not need to borrow to reverse cuts.
13. Positive Money
14. Agenda 21
15. New Economics Perspectives: Without and Effective Macroethics, our Civilisation is doomed.
16. Red Labour must address the Elephant in the Room
17. Capital Controls – Investigating International Finance from NEF
18. Is George Osborne failing or Succeeding Brilliantly?