Cost of living crisis

March 2024 Forums General discussion Cost of living crisis

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  • #232399
    paula.mcewan
    Moderator

    It’s beyond belief that capitalism has got to the point where the great majority of workers can’t afford to survive. It’s almost as though they couldn’t care less about us.

    #232402
    ALB
    Keymaster

    Many of them probably don’t care and wouldn’t even pretend to if we didn’t have the vote. Some may care but that won’t make any difference as there is not much the politicians can do beyond giving a few handouts to ease people’s plight a little bit.

    And they know this as the international price of oil and gas is not something they can control, at least not something they can reduce. In fact they caused it to rise by imposing sanctions on Russian oil and gas, knowing that this would increase the price. Politicians like the present and likely future prime minister have both openly admitted that this would inflict “pain” (their word)(*) on people and justified this as a price worth paying to back the NATO proxy war in Ukraine.

    The most effective thing they could do to bring the cost of gas down would be to end the sanctions against Russia. But there’s a fat chance of that happening, showing that their priority is not people.

    (*) see this for instance from a couple of days ago;

    https://news.sky.com/story/amp/boris-johnson-returns-to-ukraine-as-country-marks-independence-day-12680447

    And this from February:

    https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/economic-cost-living-uk-ukraine-russia-invasion-liz-truss-1486881

    #232405
    paula.mcewan
    Moderator

    Ha good point! I’m sick of the unquestioning support for prolonging the war in Ukraine. Not only has the war created a massive negative impact on our own standard of living, it has also led to enormous profits for the arms manufacturers. Not to mention the death and suffering on both sides. Since the beginning of the conflict, I can’t help but question the morality of supporting a nation that compels its men to bear arms. The people of Ukraine (and Russia) didn’t vote for this. Nor did any of us with the right to vote. The entire episode has taught me that there is no ‘democracy’ in times of armed conflict – we’re all expected to accept it and support it. I keep feeling sorry for the poor buggers in Ukraine that are compelled to fight in a war not of their making. If nothing else, the very fact that Boris Johnson keeps popping up in support of Ukraine is sufficient in my view to question the whole thing.

    #232408
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    “the very fact that Boris Johnson keeps popping up in support of Ukraine is sufficient in my view to question the whole thing.”

    I have an inkling that he preparing for his post-PM career and is taking a leaf out of Tony Blair’s play-book to ready himself for some future international statesman role.

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