Basic (Very Basic) Economics

[poliphilo]

OK, so the rich are also going to be hit by the chancellor's latest measures. Good. But will it be proportionate? Will increasing tax on  savings inflict the same amount of pain on the rich as decoupling benefits from the cost of living will inflict on the poor? Of course not. The rich can take it. They have resources. A bob or two to fall back on. That's what being rich is all about. They can take losses without it affecting their quality of life. The poor, on the other hand, feel every cut. A tiny loss in income can spell the difference between eating and not eating, or eating something nutritious and eating rubbish. Take thousands off a millionaire and he's still a millionaire; take a few pence off a poor family and you make them destitute. 

I don't think our politicians understand this. Any of them. They're all rich- most of them by inheritance. Is there a single person on either of the front benches with first hand experience of poverty?

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

Mind you, setting his politics aside, Gove comes across as having more hinterland than most politicians. For one thing he reads books. I remember him appearing on late night review shows.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Having been a teacher for many years, I tend to have an automatic distrust of education secretaries of whatever political fig.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I can understand that.