Austerity is only ‘painless’ for the rich

Last Updated: November 20, 2015By

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According to Simon Wren-Lewis, he often hears people suggesting that the austerity we all underwent between 2010 and this year under the Coalition Government was “largely painless”.

Seriously! Check it out here.

He points out – rather too gently, in This Writer’s opinion – that this may be a mistaken view, for two reasons:

“First you can cut investment, which no one notices until much later (unless you are unlucky enough to have a lot of rain).

“Second, you can cut spending on groups who do not have a public voice. Those who find they are excluded or reassessed for benefits, or the elderly who have had their support from their local authority cut, would not call past austerity painless.

“It seems that painlessness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.”

Or indeed, in the senses of the people feeling the pain.

A commenter to This Blog recently suggested that government has decided the loss of a certain number of civilians is perfectly acceptable in the pursuit of certain policies – most clearly war, but it can also be applied to public spending.

This Blog has reported on the deaths of benefit claimants for years. How much traction has it gained in the national press? A little splash over the summer – and that was thanks to a petition launched by someone else.

The victims have no voice and the perpetrators feel no pain.

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7 Comments

  1. Jeffery Davies November 20, 2015 at 2:32 pm - Reply

    The poor didnt lose the monies the banksters did but it was the rich’s monies so the poor pays it back for them as the poor felt the austerity but the rich didn’t buying high end cars keeping the car industry ticking over yep the eye of the beholder better tell them to open wider jeff3

  2. David Bacon November 20, 2015 at 2:43 pm - Reply

    I wonder how much time Simon Wren-Lewis spends collecting his rations from a food bank? He sounds like one of those people who find other people’s poverty quite easy to bear.

    • Mike Sivier November 20, 2015 at 3:25 pm - Reply

      I disagree strongly.
      He’s one of the good guys – pointing out that there is NO “painless austerity”.

  3. Rupert Mitchell (@rupert_rrl) November 20, 2015 at 4:15 pm - Reply

    Austerity seems to me to be the Conservative’s plan to deprive those in need to give even more to those in greed. If austerity is needed let those who can afford it so easily suffer the lion’s share.

  4. mili68 November 20, 2015 at 5:46 pm - Reply

    Tweeted @melissacade68

  5. mrmarcpc November 23, 2015 at 2:49 pm - Reply

    The rich always screws the poor and is no different today, if fact, it’s gotten worse but what do you expect from rich, greedy, tory boys who are tight with their chums the bankers!

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