The Trickle-Down Ruse
For decades, politicians justified funnelling money to the rich by arguing it produces more wealth for everyone else. The evidence is now overwhelming – we were scammed.
19 Articles by:
Rae Deer
Rae Deer is an economist and freelance writer.
It’s Only a Crisis for Workers
By hitting workers with historic tax increases while leaving wealth untouched, Jeremy Hunt has ensured that the rich will remain insulated from the cost of living catastrophe.
One Tax Cut U-Turn Is Not Enough
Truss and Kwarteng have rowed back on the top tax rate, but they’re still lifting the bankers’ bonus cap and threatening cuts to public services and benefits. We need to push for a much bigger change in direction.
The Tory Answer to Everything: Make the Rich Richer
While Kwasi Kwarteng weighs up ditching the bankers’ bonus cap, normal workers are told to show ‘restraint’ and quietly accept a decade of flatlining wages. It’s all designed to keep wealth moving in its current direction: upward.
To Cut the Giant Bills, Tax the Giant Profits
Energy giants are expected to make £170 billion in excess profit in the next two years. By ruling out a higher windfall tax, Liz Truss is defining her premiership from the offset: more for the rich at the expense of everyone else.
Ofgem Is a Scam
Despite claiming to be a ‘regulator’, Ofgem’s main job is to protect the profits of private energy companies – even when their prices are driving millions of working-class people towards poverty.
The Tory Leadership Election Is a Race to Suppress Wages
The media is talking up differences between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak over tax cuts, but the Tory leadership candidates are united on the main policy response to the cost-of-living crisis: suppressing workers’ wages.
The Case for Price Controls
When millions are going hungry and a few companies are raking in record profits, the ‘free market’ is obviously failing – and the case for price controls is clearer than ever.
The Price of Poverty
From basic goods to housing, debt costs and tax hikes, our economy is rigged: life is more expensive when you’re poor.
On the Cost of Living Crisis, Labour Is to the Right of the Tories
With millions facing poverty, Labour should be demanding that the government goes much further than the weak measures announced so far – instead, they’re trying to cast those measures as irresponsible.
How Worker Power Drives Technological Progress
Under capitalism, technological progress will always benefit the rich first and society later – if we want technology to address the major problems of our time, we need it to be shaped by workers.
Abolish Non-Doms
Non-dom status is a scam designed to help the elite to amass obscene wealth. By overseeing a tax system riddled with loopholes, Rishi Sunak isn’t just helping his wife – he’s helping his class.
Tory Tax Hikes Are Part of an Economic War on Workers
In the middle of a cost of living crisis, the Tory government has made Britain the only major economy to hike taxes on workers. The reason is simple – they are determined to protect the profits of the rich.
Hike Taxes on the Wealthy, Not on Workers
Amid the cost of living crisis, April’s National Insurance hike will squeeze workers while the wealth of the rich continues to accumulate – it’s time to demand tax justice.
Everything Is Going Up – Except Wages
Inflation is the highest it’s been in 30 years, while pay is below 2008 levels. There’s only one way to avoid becoming worse off: joining a union and standing up for yourself.
The Enduring Case for Redistributing Work
In 1932, philosopher Bertrand Russell made the case for work to be fairly shared out, so no one had to be to either unemployed or overworked. 90 years later, his argument has only grown more relevant.
The Bank of England’s War on Wages
The Bank of England is eyeing an interest rate hike to fight inflation – a policy that will further curb workers’ bargaining power in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
You Can’t Have a High-Wage Economy Without Strong Unions
Boris Johnson claims that he wants to see a high-wage economy, but Britain’s decade-long wage stagnation is directly linked to the decline of trade unions – and the Tory laws that helped to cause it.
Crypto Is Not an Alternative
Cryptocurrency promises to liberate the monetary system from the clutches of the powerful – but it mostly functions as a way to make wealthy speculators even wealthier.