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From The Socialist newspaper, 10 April 2019
Them & us
Them and us fishes, photo Suzanne Beishon (Click to enlarge)
Worried about socialism?
The chief executive of the USA's biggest bank, JP Morgan, has attacked socialism.
Jamie Dimon was paid $31 million in 2018. Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at $1.3 billion.
Dimon doesn't mind bank bailouts - socialism for the rich. JP Morgan got $25 billion during the 2008 financial crash.
Fellow billionaire Ray Dalio is worried about capitalism's wealth inequality. He described it as "an existential risk for the US." No wonder they're worried about socialism.
Bills, bills and more bills
The cost of UK benefits, not including pensioners, is £100 billion. Most of this is spent on in-work benefits.
The government tried to save £1.2 billion forcing people who couldn't work off benefits. The former chair of the work and pensions committee, a wheelchair user, said the Tories were "tightening these descriptors to make sure fewer people get the benefit."
However, the National Audit Office say the government has failed to lower the number of disabled people out of work.
Meanwhile, for ten million workers in the UK the cost of contributing to their auto-enrolled pensions is increasing. And if you can't afford the rise, the bosses will stop paying in too. Council tax, prescription charges, TV licence, gas, electricity, and water bills are also going up.
The cost-of-living hikes should be immediately frozen. And we need a trade union struggle for wages and benefits that genuinely reflect the cost of living - starting with a £10-an-hour minimum wage and a 50% rise in the state pension.
The utility giants should be nationalised with workers' control. And let's open the books, to see what these companies can really afford.
Students need a leadership that will fight fees and austerity, photo Socialist Party (Click to enlarge)
No money for art courses, but plenty for art pieces
Cambridge University leads the way as the university that spends the most on works of art - £1.6 million in 2018. But, in February, the elitist club of top universities - the Russell Group - were pleading poverty and promising cuts to arts courses if tuition fees were lowered.
The Socialist Party fights for free, publicly funded education for all. This should include full funding for arts and humanities, and access to such courses for working-class young people, not just sons and daughters of the rich.
Agency austerity
Local councils are pursuing austerity, privatisation and in 2017-2018 gave £335 million to private companies for agency social workers.
The Socialist Party says councils should refuse to pass on Tory cuts, pass no-cuts budgets, and bring privatised and agency workers back in-house.
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In The Socialist 10 April 2019:
What we think
Corbyn must demand general election, defend workers' interests and fight for a socialist Brexit
Climate change
Organise against climate change, austerity and capitalism
Only socialism can stop capitalism's plastic problem
International socialist news and analysis
Algeria: Bouteflika is finished but the Algerian revolution is not!
China: police state in Xinjiang under global spotlight
Local elections
Local government in crisis: councillors can fight cuts!
Socialist Party news and analysis
Boot out the Tories - end austerity
Workplace news and analysis
PCS: vote Yes for action, back socialists in the elections!
NEU conference: organise for the key battles to come
Swindon workers discuss action to save Honda jobs
Southampton Hospital security workers strike
Support the Glasgow Airport pay and pensions strike
London Overground cleaners strike for better pay
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Leicester Socialist Party letter for no-cuts budget
Walthamstow: end the school funding crisis
Reject the rotten NUS 'reforms'
Leicester NHS Trust and the brutal reality of cuts
Social cleansing continues in Southwark
South Yorkshire Freedom Riders - still battling on
Gateshead FC crisis: save our Heed!
Health Campaigns Together AGM success
Opinion
Low pay, long hours, isolation - a taxi driver speaks out
'Traitors': Cold War cloak and daggers as capitalist powers spy on allies
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