CAMERON'S CLASS WAR

In her goal to dismantle the welfare state and relieve her Government of the responsibility of looking after the victims of 25 years of neoliberal economic policies, I'm sure that Paula Bennett is taking note of the anti-welfare policies that the new British Government of ex-public schoolboy David Cameron is set to implement.

Given her hostility to beneficiaries I'm sure she will be 'inspired' by the Tories (and Liberal Democrats) 'emergency' budget which was dropped on the UK yesterday.

It is little more than an attack on the British working class and vulnerable beneficiaries have well and truly had the Tory cannons trained on them.

The British economy is in crisis and, despite attempts to evoke the 'spirit of Dunkirk', the only people who will be making the sacrifices will be the working class.

How's this for starters ? Beneficiaries who have been on the dole for more than a year will have their accommodation benefit cut. It's another attempt to 'drive' beneficiaries into jobs that don't exist. All this will achieve is to drive more beneficiaries into poverty. But I'm sure that Paula Bennett will be taking a look at the feasibility of this policy given her fondness for putting the boot in.

As well the Tories and their Lib-Dem lackeys are also going to cut the accommodation benefit for people who live in bigger houses than their domestic circumstances supposedly warrant. Bennett could certainly see money-saving possibilities in this policy. I can imagine WINZ functionaries visiting the homes of their 'clients' armed with tape measures and cameras.

Disgracefully David Cameron has frozen the child benefit for three years – a cut in real terms of around 12 percent

Just to make lives of beneficiaries and the poor even more miserable, the Cameron Government has increased VAT (their equivalent of our GST) from 17.5 percent to 20 percent.

There will be a 25 percent cut in state sector expenditure which will result in thousands of job losses. That will mean access to such things as basic health services will become even more difficult. Such is the extent of the cuts there must, inevitably, be cuts in front line services - something similar to what we are experiencing here in New Zealand right now.

According to Chancellor George Osborne these cuts for the poorest are to ensure that 'everyone makes a contribution to helping our country reduce its debts'.

Osborne is lying because, while snatching money from the poor, he has doled out the cash to his rich mates. It has been estimated that in the region of 120 million pounds will be taken from the poor and handed to the rich.

British companies, for example, will enjoy a nice windfall because corporate tax rate will be cut by one percent every year.

This comes at a time when new figures show that the bonuses of useless company director's has risen some 23 percent in the past twelve months.

These are the same clowns who were bailed out by the previous Labour Government. They are now hailing Cameron's budget as 'responsible' and 'much-needed'.

Of course the rationale for helping out the rich, is that the British economy needs its wealthy in order for the economy to grow and prosper - which is the same argument that former market trader John Key employed when handing out big tax cuts to people who didn't need them.

A more sensible and accurate view is that we would be all be better off without the rich altogether.

As Marx wrote, 'The rich will do anything for the poor but get off their backs'.