Posts under ‘Pensions’

The Troika’s ‘Men in Black’ and the crime of organised money

by Tom Gill.

Continuing to force states to finance themselves at high-interest rates is just a strategy to justify wage control, the privatisation of public services and, ultimately, to enslave peoples, says Juan Torres Lopez, Professor of Economics at the University of Seville. Spain has once again received a visit from the so-called Men in Black, the Troika inspectors, coming […]

Universalism and Tory small state ideology

by Ben Folley.

The Tory attack on universal benefits this weekend is part of an ongoing ideological assault on the public sector, dressed up as an attempt to cut the deficit through the destructive austerity program. Iain Duncan Smith’s attempt to play down the story today is clever, but the proposal is out there and the narrative set. […]

Simplicity of state pensions is not the issue: it’s how much and when that matters

by Michael Meacher.

IDS’ side-kick, Steve Webb, unveiled the £144 a week single-rate state pension yesterday, triumphantly noting its simplicity. So which would you have – a simple pension or a decent pension? And £144 a week, less than £7,500 a year, is not a decent pension. It’s a shameful fob-off after a lifetime of working which is […]

The nasty party does its dirty work on the welfare state

by Michael Meacher.

The power of the right-wing media – and the reason why it needs to be cut back to provide a democracy with a framework of balanced reporting – has again been put on show by its persistent fusillade of vilifying propaganda against the jobless and low-paid to assist their Tory government allies in pinning the […]

Forget “skivers”, this is a full-blown attack on the welfare state

by Michael Meacher.

It’s been a long time coming, but the Tories never give up (if only we had the same determination and relentless drive!). First they broke the pension link with earnings – that was Thatcher’s opening gambit in 1979. Now 33 years later they’re breaking the benefits link with prices, even with the lower CPI index […]

Miliband spot-on to target pension industry fees

by Michael Meacher.

The private pensions industry is a colossal financial scandal second only to the banks. It is a staggering fact that charges swallow up 40% of the value of a pension over its lifetime which must make this one of the worst deals ever in the market-place, even by the standards of the inefficient and greedy […]

68 is too late: spread the word

by Jon Lansman.

Left Futures previously reported the establishment of the the ‘68 is too late’ campaign against increases in the state pension age, and urged you to sign the petition. The campaign is already supported by a dozen trade unions, the National Pensioners Convention and the National Union of Students. This is a campaign whose importance is magnified […]

Levelling down for public pensions, not for the rich

by Michael Meacher.

The agreement finally reached on the local government pension scheme after the government made significant concessions has rather less to do with official generosity than fear about the consequences if the scheme were so eviscerated that hundreds of thousands of local government workers might decide there was no point in continuing to contribute to it […]

68 is too late

by Jon Lansman.

Unite, PCS and the NUT have combined to launch a great campaign against a higher and escalating retirement age. Please do watch the excellent video and sign the petition. The three central tenets of the campaign are: We will retire into ill health. They want our children to work to 80. Our young people will end up on the […]

As thousands strike, Blairite pension-slasher helps himself to the loot

by Jon Lansman.

As unions representing 400,000 workers are forced to take strike action in defence of their pensions, it emerges that John Hutton, the former New Labour minister who helped the Tory-led coalition attack their pensions, is to be paid £1,000 per day to chair the new “mutualised” pensions company that will run the civil service pension […]

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