It has been recently reported that the general secretary of the RMT transport Union, Bob Crow, has called for mass strikes to halt ‘savage’ job cuts. In a statement packed with rhetoric that reads like an A.J. Cook speech from the general strike of 1926, Crow calls for ‘general and co-ordinated strike action’ against the ‘savage assault on jobs.’ He wants to send a message to the ‘Millionaires’ Row of Clegg and Cameron.’
Like in years past, the left have often attacked the ‘rich’ as the font of society’s ills whilst at the same time heralding them as a potential medicine, by taxing them into penury. Of course many understand and have lived through the time when this form of crude economics failed miserably - the 98% income tax and the three-day working week.
This hot air should be left to blow away. Unfortunately, many people are taken in by it. The rhetoric is one of envy, the mentality of ‘them and us’ replaces any rational perspective that may have existed before. This has been the story of the socialist movement throughout the twentieth century: a patchwork of well-meaning ideas, but one that always gets stuck in the idealistic mud, oblivious to reality.
When the question of ‘how are you going to cut the deficit?’ is asked to union leaders, they often respond with a confused mix of tax the rich more, the deficit's actually not a problem, and let’s just completely ignore it because it will probably go away. I even watched Crow exclaim the other day on Question Time that after the indebtedness caused by the Second World War, the Labour government of the time were still able to build a million new homes. His incredibly weak argument leaves out a chronic lack of context regarding a war-torn country and Keynes' trip to Washington. This current mess was created by a massive fiscal over-spend, so profligate that many simply can’t believe that a similar set of economic problems as six years of total war have been created.
The reality of the situation is that BRITONS ARE ALREADY OVERTAXED, AS THE FISCAL CRISIS HAS BEEN BUILT ON A DECADE OF A TAX RISES AND NOT CUTS. Government SPENDING must be reduced and part of this pressure will fall on the government’s payroll. The TaxPayers’ Alliance campaigns for these cuts so that lower taxes can follow to stimulate a re-balanced economy which can provide jobs for all. Union members should be very suspicious of a man like Bob Crow, bashing ‘millionaires’ whilst earning £105,679 a year himself.