'Universal Credit'? More like: "Shock & awe if you are poor!"

'Universal Credit'? More like:
"Shock & awe if you are poor!"

According to Milton Friedman's 'economic shock therapy', "traumatized economies should be shocked immediately, before the public can respond to the change."(1)

See also

• The connection between Universal Credit, ordeals and experiments in electrocuting laboratory rats(2)
• "I miss one bill [to] pay another." Universal Credit and debt, debt, debt. More #foodbank interviews(3)
• DWP: (n) UK-state-run modern slavery gangmaster(4)

 Placard and blog posting by Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Link references

1. http://www.naomiklein.org/reviews/ms-magazine-review-shock-doctrine
2. https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/the-connection-between-universal-credit-ordeals-and-experiments-that-electrocute-laboratory-rats/ 
3. http://www.katebelgrave.com/2017/10/universal-credit-and-debt-debt-debt-universal-credit-is-really-hard-i-miss-one-bill-to-pay-another-more-foodbank-interviews/#comments 
4. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/dwp-n-uk-state-run-modern-slavery-gangmaster.html

Help defeat Government over their proposed tax credit cuts! Write your MP!

Guest blog post by 38 Degrees — by way of copy and paste of e-mail content

Next Wednesday the government could go ahead with plans to cut support for hard-working families. The support - called Universal Credit - is supposed to help people earning low wages get by. [1] But the cuts could mean families having to choose between eating or heating their homes. Right now, the new Chancellor Philip Hammond is finalising his plan for the economy - he’ll announce it next week. [2] He could decide to reverse the cuts - and MPs are already demanding he does. [3]. If thousands of us sign a huge petition, the added public pressure could convince Philip Hammond to scrap the cuts. There’s only a week until he announces his plan so we haven’t got long. Please can you sign the petition now? It takes less than a minute: Sign the petition These cuts will see some families lose £200 a month. [4] That’s an entire month’s food shop. [5] And if they go ahead, it will mean if you get a promotion or do more shifts, your family could end up worse off. It just doesn’t make sense. Together we’ve stood up to cuts like these before - and won. [6] When the government tried to cut tax credits for hard-working families last year, we forced them to back down. It started with a huge petition, signed by people like you. It ended with relief for thousands of people across the UK. Philip Hammond is already feeling the pressure over these cuts. If one of us asks him to reverse them, it might not be enough to convince him. But if thousands of us add our names to one huge petition, it’ll be hard for Philip Hammond to ignore. Can you add your name to the petition now? Sign the petition Thanks for being involved, Trish, Lorna, Charlotte and the 38 Degrees team PS: PS: If you’re not sure if you’ll be affected by cuts to Universal Credit, you can find out more at Citizens Advice: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/citizens-advice NOTES: [1, 4] Universal credit cuts to lose low-income families £1000 a year: The Independent: No U-turn on benefit cuts that will take £1,000 a year off three million families, says Government: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/no-u-turn-on-cuts-that-will-take-1000-a-year-off-three-million-families-a-cabinet-minister-has-said-a7388661.html [2] The Telegraph: What to expect from Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/0/autumn-statement-what-is-it-when-is-it-and-what-will-philip-hamm/ [3] The Guardian: Theresa May faces Tory backlash over planned cuts to in-work benefits: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/21/theresa-may-tory-backlash-cuts-in-work-benefits-universal-credit [5] Daily Mail: Thrifty mum reveals how she slashed her food bill to just £40 a week for her family of four: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3654238/Thrifty-mum-reveals-slashed-food-bill-just-40-week-family-FOUR.html [6] 38 Degrees: Tax credits win: https://home.38degrees.org.uk/2015/11/25/tax-credits-win/

Jeremy Corbyn's office replies to KUWG's open letter on perils of Universal Credit

Jeremy Corbyn's office has replied on 9 May to KUWG's open letter to the Leader of the Opposition regarding the perils of Universal Credit.(1)

This is what they said:

Dear [KUWG], Thank you for contacting the Labour Party about Universal Credit. Labour’s new direction will offer a real alternative to the Tories damaging cuts to public services and lack of investment in our economy and our people. 2016 will be the start of a journey to elect a Labour government in 2020: a government that will deliver a fairer, more prosperous society that we can all enjoy - a society that works for all, not just the few. There were two major cuts to in-work support in the Summer Budget – one for tax credits and one for its replacement, Universal Credit. Only the tax credit element has been reversed. As a result, current claimants of Universal Credit face huge losses to their income come April 2016. The Government’s cuts to Universal Credit will leave over two million working families on Universal Credit £1,600 a year worse off by 2020.                                                                                                                                   New claimants of Universal Credit will receive far less support than tax credit claimants, including those who transfer across to Universal Credits. There is no rationale for unfairly reducing the support of a working family on Universal Credit compared to a family in the same circumstances on tax credits. This is a political choice by the Tories to drastically reduce support for working families. At a time when the Government is cutting inheritance tax for homes worth over a million pounds, it can’t be right to reduce support for working families. Labour opposes the Tories’ cuts to the work allowance and we are calling on the Government to reverse them in full. We really do appreciate you taking the time to share your views with us - your talents and experience make us stronger in the fight for a fairer, kinder country. We want to increase the say our members and supporters have in our policy making process, and as this develops we will keep you informed. If you’re not already, I’d encourage you to like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/LabourParty)(2) or follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/uklabour)(3) so you can stay up-to-date with breaking news. You can also get involved in the debate and find out more about how we make policy at www.yourbritain.org.uk.(4)
 Best wishes, 
Communications AgentThe Labour Party

What sort of reply is that?

Links

1. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/dear-jeremy-corbyn-please-tell-cameron-about-universal-credits-flaws.html
2. https://www.facebook.com/labourparty/
3. https://twitter.com/uklabour
4. http://www.yourbritain.org.uk

There's a hole in your logic, Dear Government

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty reports that the Government response to his most recent letter avoids reference to key terms used in his letter to them. DWP brushes letter to PM about impact on health of cuts, caps and council tax under the carpet of Universal Credit(1)

Revd Paul Nicolson writes:

The words “health” or “debt” or “nutrition” or “rent” or “maternal” or “sanctions” do not appear even once in the DWP’s letter to me of the 17th June. It does not cite even one example of independent evidence about the impact on the health of the employed and the unemployed who engage with the current or future systems of social security.

Well, the Government won the General Election, didn't they; so why should they give any reasonable answers to valid concerns of people who really try to help the most vulnerable people in society, eh? It holds the BBC by the purse strings, anyway, and the unemployed are 'the enemy within', aren't we? And of course this is the Government that wants to scrap the Human Rights Act and abolish Freedom of Information requests.

So, yes! While David Cameron really is taking from the poor to pay the rich with the collusion of all those who voted his Government in and those who devised Labour's 'austerity-lite' manifesto, avoiding the real issues concerned is the best defence of a Government that lies through its teeth when it says that it is determined to protect the most vulnerable in society.

It really does seem as though they know as much about loove as rapists or masturbation addicts.(2) (3)

Notes

(1) http://www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/dwp-brushes-letter-to-pm-about-impact-on-health-of-cuts-caps-and-council-tax-under-the-carpet-of-universal-credit/

.(2) See also Expressions that defame us are too often parroted without examination

 http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/expressions-that-defame-us-are-too.html

(3) Benefits for people in work cost 6 times as much as for people out of work http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/benefits-for-people-in-work-cost-6x-as.html

Conservative Party woes for welfare claimants — including those working for tax dodging companies that pay too little

Article from Z2K website. Above title by Swheatie of the KUWG

Conservatives pledge further Welfare Cuts

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Sam Ashton

The Conservative party conference has produced a rash of announcements committing the party to further welfare cuts should they win next year’s general election. These include lowering the Benefit Cap to £23,000pa, freezing benefits for two years, barring 18 – 21 year olds from receiving housing benefit and limiting the same age group to claiming Job Seekers Allowance for only 6 months. Taken together this package of measured could have a devastating impact on the lives of low income individuals and families.

The rhetoric espoused to justify this policy is, as always, focused around ‘fairness’ for hard working tax paying families. But this belies the fact that the benefits freeze, because it includes tax credits and housing benefit, would hit twice as many working families and workless. George Osborne says that it’s unfair that benefits should rise faster than wages but if action was taken to push up poverty wages then millions of low income working household would no longer need to rely on benefits.


The other side of the poverty trap equation is rents. The 1% cap on LHA rate rises, alongside a host of other changes, has made private sector accommodation in London and the south east increasingly unaffordable to housing benefit claimants. A complete freeze for two years would have a catastrophic effect and significantly reduce the number of properties available to benefit claimants.

Continue reading on Z2K website....