Soviet Britain

Interesting to read in the papers today that at least 10 boroughs in the UK now have almost 50% of the working population employed by the state, rather than the private sector.  This, with what is happening in the economy, and the continuing evolution of the tax and benefits system in the image of the Government, looks a bit like creeping Sovietisation to me.

It is particularly worrying that such a high proportion of the working population is working in the non-productive sectors of the economy.  How do we expect to pay our way in the future?

When you also consider that the Government is now taking increasing control of the banking system, either through ownership, part-ownership, or planned laws governing what banks can and cannot do, we can clearly see the emergence of a command economy.  What next?  Well, the retail sector will be lining up for state aid soon, and we already know the car industry is in that situation too, so you can see how the process of determining what we can and cannot buy could well develop.

At the same time the Government, which knows nothing of banking, seems to be considering telling the banks who can borrow money, how much, when and on what terms.  It won't be long before they will have created the situation where we are dependent on their benevolence to get access to credit, rather than through proper processes of supply and demand.

Add to this the changes over the last few years in the tax and benefits regime, where the Government has neatly changed the system to make as many people as possible dependent on a handout of some sort.  By fiscal drag over the last decade, it has pulled ever more people into the high tax bracket, whilst then giving money back via credits to those who 'deserve' them (by their own definition of merit, of course).  It is absurd that someone on £50k can receive some handouts; in fact, it should not be possible for any high earner (who by definition should be the only ones paying more than 20%) to receive handouts.  The fact that they are means more and more people are recipients of the Government's largesse and, it is presumably hoped by Gordon Brown, that they will perpetually be grateful at the ballot box.

This is the road to ruin, and the sooner we get the chance to vote on this path, or the alternative put forward by another party (if they ever articulate one, that is), the better.  If this lot stay in charge, we'll all be called 'comrade' at some point, and the Government will have created a slightly different version of the Soviet Union.

And that's without taking into account the sinister developments with regard to Damian Green, which should give is ALL cause for concern...