Why Your Wages Aren't Going Up
2024 ж. 13 Мам.
40 170 Рет қаралды
"workers are on sale for rich people because rich people have made a ton of money, the price of everything has gone up and wages have not kept up so wages are cheap, workers are cheap & rich people are laughing"
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Performed by Gary Stevenson
@garyseconomics
Produced by Simran Mohan
@mohanmedia
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - The Job Market
2:00 - Currency Devaluation
4:00 - Business is Booming
5:27 - Government is Poor
My ceo came out and said to us “we can’t raise wages for cost of living because we need to keep down inflation” All our suppliers have risen their prices but workers cant. I wonder how much his net worth has risen in last few years
Or maybe the business is close to collapse because of the increased price of suppliers which he struggles to pass onto his own customers. And the suppliers increases won't have been due to wages increases or even profits (everyone at the suppliers is making out while you can't have a wage rise) it will be because the cost pretty much all commodities is through the roof (i.e. stuff we import).
It's interesting that workers are called unrealistic, greedy and driving inflation when they ask for a pay restoration, yet companies just increase the price of their products and nothing is said, they aren't called greedy, inflation drivers, asking unrealistic prices, even though around 50% of current inflation is profit. It's a bizarre world we live in.
And rent, noone is calling for wage restraint of landlords. I also think it's insidious that we accept btl landlording should always generate a monthly profit. The profit is the asset someone else helped you buy.
it’s thoroughly rigged in favour of the top .01% & the Covidbillions has just tilted the already tilted playing field to their favour a completely unsustainable & unliveable amount for the masses.
Shoplifting is rampant and it wont be long till you arnt allowed down the isles without a robot chaperone
@@James-mb3je Most landlords are not multi-millionaires, that is their income stream and they have overheads, like paying repairmen etc. So it's more understandable than a CEO making another $10M a year for... what.
@Venturi Life but they are profiting twice, they get the valuable asset once its paid off by their tenant. If we take an example of a single property rentier with an 80% btl mortgage there is currently but I posit there shouldn't be, an expectation of a monthly profit. Yes home maintenance costs and that is often shared by a tenant but even if not, it is common to all homes and not something you should automatically expect to skim another families income to pay. Rent needs to be controlled, if you cannot afford a 2nd home without someone else paying you more than 100% of the mortgage repayments, then you cannot afford a 2nd home.
Real vs Nominal needs to be repeated until everybody understands that the percentage your wages need to increase for you to buy the same amount as you bought before the increase must at least be equal to the rate of inflation. Any increase that is less than the rate of inflation is a pay cut, a cut in how much you can buy with your wages, a cut in your living standards.
Considerably more - inflation isn't uniform: Bread 28% Sugar 31% Milk 65% Energy costs have more than doubled for some. It's the things you spend proportionally more of your income on, the less you earn, that have gone up most. Then the interest rate rises that are supposed to control inflation penalise the poor & reward the wealthy..
@ethelmini Disgusting isn't it. I'm sick of hearing about 13% inflation. My gas, diesel, food, other essentials appear to be more like 50% inflation
The price of Tesco essential brand bubble bath went from 90p in March to £1.50 in April. Just one month.
Government CP Lie at work. Most of the food items I track have seen 35-60% inflation in a year and anything in the calculation basket that peaks inflation they simply remove same as the Yanks. Our inflation in the real world is way above the government and central bank nonsense and to right the boat won't happen under any mainstream party that's for sure.
When prices started going up we bought large sacks of dog food instead of the smaller ones to save some money. Last week the price of the large sack went up by over 20%. And that was just the latest in a series of rises........ The tories will tell me to blame public sector workers!!
Greedflation of consumer and retail giants - 'every little helps!'
Tory response: Supply Chain Issues, blah, blah, blah. Ukraine War, blah blah, blah. Greedy Public Sector Wage Demands, blah blah blah. Radical Marxist Union Agitators, blah blah, blah. Lazy Poor People, blah, blah, blah. Real reasons: Monopolies. Brexit. Corporate Greed and Profiteering. Banking and Financial Malpractice. Government Corruption. Tory response: crickets
Soya milk is topping £2 a litre right now, oat the same despite the fact we grow tons of both. Its getting mental.
Another brilliant video. I'm 55 and learning more from Gary re how economics works than I ever did at school.
Which reminds me......when I did Economics and Accounting back in the 1970s the text books and the teachers would all say that the purpose of making profit was to increase wealth in society generally. I bet they don't say that anymore cos it definitely doesn't happen.
Garry, should we be solidifying some kind of movement for tackling these massive, destructive innequalities? Neither of the main political forces in the country seem to even remotely acknowledge these issues, and so many of us are seeing the price of that slowly engulf all of us. We really need something to cause a breakthrough here.
We definitely should be - that's what I'm trying to do here!!
We just need a good party name that supports common sense capitalism
Never gunna happen . There’s to much division and apathy amongst the working class . I mean it’s utterly horrendous out there at moment and all we do is moan . Unless they literally take are houses tommorow no one’s gunna do owt
@@garyseconomics what was the reason for the formation of the Unions, and the Labour movement ?
Yes,. it's called a revolution, but the majority (in the UK) are pacified with TV, music, games, sports, and social media. they are highly unlikely to get off their arses and take direct action to remove those exploiting their labours, unlike previous generations, who actually did that, and often died, to form the Unions, and the Labour movement. (neither of which have any connection to their roots) money talks. even to union represntatives. workers are about to become obsolete in an increasingly technological environment. neither unionists, or politicians have any notion of the tsunami which is inevitably coming for them. the robot's are here. good luck with the revolution.
Thank you Gary. With respect, I think another significant cause of the wages falling (for the bottom, i.e. the "poorest", ~99% of workers) not mentioned is a long-standing one, and that is the low unionisation rates among workers and weak union power since the neoliberal economic approach took hold as the UK government economic policy in 1979. For the "poorest" ~99% of workers, you can see wage increases kept up with productivity increases during the 50s-late 70s, but since then wage increases for these workers have not kept up with productivity increases and considering their value in real terms their wages have broadly kept falling in real terms the whole time (i.e. since 1979, the CEOs, executives and owners/shareholders have been slicing up the productivity difference £s plus more £s). The other thing not mentioned is housing costs aren't included in the standard inflation indices that are quoted for the UK economy (RPI and CPI), so for most of workers things are even more dire than the standard inflation indices would suggest!!
Another brilliant, clear explanation. Thanks, Gary
Great explanation Gary . You have exposed what is really going on .
I do wonder if many people have any idea what unrealised losses are, or just how large they are for the entire country? This lot in office took out huge, huge loans, whilst 'losing' billions. We WILL have to pay it back, or have our reputation damaged further. No, it doesn't matter we personally didn't choose this. That's not how global finance works. We have no real leverage as a nation versus the entire weight of the rest of the world. Our prestige, influence, we once had, eroded. Not beyond repair. Such things are repaired by: Learning actual economics, and various things such as what Groupthink, and Confirmation Bias are. Those two things alone are a major factor in all kinds of problems today.
This only scratches the surface of what's going on.
Agenda21 moving into Agenda 2030. The Great Rest 😢
@@tiffanyhoff5806 yes Tiffany. Our only hope is to put our trust in Jesus 🙏💫
@@storytimewithanne Appeal to Emotion Logical fallacy. Are you real or..
the average wage went up £8700 under new labour (in inflation adjusted 2020 pounds from oecd figures ) that helped us grow because we spend money not take it off shore (virtuous circle ) and most of that growth came to us in wages , since 2010 we have had the longest period of wage stagnation since 1822 , while since 2010 29 of the 31 other developed countries have had rising wages... where did it go ? richest 1000 people got around 750bn richer since 2010 (256bn to around a trillion ) thats like taking 2k of every worker every year and giving it to some of the richest people in the world and we pay the highest taxes ever and the government borrows 150bn a year and we are paying 100bn interest on the last 13 years of debt all because they refuse to do 2 things tax the rich get money to working people again because we spend it and keep it going round the economy not take it off shore and they should invest to improve productivity
It's about time we stopped subsidising the asset-rich as they squander our money by not investing for the benefit of our economy or our people. If we don't, they will hollow out the UK economy and eat all the flesh, and leave the husk for those who paid for it.
Wow that’s shocking when you see the summary like that, thanks for the insightful explanation. We need serious change in the UK, I’m not exactly a diehard socialist but capitalism is destroying the country.
Brilliant explanation and horrifying to find out total this is the longest period of wage stagnation since the 1800s
@@mattj905 yes i am a die hard socialist but when i talk this through with people of course some are in denile but most can see the system is broken (we are in what they call a Gramscian interregnum ‘ the crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear’, the system died in 2008 but no working system has replaced it , it died in the world economy but here we are making a particular hash of dealing with new realities , but basically the system that worked to make us richer say 1932-1972 should work again , my main doorstep pitch ( i canvass for labour ) is the the 20th centaury liberals could see that system needed reforming in the 30's and 40's because you had huge wealth and most of us in poverty , the 1950's tories kept and carried on what the post war labour government had done to even things up and we need that kind of 'post war consensus' now because we cant keep getting poorer every year feeding all growth to the super rich. This is an analysis rather than a left wing analysis in his book on generational shifts in wealth Camaron tory minister david willits said i worry our children cant afford a house and his wife replied i am not sure they will be able to afford rent... we all need to worry about this its worth a look at my clarification of what i said in my reply to myself on here as i wrote the first post at 9am having not slept so its not as clear as i would like
clarification - the £8700 average increase under new lab was (as growth still is ) mostly based on increasing levels of debt , however when the proceeds of growth go's into wages not to a few at the top its better for everyone as well as the economy current growth is even more based on increasing debt as well as qe and we are giving more than all the growth (remember its coming from the debt we have to pay back) to the super rich , the 29 out of 31 developed countries figure comes from the oecd via the TUC geoff tilly/kate bell but i need to clarify we are the prior to this inflation spike we were 29th out of 31 although wages had not actually gone down at that point, tho they have now (although housing costs are a huge issue not covered by cpi inflation if wages had gone up as house prices since 1990 the average wage would be 75k... ) and wages have gone up buy 4 or 5k in many countries since 2010, before the 'were did it go' i should have said we have had growth the last 10 years although its been induced by increasing our debt but where did that growth go to some of the richest people in the world
Thanks! Appreciate the videos. 👍 The workforce is a lot more fluid than it once was too. Commercial businesses would often prefer to have a higher turnover of lower paid staff than higher paid long-term staff. While the price gouging is chasing the bigger money they are cutting out all the normal workers. They'd rather have few big cows for their milk, beef, butter etc. than an organic farm with a few chickens and run around trying to grab a couple of eggs.
There is also a definite amount of Profiteering where some big companies are just seeing how much price increase they can get away with, much like estate agents have been doing with houses for decades.
Brilliant wonder why we don't see Gary on TV more ? Because he would and has wiped the floor with these people who are taking the absolute piss out of all of us whilst they get wealthier
A great explanation Gary! Sadly this is not a recent thing, wage stagnation has been imbedded in the UK for the past 20 years. The real kick the nuts is that we have that Buffoon in charge of the BOE saying that we should not all be pushing for payrises. The system is totally jammed up. Doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters and others should be treated fairly and not thrown under the bus. - edited for spell check
Go find our productivity stats. No improvement in productivity for 20 years either. As a nation our standard of living doesn't go up unless we are more productive. The guy at the BoE is telling you facts - if we award ourselves payrises without having any improvement in the output of the nation, nothing good will happen. We'll embed inflation and become even less competitive in world markets, less exports, even worse standard of living. Or put it another the people of GB can't sustainably award themselves pay rises unless the value of what we export goes up. I know you don't want to hear that but it's just the truth.
@@paullegend6798 So you're saying we must continually deliver more more more to prevent a deterioration in our living standards, whilst the richest do less less less and rake in more more more at our expense. Genius.
@@razorphone77 No that is not what I am saying. If you are making shoes, how would you increase your income. You either spend more time making shoes or you become more efficient (productive) at making them. On the scale of a whole economy - assuming we can write-off the idea we will all sign up for longer hours, the only way you will experience and improving standard of living is for the economy to become more productive (to produce more from the same resources/human labour). It's possible productivity is increasing but the richest are just accumulating all the benefits suggest. But there are plenty of economists that measure productivity and the data says the UK economy hasn't improve productivity in 20 yrs. You won't hear that from a politicians because does the public want to hear that we need to work harder or smarter to get what we want and it might take years to turn it around. They tell you what you want to hear - that the solution is easy and down to someone else. The left will tell you that "the rich stole all the money" and the right will tell you "the immigrants stole all the money" and you don't need to change or do anything. And all the while we don't have any comprehensive or cohesive industrial business strategies whatsoever. What industries are we staking our future on? How do we offset the inevitable decline of London as the financial center of the world Do you hear anyone even mention topics like that?
@@paullegend6798 understood. So what you're saying is we have failed to become more efficient. And in real terms have got left behind as a result of lack of investment in ideas/technology to make us more efficient. That would suggest we now have an unskilled workforce who are consequently being asked to carry to the tab for the fact that the rich didn't want to spend their money by reinvesting. What they would rather do is keep what they have and continue to tax the poor.
We definitely have a less skilled workforce. We are 26/27 in basic literacy and numeracy now. How do we expect to stay 5/6th biggest economy in the world with declining skill sets? I don't think it's to do with "the rich". They aren't aliens beamed down from another planet, they are just part of our society - society made them and gave them their values. They can only reflect the society they come from and our society is decadent and corrupt. Look at our national sport. It's completely fair game to dive, go down in a heap when not touched, harass and bully the ref to get decisions in your favour. Winning at all costs is the underlying mantra. The idea that how you play the game is just as important as winning consigned to history. If you can't get simple stuff like that right, how on earth would you expect to get complex and difficult issues like the correct balance of distribution of income. Just as an FYI the poor don't keep getting taxed. 95% of the tax is paid by 5% of people. The issue with tax is that those 5% aren't the richest 5% - they are the professional class on PAYE paying 60/70% of their income on tax to support EVERYONE else.
Look forward to learning the gloomy truth on a Sunday morning 😂
So true!
As Stewart Lee says in the Guardian most Sundays, these days, it is quite ghastly now. 🙂
@@huwzebediahthomas9193 whats wrong with Lee ?
Thanks, excellent video!🙌It deserves a 2nd viewing. This video prompted the obvious realisation that if govt creates money to build a hospital, we get a hospital out of it. We exchange money for a hospital. We have an asset. However, if govt creates money for rich people, we get nothing. We just get poorer.
This is where the lack of investment in this country, going back to Austerity v1.0, kicks in. Everything stagnated for the decade between 2010 - 20, so when covid happened, we were completely unprepared for an economic shock like it. This is despite enduring and prolonging the fallout from the 2008 world banking crisis, something that wasn't learned from or dealt with
And yet the media hardly talk about this issue. This should be front and centre everyday on the news.
It's because alot politicians are rich.
Media is owned by the wealthy bro lol
Who owns the media ...
Very good video explaining a phenomenon that is affecting everyone. I still find it ridiculous that economists that go on major media platforms to tell us that increasing wages of employees will cause major inflation. Let's not forget that it is the result of excess money in corporations and already wealthy individuals. Also the fact they have gotten major tax breaks in the past 20 years because they were pleading poverty when making record profits.
Hello Gary 👋🏽 I’m a teacher and it’s so difficult. Our wages have decreased by more than other workers in the public sector and our workload keeps increasing 😔
Yeah it seems it gets harder and harder to be a teacher nowadays
I've heard that the average career for newly qualified teachers is now 5 years before they leave. And that's the 30% of trainees who actually complete their training. That's right, the dropout rate for Teacher Training Courses is 70%. And nobody in Government actually cares. That's how deeply damaged and cynical our government is.
Life is tough for many employees. Not just in the public sector, not just teachers. The ethos of the job market is do more, for less
I agree
At one point it crossed my mind to become a teacher, with a desire to help others one can look past low-ish wages, but very low wages combined poor working conditions is too much.
Gary you just explained precisely my observations, the devaluation of currency is what keeps banks and investments on top of a day's pay for a days labour because the working have the pay devalued as time passes , it's an illusion we have all gotten used to and the recent scale of the operation has taken working people for mugs ...
Thanks for the hard work Gary. Keep doing what your doing!
One of the best (and only) bargaining powers we have as working class is solidarity. Unions need to be strong to be able to fight for us. Join your union as well as unite, stay educated and vote every single time you can
Everyone needs to here this it's so important
I have not received a pay raise in over 10 years, now I am suffering because of inflation... It's crazy...
Same. I worked out we've had a real terms 25% pay cut.
Dude youve taken close to a 50% pay cut, thats insane.
Great video Gary. These short, to the point explanations really bring home the reality of Tory austerity and greed
Super useful, clear thinking and a much needed voice. All the more sad that the overly poor sound makes it harder to hear and understand what's being said. I'm all for keep it real, but keep it audible too! Love the work and the message keep it going and I'm going to hit replay to pick up what I missed. Hey...good strategy!
Can't but agree. Only issue, (as covered in your other videos) how to get the ruling political class to legislate against themselves? 🤔
Keep dreaming, it has been over for a long time. Hence why they can shaft people like this.
Thank you again Gary
re vacancies - what I see happening from my experience is that - yes, there a lot of job vacancies, but these are usually for more junior roles, in many cases companies are laying off senior employees and replacing 2 senior ones with 1 junior role. Salaries are also lower for the same level of roles... i.e. not only the salaries are not increasing they are also decreasing. Also, due to the lack of job security nowadays it's almost imperative to have either multiple jobs or other side income for more peace of mind, however, this scattered 'part-timing' in addition to the main job (be it a monetized hobby, online income, etc.) doesn't usually pay much. So again - working way more, but not really getting paid much more. It feels like modern day slavery. I don't even want to start about pensions... Thanks for the video and raising awareness!
Yep, historically times of crisis are a great opportunity for business to slash jobs and re-hire people on less money. IIRC one of the less prominent outcomes of the 2008 crash was that a lot of senior male employees lost their jobs and were replaced by women on lower pay. Wages have never recovered since and it’s not hard to see why with those sort of fire and re-hire tactics at work.
Clear and concise, thank you!
Nailed the way inflation links to wages in the, very topical, strikes in the UK. This belongs in the mainstream conversation.
Look at the likes now this lad is amazing thank you Gary. ✊️👏👏
Hey Gary, love the channel. Learning how to unpick the terrible economics of our government and media is so helpful! I've a question about our corporate tax rate. Tory politicians always arguing it needs to be lower to incentivise investment. This has always jarred with me comparing ourselves to say Denmark, where corporate taxes are higher but they're richer and have plenty of businesses. Would a higher corporate tax rate here, not only increase tax revenues, but actually incentivise investment from businesses because removing the cash would get the cash taxed, so they'd more likely keep inside the business and invest it because that wouldn't be taxed. This would help increase our terrible productivity, and therefore increase wages and ultimately make us all richer? Have I understood this right?
Demystifying in simple terms, great content! Also is this why business profits and margins are still healthy, causing the stock market to continue at elevated levels, with inflation persisting so as younsay the rich are getting richer and poor getting poorer.
Thanks Gary.
Brilliant explanation Gary x
Hey Gary. Thanks for posting another insightful video. You're a blessing to us ordinary people and a true educator! I've recently had a 5% pay increase and yet still had the worst financial month to date! 😳. I've just had to arrange a £200 overdraft, just so that I can afford to travel to work and pay my remaining Direct Debits!!! It's horrendous 😔
Thank you Gary. 😎
Thank you.
Thank you 🙏
You forgot to mention the number one reason. Wages aren't going up due to huge amounts of immigration. 606k immigrants last year which is insane. Back in the 90's I worked as a despatch rider in London and earned enough to buy a house, because there was a shortage of labour, which drove wages up. There was 5 pages of job adverts every week in Motorcycle news.
As with most things in life there are two rules. One for the very rich and another one for everyone else. The inflation caused by the cash-hoarding of the rich, and corporations wanting to increase their margins, is “inevitable” (read perfectly fine). On the other hand, increasing wages in real terms is not desirable because “it will cause run away inflation”. In reality it will only reduce the margin of corporations to their historical level but the bottom line should remain the same or even increase given a higher disposable income available to the population. The thing is that they want to earn more producing less (more efficient). It’s not only that trickle-down economics never worked, it’s that nowadays the only thing trickling down is inflation. And the sad thing is that all these have been facilitated by democratically elected governments…
Can you do a video re: effect of increasing public sector pay, e.g. nurses, on inflation?
been watching your videos for the last few days. very interesting stuff. had some ideas about other videos i'd like to see: -a defense against the common negative reactions to 'tax the rich', such as claims that it will stifle the economy etc. i know you touch on it here and there but i think it needs a focused rebuttal. -an interview with someone else who is a trader now or was until very recently, to contrast your viewpoints and experiences. -featuring guests who are community organisers, sociologists etc that can talk specifics about how the change that you claim is needed could happen. -a more visual way to illustrate the things you talk about. i think i understand but graphics and other visual aids would help communicate the concepts better, make them shareable and consolidate them in people's minds.
Thank you
Gary, I'd be really interested to hear your views on (re)nationalisation of assets....
Well explained as usual and solution identified and justified
The time to join a Union is greater now then it has been in years... Trust me, I'm in a Union and we got a 16% payrise recently
Makes sense. Thanks Gary. Constructive criticism is use a word like wealthy to describe ‘the rich.’ People will switch off or use it as a trigger to put their fingers in their ears. I look forward to your videos some of your content should be taught in senior schools. Keep it up!!!
People will not learn.
@@madameblatvatsky It’s true of some people. Especially older people stuck in their ways and people who have had their brains boiled. But most people just need things explained properly with facts in my opinion.
@@marcusdaniels9717 there are lots of people explaining stuff with facts but most people are resistant. The collapse of the ecosystem and global economies has been endlessly factually explained yet very few people seem willing to digest it at all. And even the people who think they've digested it have not. How much more facts do people need to start worrying about ecocide and the consequences of that?
@@madameblatvatsky is hard to disagree with you. I have to have hope. I’m hoping people like Gary can explain things in ways where people have no choice to but to listen. Also people are wising up to the crap the right wing press peddling. Another reason to have hope is the people who like status quo are older and they will die off then the younger generation will be the voting majority.
That's surely the main lesson we need to learn. Being rich is not a virtue.
Wow! Just seen 81k subscribers, that's awesome. Thank you for being a voice for the people
Believe this is why job hopping became so popular, especially right after the lockdown.
So many working families are on top up universal credit and when companies demand cutting wages the government pays out more universal credit subsidising private companies profits. Why does the government seem happy to do this rather than insist companies pay decent wages?
Love you Gary, I greatly appreciate what you are doing, just one question that has been bugging me. You manage to present supposedly "complex" Issues in a very simple and easily digestible manner, while I do not wish to discredit your phenomenal ability to break things down. How much of this "difficulty" in the ongoing discourse on the topics you cover is due to actually complex subject matter behind it and how much is due to rich people and their think tanks deliberately investing large ammounts of their wealth into keeping their wealth by obscuring the very simple sounding solution of "tax the rich appropriately"? To me the concentration of capital has always been a very clear issue, but then again I am from a historical background not an economic one and to sum up my concerns "it seems so easy".
The heart of London city is booming. You’re spot on, was there this weekend and you would never know the cost of living crisis exists there. But I do wonder how low paid hospitality service staff afford to live within commuting distance of the city centre, in order to work there. Rich people will always exploit poor people if they’re allowed to get away with it. It’s the beast that is capitalism. Another great video Gary
Following this train of thought if there’s more job vacancies then there’s more competition for those vacancies therefore in order to attract workers employers need to increase perks or wages. Workers will leave their jobs for the better paid jobs and wages should increase. It’s a sticky market as people don’t like change and it may involve barriers to changing job like it’s further away, different hours etc. eventually workers will want to move as they can’t afford not to. This may cause individual industry crisis that can’t cope with this. What’s stopping this from happening and wages increasing? Or is it just delayed so we’ve not quite hit the point where wages have joined inflation or gone above it? I have tried to check myself but without spending more time on it and checking multiple sources before settling on a decision it’ll just be individual opinions. And statistics isn’t a qualification I have 🤷♂️
Gary, might be able to explain this but do you think that east asia/developing nations will one day outpace the West, UK/Europe? I see lots more investment in infrastructure, healthcare and just general life improvements in other parts of the developing world. Take rail fares in the UK for example, very extortionate etc but if this cost was reduced or elimiated (free rail travel) wouldnt the money be circulated to smaller businesses across the UK, rather than profits for TOC shareholders, mostly using the profits to subsidise travel in their own countries? Seems like we are stagnating because Govt is too afraid of taxing the rich (expecting to lose large businesses) and the rich do whatever they can to minimise their tax expenditure. I could be wrong on the above, therefore the general concept might apply worldwide i.e day to day people are stagnating whilst rich/govt politicians make their fortunes.
Gary you gotta find a way of synthesizing the wisdom you drop into a digestible form for kids. I wholeheartedly believe that a lot of social ills can be combatted through education. If, from a young age we fully comprehended these concepts, as opposed to grappling with them as an adult, how different could the state of affairs be? Rose-tinted perhaps, but it's worth a shot!
Thanks Gary. Do you think the unions can help to right this imbalance?
I think unions can be an important part of it, but I do think it is also important to fight the actual underlying growth in wealth inequality. We have to fight the disease and not just its symptoms.
Businesses are also subsidiesed for every worker they have. Also the more workers a company has the more political power the company owners has
Big man Gary, I've had to restructure my small business so I can run it with 1 staff member, reducing all running costs to reduce my bottom line to a minimum because I feel like this is where I can have a competitive advantage. PRICE
But you are on a hiding to nothing, because your margins are deflating. In other words, your margins will continue to fall, until you go out of business. You think you are competing in a fair contest. You're not. The only comfort in this is that you are not alone. The UK SME sector is being shredded, as the increasing costs of inputs, and the fall in demand come together as the precursor to at the very least an official recession, or at worst, an official depression. (The recession is already here, as evidenced by your margins shrinking.)
Small businesses do struggle and no right minded person expects them to pay more. It is the super wealthy who should be contributing more.
Spot on. Can you cover anything about how and why it's popularly regarded as a moral and economic evil to actually tax the rich? It's a big part of how and why we're here, elected officials and their governments began being backroom funded by these modern aristocrats, and consequently more afraid to tax them than to step on workers and middle class. Theres a majority of economists out there that still hold these Chicago school and Austrian model ideas that the government isn't allowed to do anything, especially for the population. Where all this goes is it bubbles up to he top, and the bottom gets vacuumed and the middle gets gutted. Were losing hope out here big time, and I'm worried that when the shoe finally drops (again if you consider 2008), nothing's going to change. Yet they managed to get the shift they wanted in the 70s and 80s. I don't know how we're supposed to fix this except to undo what they did and fund a thousand think tanks and pack universities and elected governments with enough people to undo all this ideological and economic damage. Then before too much longer Western countries are also going to start demographic decline and we won't be even be able to rely on markets and businesses to grow. Anyway, this stuff is so deep, fabric of our lives, the ideologies we're not allowed to question and get fed explicitly or implicitly by mainstream media as well as a lot of the popular "alternatives" (the US at least has an entire astroturfed alternative, bootlickers for the aristocrats and their order). Techno-neofeudalism, neoserdom, new aristocracy. Studying history, lately things are getting scary and it seems like there's no way out. At least not without eventually a lot of blood as things collapse and or the underclasses are suppressed somewhere.
Very helpful and interesting. Please can the sound be improved?
Nice conclusion. More clarity in the initial argument would be helpful.
Great explanation! Higher rate taxes were around 90% in UK from 1930s to 1980 - then Tory neoliberalism started the transfer of wealth - with hugely reduced higher tax rates
You’re so right Gary, thank you for bringing us this information. I hope people realise how clear the solution is and tax the richest more.
It's all about control of the people. Easiest way to do that is through money.
Yes Gary, thanks for another eye opener of a video. Let's all keep talking about inequality.
It really is as simple as that, workers need pay rises and there's plenty of money in the pot to pay for it - the only thing in the way is greed!
The advent of email alone has completely changed worker productivity… and yet? The broader population doesn’t get to reap those benefits..
Whilst I agree with the sentiment, this does not explain why some rich companies e.g. Twitter and Google have had massive layoffs, especially if labour is cheap.
🍻 Gary
Making company pensions compulsory has played a part as well as minimum wage which means companies aren't paying overtime albeit there is overtime but paid at the same rate normal hours unless you work over 48 hours a week. I'm not saying its right but its one reason why companies are reluctant to take on more staff and retain them
The thing I've always found interesting is how the people who argue that you need to look at the government's budget like a family budget, always talk about decreasing spending but never bring up increasing revenue... Matter a fact, they often proactively decrease Revenue which if you truly cared about a deficit, should be the opposite of what you're doing!🤦♂️
Apparently, due the "globalization", goods produced worldwide by low wage workers......led to lower wage levels across the civilized areas over time. And, with the introduction of robots, workers are going to lose their jobs to robots. It's already happening: for example, guards in buildings, etc., are now being replaced by guard robots. (Think Knightscope - think I got the company name right.) But....there are a few bright notes: the average American home has so much land (front and back) of their house.....they could easily grow their own food. Yet this is rarely mentioned.
Is there a way to revalue the currency? Or does it get devalued until we need 1,000,000 usd pesos for a pack of gum
With the minimum wage recent increase, it is now equal to Band 2 in the NHS. These are our HCAs, vital to run our services. We don't have enough nurses to do all the bedside care, so that isn't an option. We are struggling to recruit and retain because quite frankly there are easier jobs out there. Wages HAVE to go up .
any chance you can do a video on how the £700B was distributed? apologies if you already have!
They trot out the same trope here in Australia re wage increases feeding inflation I truly don’t understand how they can get away with arguing that being able to put bread on the table is inflationary. It’s akin to saying the only way to curb inflation is to allow people to starve. Talk about a blunt instrument.
We have had wage and productivity stagnation for decades now, the big divergence between wages and housing began in the late 90s and had clear correlation with immigration, the mechanism for that is well understood. This needs to be factored into this analysis, otherwise spot-on.
Gary - You a good lad - IDEA - why dont you seed up UK People's Banks? - No big investors - Min 10k - Max 100k - No Companies. Just people? It's news worthy if nothing else? - YNWA -
Could you cover and raise awareness of the characteristics of our Fiat Currency?
How much should the minimum wages be?
Couldn't put it better myself 👀..Good to see you on Russell Brand 😃..I not saying I was responsible for that, but I did contact him and recommended you as a guest and get the message out there.. All the best mate. Mo in North London job hunting and getting no where! 😞
Thank you. Really interesting. I would like to suggest we also think outside the box a bit with regard to public sector workers. I suspect more public-private provision of services would help workers raise their earning potential eg if there was more private healthcare in the UK, doctors and nurses would be able to sell their skills to the highest bidder. One problem for public sector workers is that there is not much of a market for their services - and why teachers, doctors and nurses in the UK are often compelled to move overseas for better pay.
As a person who has worked in public and private healthcare, I can assure the private providers are generally worse to their employees. Lower wages, less holiday, sometimes steal your wages and almost always run on skeleton crews. The quality of care is lower but the buildings are nicer and people are lured in by the nice buildings and decor. However when you're in, the care is poor because there are hardly any staff to care for you. By using fewer and less qualified staff, they can extract profit for the business for the shareholders.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Your personal experience certainly gives you an valuable perspective. However, I think it’s true that in some other parts of the world with higher levels of public-private healthcare provision eg Australia the salaries of healthcare workers do seem to be higher. My own view is that doctors and nurses in the UK are criminally undervalued (salary for a surgeon in the UK £82,000, for a surgeon in the USA £220,000). But I’m not sure that a fully state funded health service is ever going to be able to pay them what they deserve.
You are correct in that they are criminally underpaid and undervalued, however, once you introduce privatisation measures, the quality of care goes down as the privatised USA proves. Yes some staff get paid more but are usually doing the job of 2-3 people and mistakes happen which could be avoided. The healthcare becomes unaffordable for large sections of the population as shareholders have to take profit out of the enterprise and increasingly the entrepreneurship goes on in the accounting department rather than improving the quality and access to care. For example in elderly care, the buildings and individual rooms are nice, but you have to pee your pants because the lone worker can't meet all the needs of the residents. Also dehydration is a huge problem because staff have no time to assist the residents to stay hydrated. The hygiene also suffers. It is a shame that governments, financiers and the public do not appear to be able to come up with a decent system.
If the energy prices increased 300% over the last 3 years, and my salary is the same. What's my current spending power? 33%. Which means I make only 1/3 of what they paid me in 2020
It's check mate because if wages rise in real terms it will only exacerbate inflation
you should interview Robert Kilroy-Silk original lefty
I don't know what options we have left? I'm constantly worried.
Very well said but how do we fix it?
Tax the wealthiest based on the assets they own. At the moment they pay nothing or a lower rate of tax.
Tax reform, in a massive way, he talks about it in his other video’s. Recommended watch.
@@skrich9690 they put them in trusts and rent it back to themselves, how would you tax it then?
@Vincent Ruben exactly, I agree completely. The problem is though that turkeys don't vote for Christmas
@@b0b1000 Well the other thing we must do is spread the knowledge, spread class conciousness. It seems (slowly, fucking slowly) people become more receptive to these stories. Keep the earthquake story alive. That kind of stuff perhaps..
Gary: 'Why your wages aren't going up' Me: 'Cos I'm not getting paid more'
Adam Smith said in chapter 7 of the wealth of the nations that the only way workers can get what they deserve and negociate is with strong unions.
The number of vacancies posted is very misleading. So many of these are "fake jobs" which will NOT result in anyone getting hired. There are many videos on this subject.
When I was young I was taught at school the triangle of finances in 1979. Before Thatcher. Unfortunately, many people in this country missed that lesson at school. 44 years later, as I expected. FME: Free Market Economy. Goods, services and capital are now owned by rich individuals. This is what the people voted for and this is the end result. Many people fail, few people succeed. Has the system worked?🤔
Tory is very proud of its 'Crap pay , UK' policy, which it has zealously guarded since its launch in 1979. Not least as it guarantees larger handouts delivered to Tory's sacred/holy people...shareholders.. ' We do the work, shareholders get paid for it ' (since the mid 1970s ) unless you happen to live in a (still) civilized nation, one in which the huge increase in the productivity of working folks, seen over the past 50 years, has seen their pay rates rise to reflect most of that rise in productivity/profits (Australia and NZ are both examples of such a nation) The UK and USA governments meanwhile have cleverly engineered things such that ALL of the increase in profits arising from the same increases in productivity having been experienced by their respective workforces have instead been gifted entirely to shareholders. That's 50 years (and still counting) of wage rises (resulting from people's ever rising productivity/profitability at work) , quietly transferred into the hands of a wealthy few ...transferred by the very people elected to work in the best interests of the electorate,/nation as a whole ! Little wonder " the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer" when the state's 'power' views its legitimate, mandated role as including such tasks as facilitating a 50 year, multi trillion dollar transfer of working folks hard earned wealth directly into the pockets of the wealthiest few percent of people on Earth ! Such is the utter contempt that 'power' can seemingly have for those subordinate to it, should it suddenly find itself conferred upon a person with a weak and/or foolish mind.
You have to wonder what the breaking point will be. This political-economic system is not fit for purpose. Unfortunately, it's always been that way.
Mic is not working
As a simple fix could government increase minimum wage to (say) £13 an hour and increase the lower income tax threshold so the poorest keep more of their own money. Would this help fix the problem as part of a plan to increase tax revenue whilst improving the cost of living? We might then have enough money for public service pay rises.
I'm all for that but aren't you increasing government spending to do that? There must be corresponding increases in taxation on the assets of the wealthiest to balance the books.
@@skrich9690 Rich people don’t own assets you fool! They don’t own anything, that’s why they pay so little tax! They use corporate vehicles and trust companies to hold assets so they aren’t in their name.
There is more to it - Wages are going up at 5/6% as workers, even unskilled worked are in shorter supply. They won't go up by inflation because a large element of inflation has been caused by supply side shocks that have put up the prices of stuff we import - namely energy, food and basic commodities. Our standard of living in the UK won't go up when the price of everything we import is going up - but the price of everything we export (mainly services) isn't changing. Not sure you can really morph that into the "the rich did it" narrative this time. Love your vids though.
Income Tax could be removed for anyone earning less than £500,000 a year. (five hundred thousand). This money would give workers an instant take home pay rise and would circulate in the economy . This money already exists as the Government take this money from workers, it is not new money. This tax money would be replaced by taxes on wealth for the very rich and super rich. People who earn money, maybe over £30k to £70k a year, think they have an interest in the economy and it is to their advantage (perceived self interest) to keep the status quo. To get these people to see their true position, eliminating Income Tax and showing how the replacement of their earnings by taxes on the very rich and super rich would work. Any opposition party that proposed this policy would appeal to more people than it would not appeal to. We have the power at the ballot box to change the economy. As a famous politician said, ' the way to get governments to do what you want is not to vote for them'.
Who’s the guy you sit opposite?