Rant

[be-bop]

Today I was out shopping, usual nonsense for a Saturday and in my local Supermarket I noticed there were charity workers at the front foyer of the shop and on going in I was stopped by one worker who explained what was going on.
The were asking that if you could spare it could you buy an extra item and donate it to their collection as they were making up food parcels to give away to people who are referred to the local food banks, they wanted mainly tinned stuff, so I bought a couple of tins of stuff and donated them.
It was only when I was going back to the car that I started to think about what had actually happened there, so being a nosey bugger I went back and spoke to the guy who seemed to be in charge and asked about the increase in the number of food banks, who uses them and how they seem to be more and more in the media and what he told me actually shocked me.
He explained more and more it's people who are in employment but because of low wages, Social benefit changes,benefit cuts and the general increase of what he called "The working Poor" that food banks are becoming an essential part of life for many people, to say he opened my eye's was an understatement and driving home I got got more and more angry as i thought about it.
There was a recent spat in the press when Lord Freud the welfare reform minister for the government stated that more people were using them because more of them existed. and they were not even part of the welfare system, he also implied that people used them because free food is by definition a free good? whatever the fuck that means.
The point where his argument falls down is that you don't go there by choice you have to be referred and you have to have bugger all before you get food also you are limited to the amount of time you get helped, doing a bit research it seems that in the last 18 months over 500,000 UK residents have had to be helped using food banks.
This is where my anger starts to get to boiling point when government ministers try to deny what's happening Lord Freud is a multi millionare BTW who retired from investment banking at 53 and went into politics because he was bored.
What the hell is happening in this country where people are working but they can't afford to feed their families, I also noticed our lords and masters in the government are trying to soften us up because the want a rise in their salary of around £10.000 per year, "were all in it together" I don't bloody think so, politicians are just greedy to the core and if they do get this amount I hope there's riots in the streets.
What I learned today made me even more determined to vote and promote for Scottish independance next year and get out of the shit hole "Great Britain" has become under the Tories and Lib Dems.

[ZenGum]

Good. You should be angry about this.

Go reread the history of the French Revolution. It started with a debt crisis caused by the corrupt government taxing the poor to subsidise the rich.

Then go skim through Marx and think about which bits were right.

If you like, read Fukuyama's The Triumph of Liberal Democracy and the End of History. And laugh your arse off at what a blind twit he is.

You might want to confer with Dana, see if she has any street-fighting tips or revolutionary strategies to share.

Don't expect quick improvements, though. Revolutions are generally destructive, at least initially. And then the bastards usually find a way to squirm back into power.

[limey]

How do you know the Scottish politicians will be any better? I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but, so far as I can see ... "Power corrupts ...".

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by be-bop

....He explained more and more it's people who are in employment but because of low wages, Social benefit changes,benefit cuts and the general increase of what he called "The working Poor"....

People who work for WALMART.

[Sundae]

When I had my complete meltdown a few years back, and moved back home to my parents, I had to go through the system in order to claim benefits. All well and good, would the Daily Mail readers say, don't give out money willy-nilly. Oh check she's white and British while you're at it.

But it was something like six weeks if I remember correctly, before I received a penny.
I was lucky, I was living with family.
But it put a serious strain on someone (me) who already had mental health issues. Add that to the fact I couldn't register for a GP without photo ID, which was all in the right name but at the wrong address, and I was flopping about like a fish in the bottom of a boat.

I had to borrow, borrow, borrow from the 'rents.
Why?
Because it costs to get a change of address. And in the end you still need hygiene products, your cat needs food, you need to use the phone your monkey needs spanking etc etc.
I ended up on the phone begging for what they used to call a Crisis Loan. LOAN. And was subjected to exceptionally personal questions including why couldn't my parents share meals with me? Even if they were eating ready-meals, couldn't they leave a little on their plates? A few months after that the right wing press published stories about families who used Crisis Loans to take their families on holidays abroad...

Still, the Tories have sorted that all out.
This time round there are no Crisis Loans.
Just a Hardship Fund. And I was ineligible because I don't have any children.
So I had to borrow, borrow, borrow.
I've been very careful recently to do more than is called for around the house. Because the 'rents provide the electricity and the internet access that allow me to come to the Cellar. And it's Dwellars this time who have seen me through.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

People who work for WALMART.

Because that's where people shop.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by be-bop

Today I was out shopping...

That was a good rant.