Misleading Conservative Propanganda: WE Are Not Better Off

News broke on the 25th July that we in Britain are out of the dip caused by the recession. Surely this is reason to celebrate, for now we will all be prospering in comparison to the recent austerity years, we have all been saved from perpetual poverty by the Conservatives attacks on the poor, have we not? Well no, not at all. The news was that the economy is now 0.2% higher than before the banking crisis in 2008. On the surface that seems straight forward enough, we have recovered considerably. That is exactly what the Tories want us all to believe, they want us to believe that they are our saviours, that we should continue to accept their Draconian economic recovery plan, that we should just trust the establishment they represent. It is all nonsense. The GDP figures, despite the Tory propaganda claiming otherwise, do not tell the whole story.

Per person the economy is nowhere near the pre-crisis levels, it is quite obvious if you just think about it for a second. A 0.2% rise above the pre-crisis peak spread out amongst the pre-2008 population and the considerable number of new UK residents does not equal a growth per head, irrespective of how hard you try to make it look like it does. The celebrations from people on the right (wrong) side of politics to this news just shows how deceitful they are prepared to be to flog their brand of nonsense to the public, especially as we enter the countdown to the next general election.

The fallacy that we are in a better position now is further undermined if you just look at what the strongest sector is, the only sector to show real growth, and what typifies the nature of the work in that sector. The service sector makes up by far the biggest part of the UK economy, it accounts for around 80% of all jobs in the UK. That alone does not mean much, but when it is dominated by a low-paid workforce it paints a picture the government does not want you to see. One where minimum wage jobs are (to an extent) abundant and everyone in work is barely scraping by, unsurprisingly to the delight of the Tory parties wealthy clientèle. The same ones who own the companies, have received huge tax cuts, and experienced mountains of preferential treatment from the millionaires club located within Westminster. They are the only people celebrating this news, they are once again (as if it ever stopped) raking it in.

Afterall, everyone else in this country has either lost their jobs, or seen pay freezes/cuts/negligible increases (delete as appropriate). All whilst inflation has continued to rip chunks of hard earned pay from our wallets to be used solely on the essentials. Forget those little things that make life bearable, a meal out, a holiday, an ice-cream on a hot day. It has become all about the staycations, the bargain bucket, and bottles of frozen squash for the rest of us.