Commander Jameson wrote:Eighthours wrote:Ookami wrote:I feel minimum wage isn’t helping the poorest families because I’m in a poor family surrounded by other, poorer families; I can see for myself that it is too low because I know the problems they face, with bills and payments and all that, whether they have a breadwinner or make do with benefits.
Trouble is, if it gets raised significantly then more people will be unemployed or prices will have to be raised. Neither scenario would be good for poorer families either. Unfortunately, the answer is for the lower paid to acquire the skills and experience to become better paid. I know that's far easier to write down than actually do, and Government could certainly assist more in this than they are at the moment, but there is an element of personal responsibility here.
There are plenty of people out there with skills and experience, but who are unable to find work - I'm one of them. The problem is that the longer you are unemployed, the less employable you become. To take an example of my home region, we had plenty of skilled workers in the steel, coal and ship building industries. These industries were destroyed not for any valid economic reasons (the nations now in the forefront of these commodities heavily subsidise their own industries), but because a certain party wanted to destroy the unions, and the people who live in these areas are natural Labour voters.
Essentially, we are paying the price for Thatcherite policies in the 80's, and its simply restitution for previous bad decisions.
Arthur Scargill had a rather large role in the destruction of unions too don't forget, and the economic reasons for the reduction in the coal industry are fairly clear - power generation moved inextricably away from coal to gas & oil after North Sea Oil came on stream. Steel is a little less clear, as Britain still produces some of the best in the world, but for sheer mass production we cannot compete. The whole UK economy has moved away heavy industry, mainly due to overseas competition. Globalisation and the advent of the huge container ships moving goods extremely cheaply changed the world economy by an amazing extent, this is oft forgotten.
Just blaming the Conservatives for making some very difficult choices is quite immature. Yes, they did not want to make the same mistakes as Heath as that did bring the country to a virtual stand still, thanks to the Unions, but that doesn't mean they were out to spit in the face of the 'working class' as you seem to be suggesting.