John McDonnell, the new Labour Shadow Chancellor, is right in backing the idea of “living within our means”. Delivering a surplus in current (not investment) expenditure is for a majority of people in this country a sensible thing to do nowadays.
However, committing to a policy of no-deficit should not mean an acceptance of the current ideological and cognitive framework of “Austerity“, which presents us with a political path in which reduction of public expenditure and poverty are the default options.
In order to challenge Austerity, the idea of “Living within our means” should be used to turn the focus on what those means are, where they are and whose they are, shifting the public debate to the revenue side of the fiscal equation. The evasiveness of wealth, which often implies that we do not know who the real owners of the moneys are or whether the moneys are legitimate, has to be blamed for the cutbacks, the struggles with the public debt and the rampant deficit.
McDonnell should commission a team of advisors dedicated exclusively to explore the archives of Private Eye and beef up the public debate, in Parliament, the Media etc, about tax evasion and corporate-government corruption.
Britain cannot continue to be nurturing and protecting her parasitical network of fiscal and financial pirates. The links between government, the state, its territories and the dodgy wealth need to be exposed on a daily basis and linked to specific policy proposals by Labour. The trickle down theory and the corporate / wealth relocation myth must be challenged actively. This is the territory where Labour can deliver the necessary punches to bring down the Tory regime, dignify our economy and make the real scroungers pay their share.
Picture from mydavidcameron.com
Arte & Ideas 