Tom CravenThe Working Poor
May 26th 2008 11:01
Too often in our capitalistic society we hear the common upper class phrase “poor people should just work harder”, every time this horrendous muttering is spoken we as a society suffer as a result. It is not just about working harder, being poor does not mean you are lazy. Being poor means that our society has gone past you, its means that you have been disenfranchised by a society filled with a greedy and selfish nature. If this is news to you, and you still subjectively believe that ‘poor people should just work harder’, read these stories, with an objective mind.
It may comes as news to you but in the 1890’s, Australia suffered one of its worse economic recessions. Every single bank in Australia closed down and ceased to exist along with the money in its over filling coffers. Imagine if that happened today, if Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ closed down along with your money. Imagine the rebellion and imagine the poverty. A man named James Butlin was 65 at the times of the collapse he built himself a fortune out of fruit selling and was retired. He was living his ‘golden years’ with wealth and affluence. But when the banks collapsed his money vanished, with no money or savings he could not afford to live. He was forced to sell his house. James at the age of 65 had to work the same job as he did when he was 13, shearing sheep. He went from the squatocracy to someone living on the street, shearing the occasional sheep, begging for money for survival. This is capitalism, this is our country.
In 2008, interest rates raised again for the tenth consecutive time. Tony Butlin, James’ great grandson works as a tire fitter, he is a member of the union. With the tenth rise, the house is repossessed by the banks, the locks are changed. He lives in his car, traveling the streets of suburbia hiding from the local ranger who will tell him to move on. He could be me, he could be you. This is capitalism, this is our country.
Many of us who work hard are rewarded, but in fact of the 100% that work hard only 2% control 50% of all the wealth. The rest of us that’s 98% are left to fight for the other 50%. How is that fair? We all work hard, and our reward is a dogfight till the death, trying to get our grubby hands on just a small slice of the wealth. And it’s going to get a whole lot worse, with the economic recession closing on us, more repossessions seem likely, more poverty seems likely. We need to band together, we know we work hard, we know we ALL work hard. Lets get our share, lets spread the wealth. Let 2% control 2% of the wealth, lets bring in the democratic socialisation of industry and banks. Lets fix this bloody country.
It may comes as news to you but in the 1890’s, Australia suffered one of its worse economic recessions. Every single bank in Australia closed down and ceased to exist along with the money in its over filling coffers. Imagine if that happened today, if Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ closed down along with your money. Imagine the rebellion and imagine the poverty. A man named James Butlin was 65 at the times of the collapse he built himself a fortune out of fruit selling and was retired. He was living his ‘golden years’ with wealth and affluence. But when the banks collapsed his money vanished, with no money or savings he could not afford to live. He was forced to sell his house. James at the age of 65 had to work the same job as he did when he was 13, shearing sheep. He went from the squatocracy to someone living on the street, shearing the occasional sheep, begging for money for survival. This is capitalism, this is our country.
In 2008, interest rates raised again for the tenth consecutive time. Tony Butlin, James’ great grandson works as a tire fitter, he is a member of the union. With the tenth rise, the house is repossessed by the banks, the locks are changed. He lives in his car, traveling the streets of suburbia hiding from the local ranger who will tell him to move on. He could be me, he could be you. This is capitalism, this is our country.
Many of us who work hard are rewarded, but in fact of the 100% that work hard only 2% control 50% of all the wealth. The rest of us that’s 98% are left to fight for the other 50%. How is that fair? We all work hard, and our reward is a dogfight till the death, trying to get our grubby hands on just a small slice of the wealth. And it’s going to get a whole lot worse, with the economic recession closing on us, more repossessions seem likely, more poverty seems likely. We need to band together, we know we work hard, we know we ALL work hard. Lets get our share, lets spread the wealth. Let 2% control 2% of the wealth, lets bring in the democratic socialisation of industry and banks. Lets fix this bloody country.
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