£1,600 less benefits if your job goes - while super-rich splash cash

photo Dan Moyle/CC (Click to enlarge)

Households suffering unemployment during the pandemic will get £1,600 per year less in benefits than in 2011. Families with kids will have been robbed of £2,900 due to Tory benefit cuts, reports the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

And bosses could use Covid-19 to throw over a million more workers on the scrapheap, according to Bank of England projections. May estimates foresaw official unemployment doubling to 8% this summer, approaching the 2010 peak after the Great Recession.

Never mind paying down our debts, or even going on a modest holiday. How are working-class people even to keep up with racketeering rent and utility costs, on top of a killer virus?

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that "a new item has been added to the wish list of ultra-wealthy homeowners: their own private hospital."

One super-rich house buyer specified on-site quarters for not one, but two full-time registered nurses (in case one gets sick). Buying agent Mark Lawson commented that "if you're spending £10 million or more, you'd expect it to come with large grounds and a few small cottages" to fit out and staff a personal clinic!

And there are no cancelled trips away for the super-rich! Shy Aviation, a private jet firm, reports a 300% rise in new client bookings compared to last year. Some are even "booking 13-seat aircrafts for one person, and they're running at £8,000 an hour." Private Islands Inc reports a 30% growth in enquiries about private islands.

Fight for a decent job, a living wage and living benefits for all. Take the wealth off the 1%. Nationalise the banks and big business - and turn them from cash siphons into planned providers for all.

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Coronavirus crisis - Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
Our 'fighting coronavirus workers' charter', outlines a programme to combat the virus and protect workers' living conditions.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.