The Cavernous Recession and Two Trillion Debt
Hey good people of Great Britain, the pandemic has changed the world and forced our ways onto a different path, numbers and statistics continue to change like the weather, and thousands have lost their jobs. The mainstream media have been pumping fear into the atmosphere like never before. Honest hard-working people of Britain, keep your chins up stay strong, we as humans are more resilient than we think, keep going. The news recently has been talking a lot about kids going back to school, it’s safe we promise, returning to universities could cause a second wave, but thousands of shopper’s shoulder to shoulder, eating mask-less will not. A piece of key news for the country was recently released about the deep recession we have recently dived into, (I wrote an article just at the start of COVID explaining that we were already on the brink of this and that the virus would be the catalyst, as it is periodically throughout history.) Why is the recession and our countries debt not being shown as much as it should, who knows? I first came across the news on the economic times' website, a very short and boring write up for such a big deal, I sat pondering for a while, we all pay our taxes and spent nearly 1.4 trillion on consuming, so why is there so much debt?
The issue of funding or lack thereof came to light for me personally around 2017, not long after leaving the armed forces. Soldiers have their butts wiped, financially speaking, no matter of our age, so I never paid any mind to council tax. One day I was quite concerned by a breakdown letter of what we were paying it for, so I gave the council a call to see what it was all about. After they had fed me the spiel… it’s for schools, it’s for adult social care, I replied, that’s funny they are all underfunded, failing sectors, to that end they couldn’t answer any more of my questions. I started to investigate and to my horror found that around the time Theresa May was in power, councils began investing pension funds into a company called BAE. This company makes 5.56 and 7.62 rounds, mortars, warheads and combat vehicles, the total investment was in the region of 700 million, BAE sold 15 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia to turn over Yemen.
Yemen destroyed by BAE sold arms.
Reports show 100,000 people have died including 85,000 to famine, that’s about the same as the united states’ Corona death rate. So, thank you councils of the UK for the investment of so much death using Hard workers’ pensions, who you are currently failing. I hope the investment has paid off for you. Now to the interesting part, the biggest shareholder in BAE systems is no other than a capital group of which Philip May, Theresa May’s husband, is a senior executive. The capital group have a 1 trillion-pound investment pool, and they are large shareholders in Amazon, who aren’t very good at paying tax in the UK, yet we as a nation spend millions there. That is a large chunk of cash that could be going to our struggling services.
This is but a good time now to inform you of the cost of recent wars and ongoing wars, super-profitable business to go into, for an already super profitable business, paid dearly by us the taxpayers, who funnily enough, patriotically give our lives to fight the fight, while fat cats fill their pockets. The Afghanistan war has cost Britain alone 37 billion pounds and still could rise to around 40 billion, and news which has been released very recently, reports that the Taliban control more territory than they did when the U.S initially invaded. This invasion crossed over from the Iraq war (the invasion was on a hunch, on that alone it was illegal, never mind all the other technicalities) which cost over 8.4 billion between 2003 and 2009. Hell, of a lot of income for aforementioned BAE.
Onto my next miss-funding issue, HS2 the new rail service, which is basically, at the moment a construction site which needs more funding. What a surprise, we were tricked into giving it the go-ahead with an initial cost of, wait for it… 56 billion, figures have now been leaked that it will be rising to 106 billion, while technically nothing is being done, but don’t worry good tax-paying people, this railway will zip you up and down the country to work harder and further from your homes than ever before. At the minute, the rail service that is provided is struggling and the high cost of train fares is increasing even more. Great!
Now onto the next topic of taxpayer’s money, the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace which cost the taxpayer 369 million, and the images to justify this, as shown by BBC news were ridiculous:
Oh my, how shocking. People in Britain live in houses all year round in dangerous conditions, yet councils haven’t got the funding, ironically, they can still invest in billion-dollar companies, that ruin lives around the world. This refurbishment, skimmed off does not include the royal family’s annual take from the taxpayer which in 2019 was 67 million, the year before that was 47 million, on top of this, a few years back, they needed… I mean wanted 10 million to refurbish that horrible looking gold carriage. This is the family who has multimillion-pound businesses and ventures and do not pay a penny in tax, this is shocking, but makes me laugh how much they take the mickey and ensure us that they bring in more money from tourism than they cost. It can’t be that much surely, people only swing by these ostentatious buildings, they don’t spend all day there, and if it is that much, why are we in so much debt? The wool has truly been pulled over our eyes.
My next issue is overseas aid, I have no issue at all with helping those in need, as this is something I strive to do personally, but when 13.4 billion was sent overseas in 2016 and the likes of these corporate charities like children in need raised 47 million, water aid’s income was 113 million in 2019 yet there is still mass suffering in the worst of countries, is ludicrous. Of the top three countries we sent aid to, two are countries that we have obliterated by war and are still suffering the aftermath, yet the third country on the list have a high income and one of the highest life expectancies worldwide, they are also reported to have an extremely high development index. Read between the lines folks and make of it what you like.
In summary, our country is now in a recession and two trillion in debt, we have failing health care and adult social care, plus a schooling system that is failing our children. We have unmaintained roads and communities have invested endless amounts of money in unjust wars. Where has all the money gone? We as a nation need to start asking these questions, if we don’t, it’s only going to get worse. To that end people, and in my humble opinion, the country is full of soul-less embezzlers and liars, who only care for those at the top and their own personal interest.
Thank you for reading folks, I hope this has shone a little light on our fudged finances, the mass amount of wasted money and immoral investments, or like a harry Houdini… disappeared. Be kind to everyone and love, don’t be distracted by petty differences, stick together and start shouting!
Love and Peace
Ellis Unchained
A poem to Lighten the Mood:
Warble and Proceed to Move
Singing as the tiny bird is heard, a chirp of a verse,
Difference is none from the onyx bird.
The crow’s bellowing is heard.
Sounds born are bound to be caught by the receiver.
Journeys through molecules, no reverse,
Creations are of no concern.
Singing releases emotion notes bouncing off bones,
Jump, dance, waltz, be free, go loco.
Please magical traditions reform.
Sound, can you hear it? Close your eyes, you feel it,
Always be ready to perform fun and joy,
Use little effort to conform.
Work of Unchained Wisdom ©2020
