Socialist Appeal - Rich get richer in austerity Britain

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Rich get richer in austerity Britain

By Steve Jones
Monday, 06 June 2011
It would be remiss of us not to mention this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, which was published during April. The opening article is headed ‘Wealth goes through the roof.’ It starts with the blurb: ‘While Britons feel the pain of spending cuts, high-rollers march onwards and upwards…’ What! Didn’t the government just tell us that We Are All In This Together? Well it seems not. The so-called super-rich have missed out on the age of austerity which they caused in the first place. Their wealth has risen by 18% collectively over the last year. The top 1,000 richest people in the UK have between them more than £60.2 billion extra in their pockets since the last survey 12 months ago. Hedge Fund Managers (that’s rip off merchants to you and me) now account for 5.5% of this motley crew, an all-time record. Sterling billionaires have risen in number from 53 to 73. At the very top, the owners of Wal-Mart, the Walton family, now have a massive £56.2 billion quid to play with. Is this good run for the rich just a UK thing? No, the combined wealth of the world’s top 50 richest people has shot up by £88.3 billion (11.7%) to a staggering £843.7 billion. This rise in wealth has been assisted by a cutting back on donations to charitable causes. Donations from the top 100 richest people have fallen by a combined £818 million, which represents a drop of 33% This is explained, we are told, by the 37% drop in wealth which happened in the wake of the recession in 2008. In other words they passed their losses directly onto the poor and needy. What about the Royal Family? Well they have had to splash out recently on a big wedding – well actually no, the state picked up nearly all of that bill – but they still have £300 million in the kitty, up by 3%. This is a better deal than many public sector workers are now to get.

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SUMMER SCHOOL 2012

ULU Marxists, Socialist Appeal and www.marxist.com are proud to announce the 2nd Marxist Summer School: Prospects for the World Revolution, this June 15-17. Join us for a packed weekend of discussion and debate on what relevance the theory and programme of the Marxists has in this epoch of world revolution.

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