Martin Watson

For those sick and tired of Thatcherite (neoliberal) fantasies about us all being 'better off these days', here are a few indisputable facts. I'll keep this as short and simple as possible - sorry about the 'averages', but there's a brief disaggregation below. In the 1970s, despite the supply-driven stagflation, ordinary people had far more disposable income compared to their living costs. House prices were about 4 times the average yearly wage. Whole families could be raised on one wage while wages tracked - tracked, not caused - inflation. Employment was high and the welfare safety net and public services were robust. Benefits were closer to the average wage and covered all basic living costs. Food banks were virtually non-existent. Overall, our society was robust enough to cushion the income-shock. 46 years of Thatcherism implemented by all parties led us by the nose into global neoliberalism's financial crisis in 2008. Our financialised, deindustrialised, hollowed-out societies were kept bobbling around on an air cushion of mounting private debt that eventually, for too many people, became unpayable. The bonuses of bankers who caused this disaster were hardly affected, which prompted some critics to say this is just the system working normally. What the rest of us got, post-crash austerity, has led us into a disastrous situation. The current cost of living and asset crises have left people with an average 5.4% drop in disposable income, the steepest decline on the record that began in the post-war austerity of the 1950s. The bottom percentile lost 10% of their purchasing power. House prices were inflated from the 1980s, due mainly to irresponsible lending. Average mortgages and rents are 8 times yearly salaries. Real wages have been stagnant following the 2008 crisis while de-unionisation and weak contracts have all but collapsed wage bargaining. Most young people are locked out of inflated asset wealth and lifetime earning potential - the first modern cohort to be in that unenviable position. Older generations have benefitted from asset inflation while wealthier households have been insulated. If we disaggregate this simply, the young and the poor have been hit catastrophically. 22% of the population are in deep, objectively calculated poverty. 29% of children live in relative poverty. Many locales are virtually derelict. Food banks are handing out 3 million parcels per annum. Work in the 'gig economy' is precarious and unreliable. Universal credit is historically low compared to living costs. High energy, food and housing prices and a severely weakened welfare state, which today's ghoulish politicians want to weaken further, have created severe hardship amongst the lowest income decile, way worse than the 1970s. This is a highly unstable, politically volatile situation, as we have seen with the return of national populism. Neoliberalism has been a disaster. Anyone who disputes this is fantasising or deliberately lying.