(In addition to the address below, I can
be contacted at www.justiceforpensioners.com)
June 2006 -
Pensions and prices.
I write in response to your article:
"Pensions fail to keep up with prices" - (Examiner
June 6 2006). It is at last
comforting to know that one MHK (Bill Henderson) now recognises this
fact. It has of course been known for many years by many of your
readers, including myself, who have contributed to these columns.
It is not my intention to bore anyone by
lengthy restatement of what I have said before. Let me simply say
that today's pensioners are victims of false government inflation
figures on which pension rises are based, and which do not reflect
expenditure by low income households, who spend a larger
proportion on fuel and rates that increase rapidly, and less on new
gadgets like DVD players and digital cameras, that fall rapidly in
price
after their introduction. Pensioners, not having the benefit of a
heated workplace, also have to spend more on home heating.
During the last sixty years, the prices of
many essential items have increased by a hundredfold, which corresponds
to an average annual inflation of eight percent. A pre-war
pound is now worth only one new penny. For houses, the annual
inflation figure is closer to eleven percent. The government
figures of around two or three percent are beyond any
rational belief. They just give an excuse for holding
down pensions.
The relentless increase in the cost of
fuel, water and domestic rates, at many times that of pensions, will
result in these items alone soon consuming the whole of one's pension,
leaving nothing to spend on anything else. This is a
mathematical fact if nothing is done to intervene. In the face of
the poverty that must result from this, our MHKs in general seem to
just bury their heads in the sand. Where is the "freedom to
flourish" when Half the population could be on income support?
Who would want to invest in an island with a benefit culture?
To bring an element of common sense and
justice into our government, could I suggest a "second chamber" chosen
at random like a jury from across the population, and spanning all age
and income groups. Our present MHKs seem so protected by their
high salaries and assured pensions, that they have no conception of how
the rest of us have to struggle.
May
2006 =- Freedom to Flourish / perish.
"Freedom to Flourish". For whom I
wonder - perhaps our new tax-capped millionaires? Certainly
not our pensioners, who face record fuel price rises and uncapped rates
bills. For them it is more likely to be: "Freedom to Perish".
April 2006 - MHKs' pay rise and other incomes.
Why all the fuss about MHK's pay? A
quick calculation shows their increase to be very close to 8%,
just about in line with inflation. Real inflation that is, not
the figure of two-point-something regularly trotted out by by both the
UK and Manx governments, to hold down wages, pensions and benefits.
It is a pity that the generosity of
our MHK's does not extend to the rest of us, with an 8% rise in
all incomes, not just their own. After the swingeing
increases in fuel costs, that threaten to completely
consume the state pension in a short time, can any sane person
really believe that inflation is running at between 2 and 3%?
I have just done some more quick
calculations. My household's fuel bills during the last six
months total £1,461. That is for gas electricity and solid
fuel. Over the same length of time,
this represents
69% of the state pension, 47% of the state pension with Manx
supplement, and 27% of the minimum wage for a 40 hour week.
Do we, or do we not, have a fuel
cost crisis?
March 2006 - Allan
Bell, Spin doctoring and Working Lunch programme.
Did anyone see the recent BBC2 "Working
Lunch" programme about the Isle of Man, or read the corresponding
webpage?
This latter document seems to be a record
piece of spin doctoring by Allan Bell, who describes the Island as an
economic miracle. Where is the economic miracle, where
thousands of pensioners live in fear of the next inflation busting bill
for electricity, gas, water or rates? With pensions tied to a
fictitious inflation figure between 2 and 3 percent, fuel prices rising
at 17%, water at 12%, and council rates at 7%, we see a bleak future of
extreme poverty for many. Is our economy out of control?
"A welfare state funded at the same rate
as the UK"? Yes, and in the same state of crisis, with the same
lack of dentists. Mr. Bell says: "OUR pensioners get 50%
more than in Britain. This leaves many of us who are not HIS
pensioners, and do not even receive the heating allowance they would in
Britain.
There is much trumpeting about online
gaming. Is this something to be proud of? Gambling can be
as destructive and addictive as drink or drugs. The mention of
millionaires' yachts simply rubs home the the expanding gap between
rich and poor, now made worse by the new millionaire tax capping.
It is the poor who will pay for it.
An economic miracle? Well no, some
of us think we are in a bit of a mess, and look forward to the next
general election.
Come on Mr. Bell, pay us all a decent
pension, with a regularly updated fuel allowance, and we might not
shout so loud.
March 2006 -
Robbing poor to pay rich
For the wealthy, all income over
£100,000 is now to be tax free *.
This really is rubbing
salt into the wounds of pensioners, now facing their biggest ever hike
in the cost of keeping warm.
Not even the "Iron Lady"
herself could get such extreme right-wing legislation through
parliament. Robbing the poor to pay the rich is an
understatement. The tax shortfall will have to be met from
somewhere, and my guess is that pensions will be the first target by
their continued failure to keep up with the true cost of living.
Since the latest fuel price rises, more
people must realise, that government inflation figures are far from the
truth. While such items as food and clothing have stayed
within reasonable bounds, the unavoidable costs of fuel, water and
council rates have galloped away at many times the so called inflation
rate. There will be no justice until
we have restored the link between pensions and earnings, and found a
fair alternative to the rates. We are still denied the
winter fuel allowance as paid in the UK. Why?
I invite pensioners to test their memories
on what prices used to be, and (perhaps with the aid of their
grandchildren to download it), use the chart to get the
true inflation rates.
For example. 60 years ago,
electricity was a ha'penny a unit, and now approaching 12p, or nearly
half-a-crown in old money. An increase of nearly 60 times, or
from the chart, an average annual inflation rate of 7%.
Try it with houses. Divide the price
at which you sold a house by the price at which you bought it.
Refer to the chart with the years between, and you have the inflation
rate. Try it with any prices you remember.
I shall be pleased to receive any
feedback, either at the address below, or via the Justice for
Pensioners website.
(* This was an error due to
misunderstanding. The £100,000 in fact refers to the
maximum tax paid in a year. Apologies for this).
February
2006 - Younger ideas in Tynwald.
On reading about votes for 16 year olds,
my first reaction was that it was a cunning plot by the government
to dilute the pensioner vote, which they must now fear. Then I thought again. Why not go further, and allow
16 year olds to stand as members of the House of Keys?
At this tender age, there could
be less chance of their social and moral values having
been contaminated by the corruption and greed of business and
politics. A chance perhaps to save the environment, close
the
gap between rich and poor, ensure winter warmth for pensioners and
health care without waiting lists. Just a matter of sharing what
we have instead of fighting over it. The common good taking
precedence over the bottom line of profit.
With the benefit of younger ideas and
forward vision, we might now be enjoying some of the following:-
Cheap electricity from winds and tides, without dependence on
world markets. A full digital broadcasting service from the
BBC. Free discussion of local topics on local radio - as enjoyed
by most of Britain. Equal treatment of pensioners, and no
withholding of the winter fuel payment. A fair income-based local
government tax replacing the archaic rating system that eats up
pensions. And with our road deaths at my last count over 3 times
(proportionally) that of the UK, some agreement on a speed limit.
There are few social problems that would
not be solved by more equal distribution of wealth. A few years
back, our government cut the top rate of income tax by 2%. We are
now seeing the result in health service cuts, and massive increases in
rates bills. For a government to suggest a cap on income tax when
it is short of money is utterly ludicrous. Just who will make up
the shortfall?
Some wild ideas perhaps, but possibly
scope for discussion. What do you think?
January 2006 - Fuel costs overtaking
pensions.
Four years ago, when the IOM Pensioners
Association was formed, the main controversial issues were the denial,
to pensioners from the UK, of the winter heating allowance and the
highly discriminatory Manx pension supplement. No one needs
reminding how things have changed, and pensions have now become
everyone's concern.
That in itself is one major crisis.
Fuel prices have become another. Put the two together and we have
an unprecedented super crisis, of which our government still
seems oblivious.
The accompanying chart shows at a glance
how fuel costs alone are now rapidly eating up pensions.
Taking the government's own figures of 17.6% inflation for heating and
lighting costs, and 2.7% for the next pension increase, the chart shows
how these values will grow if both rates are sustained. Some
thought was given to choosing the typical low income values of
£5,000 annual pension and £1,000 annual fuel costs.
However, whatever values are chosen, the principle is the same, of a
steeply rising cost curve overtaking a slowly rising income
curve. In this, case the pension is completely extinguished by
the rising fuel cost after 12 years.
The position is really worse than it
looks. The reducing amount of remaining pension is further
reduced in spending power by inflation, not just at 2.7 % but something
more real. Those who remember electricity at a ha'penny a
unit, a hundredweight of coal or a gallon of petrol for little
more than a shilling, and fares at a penny a mile, will know what I
mean. Some of us remember our arithmetic too, and are not totally
confused by going decimal and metric. Long term inflation since
World War Two has been at about 8% for most things, and 11% for
houses. This makes nonsense of the usual government figure of
"two point something".
It is even worse still when we add the
effects of the steeply rising costs of water and domestic
rates. The proposed property revaluation will in reality be the
hated council tax that has brought poverty and despair to pensioners in
the UK. Unless a change of course is adopted, severe poverty will
be the fate of many who may now think of themselves as "getting by
comfortably".
Do we want to become an island of poverty,
and means tested benefits? Will that attract those who want to
invest here? Some say: "Make poverty history". To that I
add: "Poverty begins at home". Let us put our own house in
order. In a fair economy, there should be no need for means
testing. The basic state pension should keep up with real
inflation, and rates should be abolished and replaced by an income
related tax.
Who cares about this impending poverty?
Any of our public figures? The Chief Minister, The Lieutenant
Governor, or the Bishop? Can our MHK's perform the arithmetic to
know what is happening? And what about all those fresh new
candidates for the House of Keys, now waiting in the wings during this
election year? When shall we hear from them?
Please - somebody - do something.
Don't let this island drown in a sea of apathy.