The way in which modern Western society operates at its’ most fundamental levels from bottom to top from small business to multi-national corporates seems to be founded on lies and mis-direction. We are told that we live in a stable society where every person is valued and respected as an individual and everyone is considered equally when making decisions. However it is patently obvious that this is simply not the case. Let us consider the position of the poorest members of society, often those most in need of assistance through a lack of education, or a lack of provision for those with mental and physical conditions that present difficulties in finding employment. In terms of housing these people are at the mercy of private landlords as there is inadequate council owned property for them. When it comes to fuel these groups are forced to take pre-pay meters which offer the highest rates of energy prices making fuel, already a significant proportion of income for low income households, even more expensive for those who can least afford to pay. Then we have food prices. Inflation is on the rise anyway, but inflation overall is nothing when compared to the price increases in individual staples such as bread, vegetables and most significantly meat. This creates yet more discrepancy since as a proportion of income food becomes a luxury rather than a necessity.
We then look within companies and see a vast number of small businesses taking advantage of the current dire circumstances of many unemployed but employable workers with people being taken on on month long unpaid work trials which end up getting extended and even when people are taken on the supposed minimum wage is largely ignored. Consider my own position. I have now been with a company for eighteen months and have in total received somewhere in the region of four thousand pounds for my labours, with typical hours being fifty plus a week. This is not simple grunt work to make it clear. This is project and production management at a web design company combined with creative content writing. How is this flagrant breach of company law possible you might ask. You’d probably be surprised how many companies are making their staff take self-employed roles to avoid paying tax, national insurance and minimum wage. But in desperate times what exactly are employees to do?
And then we come to the biggest minefield of all. The issue of debt. There are suggestions that the current governments growth and economic figures are based on an increase in consumer debt from the current trillion pound levels. There are two issues with this, firstly the banks are becoming less and less willing to lend to individuals and businesses and the cost of borrowing is increasing despite continuing record low bank of England base rates of 0.5%, and secondly people are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with their current debt levels let alone taking on more as jobs and wages are consistently squeezed. Evidence for this is the massive increase in advertising for “Cash for gold” and similar services and the proliferation of “Off high street” “payday loan” lenders offering phenomenal interest rates if debts are not repaid in the very short term.
This position is not sustainable and there is yet another economic black hole being created beyond the obvious European one. It is unlikely that we will avoid this one as we seem politically set on a course that will make another yet deeper crash inevitable.
So how does one navigate through this minefield to find an path which allows for the retention of ethics and moral standards when all around we see a degradation of these standards in daily public and private life? It is never easy, but each of us has a moral compass. We don’t need to be told what is right and what is wrong at a fundamental level. We each need to live for ourselves and for those immediately around us first and try to make sure that at each step we take we are being true to ourselves and our moral compass as we understand it. This smacks of anarchy, but when the leaders are playing by their own rules, how can they expect their followers to do any different?
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