Economic future for UK not looking great

The IPPR has a new major report out, which predicts a grim economic future for the UK, of declining incomes for the majority, an increasingly ageing population living in poverty and collapsing manufacturing jobs.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/29/uk-in-2030-older-more-unequal-and-blighted-by-brexit-report-predicts

The report ties together the different trends caused by Brexit, automation, an ageing population and massive shifts in income towards the well off.

Much of this is completely predictable, as we already seeing a clear trend towards higher and higher wealth and income concentrated in the top 1 and top 10% of the population - home ownership is narrowing, house prices are rising, the numbers renting are rising and rents are increasing, those without homes are increasing and salaries in the lower 60% of the range are stagnant or declining.

This is a global problem too - the increasing robotisation of society is going to cause huge upheavals.

Our government is behaving like the Emperor Nero - fiddling with irrelevancies whilst Rome burns.

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Reply 1

Jammy Duel

Isn't this the prediction that had been made every year for decades?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Jammy Duel

Isn't this the prediction that had been made every year for decades?

Posted from TSR Mobile

No.

Reply 3

doggyher

Original post by Jammy Duel

Isn't this the prediction that had been made every year for decades?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Wrong. But nice try though.

Reply 4

Drewski

Original post by Fullofsurprises

This is a global problem too

See! Equality: everybody's equally ****ed. What a time to be alive.

Reply 5

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Drewski

See! Equality: everybody's equally ****ed. What a time to be alive.

Well, everyone being equally a little bit ****ed would still be preferable to most of us being completely ****ed and a small number living high on the hog off the rest of us.

Reply 6

Tingtox

Because £13000 a year is not good enough to live off......

Reply 7

Quady

Original post by Fullofsurprises

So do away with mechinisation? *yawn*

What will our living standards go back to?

Reply 8

Quady

Original post by Tingtox

Because £13000 a year is not good enough to live off......

Is that how much you're paid?

Reply 9

999tigger

Original post by Quady

So do away with mechinisation? *yawn*

What will our living standards go back to?

Tbf nobody has suggested that.

Reply 10

Tingtox

Original post by Quady

Is that how much you're paid?

Yes and I live a great life with it.

Flagship phone, Gaming PC. All I ever wanted really.

Reply 11

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Quady

So do away with mechinisation? *yawn*

What will our living standards go back to?

I believe the point is that global inequality will continue to spiral unless governments take far more action to redistribute the benefits of massive robotisation. Whereas at the moment, they are doing precious little.

The seeds of revolution, war and famine are being sewn as we speak.

Reply 12

Recont

Yeah, agree. Also fed up with people who use housing benefits, get flats and live exactly the same way, working only 16 hours per week as person next to him that works 10+ hours a day. Then what is the point working for low wage then?! Unfair.

Reply 13

Quady

Original post by Fullofsurprises

Any ideas how?

For example when accountancy gets automated, what would you do?

Reply 14

Quady

Original post by Recont

There wouldn't be if that were the case.

Are you fed up that you'd be better off on benefits? If so why don't you sign on?

Reply 15

l'etranger

Original post by Fullofsurprises

No they're not because in spite of the increases in global wealth inequality the poorest people in Western society have never lived such good lives. Speaking with older people it's so obviously they had to struggle far more than we ever did.

Reply 16

Recont

Original post by Quady

There wouldn't be if that were the case.

Are you fed up that you'd be better off on benefits? If so why don't you sign on?

I'm not entitled. And yes, I'd be living in better conditions on benefits, a lot better. Now living almost in a shed with whistling trough window frames wind, stinky carpet and ceiling patch that is going to fall down very soon, sharing this room with another person.

Reply 17

Quady

Original post by Recont

You're not entitled? But you made it sound like a choice :s-smilie:

Reply 18

Recont

Original post by Quady

You're not entitled? But you made it sound like a choice :s-smilie:

Not entitled. Don't want to be blamed that I live of someone's welfare. Anyway, people remind me that I am not equal with locals with their attitude or saying directly "u r not even english" but luckily there are really nice people.

Reply 19

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Quady

Any ideas how?

For example when accountancy gets automated, what would you do?

Obviously I don't have the solution, right now nobody has the whole picture. We should be thinking and figuring hard about it though, especially at the international and government levels, but they aren't - the sole trend at the moment is a boundless faith in casino capitalism and a particularly extreme form of neoliberalist doctrine that benefits only the already rich.

Part of the picture is that we are going to need a lot more international institutions and government (including shared sovereignty) to counterbalance the immense power of global capital and its corporations.

We need global taxes and global redistributive policies.

There are going to have to be incomes for life in the future. Otherwise automation will be self-defeating, as removing incomes on a massive scale will simply destroy the markets that the automation is supposed to serve.

There needs to be creation of jobs other than in just the digital economy. We are leaving behind at least 1/3 of the workforce who aren't able to cope with it.

We need more government, not less. This is against neoliberal doctrine, but neoliberal doctrine is what gave us the 2008 crash and the stagnant global economy since then.

We are going to have to fight for a better society. Just passively assuming that the government is going to sort things out by doing the right things won't work. The current governments we have are the victims of a hijacking by the wealthy elites. At the moment, most people are frozen in fear, waiting to see what happens. Staying that way, playing with games and the other comforting and useless distractions tossed to us by the authorities won't do it. We are going to need to mobilise to demand a better share of the world's resources.

On current trends, we will be back in a sort of medieval Aristocrats-and-Peasants society in the near future without massive change.