I'm Gary Stevenson welcome back to Gary's  Economics today we're going to talk about Politics

okay so there have been three big developments  recently in politics that you need to understand  

when we look at each of them initially they  they might look like things that are worth  

celebrating but they're all going to present  problems you need to know what they mean for  

you so that you can react to it so the three  things are number one the government has rode  

back on basically all of the disaster budget  from a few weeks ago number two it looks  

very possible that Liz Truss will leave as prime  minister and conservative party leader very soon  

and number three it's become very likely  that labour will win the next election  

we're going to talk about all three of those  things one at a time so we're going to start  

with the first thing which is the reverse of the  budget so you probably know there was a disaster  

budget a few weeks ago where the conservative  Government tried to slash taxes massively for the  

richest there's a video on the channel which you  can go watch if you haven't seen about that budget  

um they've reversed nearly everything there so  people who watch the channel will know I was  

massively against that budget so it's easy to  think they've reversed the budget that's going  

to be fantastic until you see what it looks  like they're going to replace the budget with  

so it looks like they've moved basically  to a new version of austerity which means  

cutting budgets for public services education  Healthcare local Services police now these are all  

things which I've already had their budgets cut  massively in the austerity government from 2010.  

so if we cut these things again we're basically  looking at a situation where there's pretty much  

nothing left to cut you are cutting into the bone  here so if we move into an austerity situation  

you're talking about basically dismantling the  basic services that allow this country to function  

dismantling the police dismantling the schools  dismantling the NHS totally getting rid of local  

services this is already at a time when ordinary  families are really struggling um I don't think I  

really need to get into the details of what this  will mean for ordinary families what it will mean  

for you for your community for your family if this  happens it will have a devastating impact not only  

that but it will mean more job cuts for people who  work in public services that will mean more people  

competing for the existing jobs it will mean wages  will probably fall or struggle to rise definitely  

struggle to rise with inflation so less money in  your pocket less money going around the economy  

um yeah more collapse it's a disaster basically  I want to talk a little bit about why that has  

happened why we've moved from a situation of let's  cut taxes on rich people to instead let's cut  

Public Services this has happened because a space  has been opened up in the narrative saying oh it's  

not possible to cut tax on rich people because the  markets won't accept it which essentially means  

we cannot borrow that amount of money and we have  then gone automatically back to the previous sort  

of narrative framework of well then we have to  have austerity now this is only possible because  

the alternative option of instead let's tax  rich and very rich people more has basically  

been completely removed from the conversation now  people who follow this channel will know that the  

last three years have seen the biggest and fastest  ever increase in wealth of the rich and the super  

rich the average rich person increased To Us by 22  in the first year of covert alone uh the average  

billionaire increased the wealth by 620 million in  the first of covid the total amount of government  

of money that has gone from the government to  the rich is 600 billion pounds which would be 12  

000 pounds for every adult in the country  so we are in a space here where the  

government has effectively transferred  an enormous amount of money to the rich  

if we were to tax that back we could give it to  you we could cut your taxes we could improve a  

living stance for ordinary people we wouldn't  have to cut Public Services but unfortunately  

this is just totally not in the conversation right  now nobody's talking about taxing rich people and  

if we allow that to be the main frame of  debate then we end up in a situation where  

the only alternative is cutting public services so  I think this really emphasizes how important it is  

that we do not let them ignore this possibility  look at the same time as ordinary families are  

literally struggling to eat we have seen the  biggest and fastest ever historic increase in  

millionaire and billionaire wealth we need to  get taxi rich people into the conversation okay  

so that's number one covered they've rode back  on the budget but they're bringing in well it's  

quite probably a worse budget for ordinary people  they will be allowed to do that as long as we do  

not get tax in the rich back on the conversation  so you need to talk about tax in a rich more you  

need to persuade your friends and family that is  important number two is is list trust potentially  

leaving now we're filming this in the beautiful  rain on Thursday morning uh this video will come  

out on Sunday morning it's quite possible that  list trust will already be gone by then we totally  

don't know she might limp on into next year but  it at this point it's almost certain she will  

not be conservative leader for the next election  um listen I'm not a big fan of this trust I don't  

think anyone would be surprised to hear that I  thought that her Economic Policy was a disaster  

thought that her budget was a disaster it would be  tempting to celebrate this trust leaving but the  

fact is she will be replaced probably by another  austerity prime minister I don't need to tell you  

how bad that is going to be for for you for your  community for this country or for the economy so  

we shouldn't be celebrating her leaving because  it's not going to make things better things are  

going to continue to get worse now the third one  I think is the most interesting one and definitely  

something we need to talk about a lot which is  it is becoming increasingly clear that it is  

very very likely label win the next election  quite possibly even with an outright majority  

um betting markets are starting to think this is  60 likely something like this I actually think  

it's more likely than that the reason I think  that is because it is becoming inevitable now that  

living standards and the economy will continue to  collapse seriously over the next couple of years  

um in that situation is inevitable that support  for the government will fall and fall and fall  

and that means that very likely they will win  the next election some people are saying that  

there's a prospect of a labor government very  soon realistically the timing of the election is  

almost completely in the power of the conservative  government they know that if they have an election  

shortly they will get smashed most of the MPS  will lose their seats they'll lose their jobs so  

it's very likely they will not call a short-term  election and the election will be 2024 maybe even  

the very beginning of 2025. so we probably do  have another couple of years of this government  

the conservative government um the economy will  almost certainly be disaster throughout that time  

but after that we'll probably get a labor  government um now anyone who watches this channel  

will know that I've not been a big supporter  of the current conservative government and some  

people may have assumed from that that means I'm a  massive supporter of Labor that's not really true  

my situation is if you do not do something about  massively rapidly increasing wealth inequality  

you are going to decimate living standards of  ordinary people and Ordinary People are going  

to lose their wealth they are going to suck the  wealth out of the middle class of this country  

um but it has become increasingly obvious to me in  the last few months that labor is very very likely  

to come into government before too long so I went  to the labor party conference and I've been I've  

been getting contacted by some labor MPS and I've  been reaching out to them to try and speak with  

labor MPS basically to see is there a possibility  that that they are going to increase tax on very  

rich people because I think if we don't do that  it is inevitable that we'll have a disaster um and  

I have to tell you honestly the sense I'm getting  from the people that I've spoken to is that labor  

are not serious about significantly raising taxes  on rich people you know um I can't mention that  

people individually who I've been speaking to but  I spoke to some people recently about the prospect  

of raising a one percent wealth tax on wealth  assets above 10 million pounds and even that  

doesn't look like we're going to get it so you  know you need to think about somebody with worth  

above 10 million pounds right they make three  four five percent on that every year so all  

we're talking about is slowing down by a fraction  the rate at which wealth inequality increases and  

labor at the moment does not seem serious about  supporting it so but what does that mean that  

means that realistically what is probably going to  happen here is the conservative government limps  

on for another couple of years they get replaced  by labor government that labor government doesn't  

understand the seriousness of reducing wealth  inequality so they raise taxes on rich people  

extremely slightly and all that does is slow down  the rate at which wealth inequality is increasing  

now you probably don't need me to tell you that  in the last few years wealth inequality which  

has been increasing for decades now in the last  years it's gone massively accelerated the speed  

at which World inequality is increasing at this  point if we don't do something very serious to  

stop that massive wealth transfer from ordinary  families and from the government to the rich  

before long we will totally lose amid the class  and within a generation or two we will become a  

very very unequal country if we don't take action  on it that is what's going to happen it looks  

like labor is not going to take Serious enough  action on it what that means is label get into  

power and they will oversee continual worsening  in the economy so under labor they'll probably  

slightly slow down what I think we honestly  have to say has been a collapse in living  

standards they will slow down that collapse  but living standards will continue to fall  

they will probably stay in government for four  or five years under slowly worsening conditions  

slowly falling living standards understandably  people are going to get pissed off and there's  

a very real possibility that people are going  to sit there and they're going to say well  

the conservatives didn't do nothing for  us labor didn't do nothing for us let's  

look for something more extreme and  there's a very real possibility that  

we move towards some sort of extreme far-right  government that is pushing policies that are  

maybe more explicitly racist or explicitly  aggressive you know we had a period before where  

we had an explosion inequality and an economic  crisis and it led to fascism throughout Europe the  

Holocaust and the second world war you know this  has happened before and I know that sounds extreme  

but I'm sitting here I'm looking at a country  that's getting increasingly frustrated they are  

going to vote in a labor government and when  I talk to the labor politicians they do not  

understand at all the seriousness of the problem  here they are going to get in they are not going  

to deal with wealth inequality wealth inequality  will get worse and the economy will get worse and  

then really honestly God knows what happens  after that politically um but when I speak  

to them they say to me many of them we would  be happy to support a world tax but we don't  

think it's a vote winner we think it's going to  lose us votes we think people don't support it  

to me what that says to me is basically the  importance of what we are trying to do here  

if we don't deal with wealth inequality the  rich will get massively richer ordinary families  

will lose their homes they'll go further into  their government services will be ultimately  

decimated the country will become phenomenally  unequal and living standards will collapse  

um and unless you watching this are very rich  that's you your kids your grandkids your family  

your communities living standards collapsing okay  you need to support High attacks on the richest  

and you need to convince your friends and you need  to convince your family and you need to convince  

your community and you know over the next few  weeks and months we're going to do a series of  

videos explaining why it's important and hopefully  you can use that to understand it and to convince  

the people around you but until enough Ordinary  People support it I can't turn around to labor  

and make them do it So the plan here is that we  need to build a massive community of people who  

understand the importance of wealth inequality  demand it from their political parties and spread  

that message around because if enough people are  turning around to the labor party saying listen we  

are only going to vote for you if you do something  about wealth inequality then I could turn around  

to them and say you have to do it and they  can't turn to me and say well it's a vote loser  

so um listen there's an opportunity here but at  the moment we're not making it at the moment labor  

are going to come in and they're not going to fix  the problem and things are going to get worse we  

can make things better if enough people understand  that the only way to improve living conditions for  

ordinary families and ordinary people in this  country is to deal with wealth inequality so  

you need to understand that you know go and watch  what is wealth go watch the first video on this  

channel where covid-19 is making the rich richer  understand how wealth inequality affects you your  

family or community and spread that message your  friends and family we're gonna try and grow this  

to make it big we're gonna try and get people  to understanding this message and then hopefully  

by two years time when labor coming into Power  I'm going to be able to look at them and say you  

guys have to do this now um if we don't achieve  that these are going to be really bad so you know  

I'm going to be out here in the rain making these  videos um hopefully you guys are going to support  

um yeah follow us on all our channels we've got  Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and of course  

YouTube press the Bell tell your friends tell  your family um we've got one opportunity here and  

um if we don't take it um it's going to be bad  and we've got two years to do it so yeah get  

behind the message and please support  us and and tell people yeah thank you  

yeah be fine they just gradually got  more rainy as the video goes yeah

if you get a bit more money and  the rich get a lot more money you  

will become poorer and you need to  have a policy which actively focuses  

on reducing energy consumption of the  rich and support support it's not there