Impact of austerity on homelessness (2/3)

The Open University’s Lecturers in Social Policy and Criminology Victoria Cooper and Daniel McCulloch explain how overtime homelessness has been criminalised.
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[@Nickle314]

The assumption that austerity is a policy is wrong.
Austerity is a consequence.
If you look at state spending, 209 bn a year, 30% of taxes go on the debts.
Would 209 bn a year fix homelessness? Of course. That is causes by government debts.

[@SLRist]

Quite a political video this one. Maybe, in the interest of education and not just Leftist propaganda, you should discuss what 'austerity' actually means, and why it's become necessary. The truth is rather inconvenient for the Left, because it was one of theirs; good old Gordon Brown, who brought about the need for austerity (spending within the tax take) due to the financial fallout of his poor fiscal policies, and essentially his legacy to the UK. If he hadn't let lending get completely out of control in the mid-'90s we'd not be in a position where we had to borrow huge sums to support and stabilise fiat currency (often called 'bailing out the banks'). Had the Conservative government post 2010 not instigated the policies of spending restraint, we'd still be living with an unsustainable deficit and growing debt. Maybe you can make another video to explain this? But then perhaps that doesn't fit into your Socialist World-view, eh?

[@starlaeuropa]

So, explain how you think it's acceptable to make the vulnerable and ordinary pay for a crisis caused by the banks (who are then given millions in bailouts, much of which gets pocketed in "bonuses" - while the MSM perpetuate the lie that the last Labour government were somehow responsible for a GLOBAL crisis that started in the US with the sub-prime mortgage scandal)? Do ordinary people somehow deserve to have the threat of homelessness/destitution constantly dangled over their heads, while the wealthy are given generous tax cuts and can continue to live comfortably? The measure of a civilised society is how it treats its weakest/most vulnerable citizens....

[@Nickle314]

So how do you deal with the welfare state that owes 10 trillion pounds for pensions alone?
On the bank bailout, the government made a profit.

[@Dreadtower]

No no. The financial crash of 2008 was precipitated by unsafe lending by financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers. When Royal Bank Of Scotland informed Alistair Darling (the Chancellor) that they would literally run out of money in a matter of hours the Bank Of England and the US Treasury and others sunk millions in it to keep it afloat and prevent a banking collapse.
The Tory myth that it was caused by runaway Labour spending was a repeat of their analysis of the seventies which similarly conveniently erased the rather essential fact that there had been the OPEC crisis in 1973 following America’s support of Israel which had led to oil prices multiplying fourfold.
Having said this, I do agree that this presentation lacks depth of analysis and starts from certain underlying assumptions which should be established more solidly.