Ian Duncan Smith: The Banal Face Of Evil.

It has been said that the true horror of real evil is how banal it is and no one is more banal than Ian Duncan Smith. Filled with outrage at the way in which public money has been wasted to support the scandalously low wages in Britain his solution, outlined in the "Telegraph" today, is to keep the low wages and cut the support. How exactly this is supposed to work is beyond all comprehension - it is certainly beyond IDS's comprehension. His argument for doing this is somewhat murky to say the least but seems to be along the lines that cutting tax credits will "save" the country money and restore the pride that ordinary people should feel for their poverty. Now correct me if I'm wrong but pauperising the population is quite unlikely to help anyone, especially business which will be the first to feel the affects of falling demand. There is little joy in seeing your corporate tax bill cut if you receive the news in the bankruptcy courts. The point of the tax credit system is that it supports not only the underpaid worker but also the businesses who cannot afford to pay a living wage. The one weakness of the system was not the largely ficticious hoard of benefit "scroungers" but the number of hugely wealthy corporations who refuse to pay living wages, even though they can afford to do so, and then have the sheer gall to avoid paying their taxes as well. As usual in his religious zeal to smite the ungodly IDS has lashed out at the vulnerable instead. Having seen off the unemployed, the sick and the disabled IDS has now set his sights on that other notorious "scrounger" - the ordinary man or woman with a badly paid job. Apparently then "strivers" can be "scroungers" too. If evil is banal, then stupidity is even more so and no one is more banal, stupid and evil than Ian Duncan Smith.

Ian Duncan Smith's Voodoo Economics.

Ian Duncan Smith explained on the Andrew Marr show today how taking benefits off working people will actually make them better off. Apparently what will happen, IDS explained, is that cutting benefits will allow tax cuts for companies who in turn will pass on these savings to their workforce by way of wage increases. Those companies that don't will be "named and shamed". As Blackadder would say it's "a cunning plan" spoiled only by two obvious facts - companies always and without exception seek to reduce overheads by the simplest method avialable, cutting wages, and all companies share one characteristic, they have no shame. So, the most likely outcome of IDS's policy is that companies will get a tax cut, their executives will pocket the money and workers will continue to suffer from falling wages. It is, essentially, the same old "trickle down" rubbish that has undermined the British economy for decades. Of course IDS knows this perfectly well, but, being a complete stranger to work himself and with his own business interests to protect, he simply doesn't give a damn. After 30 years of neoliberal "voodoo economics" the Tories have remembered everything and learned nothing.

Ian Duncan Smith Removes Right To Strike.

Ian Duncan Smith, having discovered a way to murder disbaled and sick people with impunity, has now developed a new scheme to take away worker's right to strike. Low paid workers who strike over pay and conditions will have their tax credits taken from them on the basis that "the country shouldn't have to pay for strike action." The truth, of course, is that it isn't - it is paying, and through the nose, to subsidise low wages. In true form this sorry excuse for a Minister and for a human being is blaming the victims of a system that allows the likes of him to rise to the top - as all scum does. This is a clear and unequivocal attack on ordinary people with no room for doubt as to what its aim is. This is class war pure and simple. What IDS doesn't seem to recognise is that once such a war is declared he will have to go down that road right to the end. IDS likes to compare himself to Jesus Christ. Is he deliberately inviting martyrdom or is he merely as stupid as he appears?