Sensible Economist

Steve Keen, Autralian economist talking about the world financial crisis (which he predicted in 2005). He identifies the amount of private debt as the big problem. In the US it reached 300% of GDP. It will take decades to get back to manageable levels by paying off and bankruptcy. 

The solution is to abolish debt. Have a debt jubilee (by giving money to the debtors, but requiring people to pay off debts if they have them). Allow the banks to go bankrupt. Restructure them. Never again allow banks to lone money to people so they can speculate on the price of assets. If we don't the right-wing will probably rise up (as it did in the 1930's), and there will be widespread social unrest.

Reform economics so that it reflects reality (which is doesn't now). Don't over-rate sincerity, the most sincere person you'll ever meet is the maniac with an axe trying to chop your head off. Or indeed the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions...

Physical Functions

Can you walk at least 200 metres before you need to stop? [this unaided by another person, but including
walking stick, wheel chair, crutches]
Can you walk up and down 2 steps without help from another person?
Can you sit for an hour without help from another person.

And the answer is every case is HOW OFTEN? How often am I required to do this? Once a week? Once a day? 10 times a day? 100?

ESA50

Filling in the ESA50 form which has replaced the IB50. The last time I filled one of these in, the emphasis was 'what is wrong with you?'. Now it's 'why aren't you out working?'.

The questions are terrifying in a peculiar way. They want to know shit like

can you get out  of bed and wash your self?
do you eat?
can you stand up or sit in a chair?
can you walk at all?
can you leave the house?
have you got minimal use of hands and arms?
can you socialise at all?
what do you do that might upset workmates?

The lists is so minimal. Like a basic list of human functions. And you just know that behind each one is the implied question, 'if  you answered yes to this question, then why aren't you working?' Can you fill in this form? Yes? Well you, my friend, just qualified for the workforce. Are you alive? Well get a fucking job.

This is much worse that IB50. I don't think I'm going to make it, but then that means that I'm supposed to go back into the workforce. I'm panicking just thinking about it. What it will mean is that welfare is cut by £25 a week, and I'm forced to apply for jobs that no one in their right mind would give me.

Some of the things I can do once or twice, but not continuously or repetitively. Certainly not two days in a row, and not without the help of a hefty dose of codeine. But they do not test for this, and they never have. How do I make them test me for the problem I have?

Weasle Words

Got my letter today and the form, but only after a very weasely phone call. What with all this stuff about "may affect your benefits" - you must fill in this form or it "may affect your benefits". What they mean is FILL IN THE THIS FORM OR WE'LL CUT OFF YOUR BENEFIT. Why don't they just come out and say it?

And what are they still saying 'You may be asked to come to an assessment"? It's fucking government policy that every single person receiving welfare because of illness will have to attend an assessment, so why fudge it and make it sound like an option. It's just bullshit.

Is it just them being English do you suppose? Fucking irritating. No one who has listened to the news in the last two years can misunderstand the intention of the govt, so why are they making it seem otherwise on the official forms?

OK, yes, I'm, freaking out. But wtf? Actually I'm terrified. I was looking forward to celebrating my 10th anniversary of arriving in Blighty, but it's going to be right in the middle of this process.

Meantime I have a molar in its death throes giving me agony when anything under about 15C touches is; plus swollen and tender gum around the root. So no room-temp food in the morning for instance. Dentist says he might be able to save it by replacing the filling, which over the years has grown to cover about half the tooth. So we're having a long drill in two weeks, and will have to see what happens. A root canal is next option.

And the current set of MEBs seem particular bent on driving me mad. I'm tired all the time and can't just pop out to the shops, so I asked them to not eat the white bread that I need to eat because of my hiatus hernia, and to either eat the brown bread that one of the other MEBs make, or to buy some more bread. But will they help me out on this? Will they fuck. I'm sitting here starving. Wondering what to do. I put 4 sweetners in my tea instead of 2 and it's undrinkable. It's four flights of stairs back down to the kitchen which is beginning to seem like a marathon each time I have to attempt it.

I've been having a lot of dark thoughts lately. Like I'd be better off dead. I actually don't think it would make much difference to most people, and my house mates would probably not notice for a week or two, and then I doubt they'd really care. One less irritation in their lives.

I get quite angry when I'm depressed. It's a thing apparently. Something that happens especially to men. I'm angry about having lost control of my life, right down to the white bread situation. I fucking hate white bread, but I need to eat easily digestible food that won't sit in my stomach and cause acid reflux. I'm fucked and waiting for it all to be over, but the humiliations never seem to end. And I'm powerless to do anything about them.

Review Time

It's been a long while since I posted anything here. Things got kind of busy and I was dealing with it all. My health has been declining gradually in that I'm becoming increasingly tired. Which makes everyone ask: have you got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME? No. I have Fibro-myalgia... still. I'm now taking codeine as my main pain relief, but don't feel very good about it, and I don't really like it (fuzzy head, constipation, and worry of habituation & addiction etc. that come with opiates). At the moment I have a candida infection in my ears, and I'm somewhat haunted by all the stuff that used to go around about systemic candida infections. Might have to look into this.

Anyway I'm writing now because I finally got a letter from DWP saying they are reviewing my case. The inevitable consequence will be an ATOS review. I feel sick with anxiety, and I can't really talk about it to anyone.

Step one: they ring and talk to me on the phone.
Step two: fill in another IB50 form or whatever the equivalent is.

Then they say "you may need to attend a Work Capacity Assessment" but of course they're forcing everyone to have a WCA and ATOS are charged with taking welfare away from as many people as possible.

I suppose one must grant that the welfare bill is high in the UK and that it is fair enough that they check from time to time whether I still need it. But as the NHS can provide no effective treatment for my conditions (except maybe the ear infection), then I don't know why they expect me to have improved.

I don't know. I'm just worried sick. And it means I'll have to start answering the phone during the day as well!

Opposition

A number of voices are emerging which are critical of the welfare reforms:

Atos doctors could be struck off.

Twelve medics at the disability assessment centre are under investigation by the GMC over allegations of improper conduct. Guardian 14.8.11.

DWP admits disability reform based on dodgy figures, as reported by Left Foot Forward. 11.8.11

Statistics Authority steps in over disability benefits tests. Full Fact. 11.8.11.

These work capability assessments are a farce.
So, politicians designed an incapacity benefits system in which virtually nobody qualifies for help. How can that be justified?, Guardian. 26.7.11

Some of these via Benefit Scrounging Scum.

Meanwhile local housing charities, with encouragement our millionaire uni-student PM are taking it upon themselves to pre-empt the courts and punish rioters by evicting them from their houses. Apart from the alarming prospect of state sponsored vigilante justice (why not just lynch them and be done with?) we have to ask how evicting people who everyone acknowledges to have no stake in society is going to help?

Please write to your MP and ask them to put a stop to this madness and let the courts punish wrong doers. Let's tell David Cameron to just shut the fuck up. Cameron is not trained in law, or policing or any of the disciplines he is trying to micro-manage in the last few weeks. He's got a degree in economics, philosophy and politics, and work experience as a secretary. He is not fucking qualified to have an opinion, and that's why he has advisers. I was very pleased to see the police telling him to fuck off and mind his own business.

London's Burning

Rioting for three nights running? WTF?