Albeit that it is already several years past the point where I said that any sane person would have to act NOW, it seems that several sacred cows are being lined up in my region for very public sacrifice on the altar.
Street lighting, children’s homes, wimminz refuges, are all for the chop.
To be sure, none of these are going entirely, it’s more a case of Heinz only offering 51 varieties, not 57, but still, some troughs are closing, and those who had their noses firmly stuck in them are screaming blue murder, and those with their noses in similar troughs are forming the backing group.
It’s interesting, why were these particular sacred cows chosen?
Were they chosen because they would generate such outrage that the whole idea could be shelved? See, nobody wanted us to cut corners.
Or, were they chosen because once you have gotten them through, you can get anything through?
It’s interesting also because enough people have enough other problems, that not many have much to spare for these problems, no matter how much media focus they get.
It’s interesting because, in the case of the wimminz shelter, which of course grabbed 99.999% of the media coverage, the media gave air time to the council’s response, which was basically “look, it’s 2014, between the courts and the police and shit, it’s the guy who gets kicked out of the home, the wimminz don’t need to run away to a refuge…“
Which is of course true, almost the exact words I uttered 60 seconds earlier when the segment started.
It all gets very interesting when you look at the actual numbers, an annual budget of £14 million, of which £9 million comes from central guvvmint, and £5 million from local taxation and revenues, and the wimminz shelter that is getting all the attention, it represents 1.4% of that.
If you earn £250 a week takehome, 1.4% of that is £3.50, a pint of beer.
So as budgetary cuts go, there are not of the order of turning all the heating off and wearing a pullover / scarf / wooly hat indoors, these are of the order of giving up your daily latte takeaway on the way to work.
So why choose such a high profile subject, why not give up the takeaway latte, not what they have done, give up the kids daily fruit ration.
From the inside, I’m guessing all the options look equally bad, but the fact is the cuts have to be made, and essentially these cuts do NOT lay off anyone directly employed by the council, they aren’t STAFF.
The Palace is laying off all the court groupies, but nobody who actually works within the Palace itself.
1.4% here, 1.4% there, 1.4% over there, before you know it, you’ve cut the budget by 7%, which is not inconsiderable, and you have managed to outsource all that pain, no Palace staff cuts.
Sure, lots of people are complaining, but they are all outside the Palace walls.
Nobody *inside* the palace is presiding over a smaller number of staff.
This is the *other* side of the externalisation boomerang, when the thing starts to come back at ya… you lived by the sword, living to excess from the taxes taken from others, now it is time to die by the sword, and pare chunks off your own body as the revenues dry up.
And of course it is this very aversion that means that those with the power to make the cuts, will cut off all external limbs before even considering losing some fat themselves.
And notably, all those being cut, the strongest argument they can come up with is always the same, yes, we cost money, but without us the costs are far higher…. one wimminz murdered at home by an evil abusive man costs the state as much as it costs to provide places for ten wimminz for a year…
To which my reply is that clearly the “investigation” into the above murder was also a vast waste of resources…. there are few things that are more open and shut than a domestic that ends in death…evidence wise…. quite apart from the fact that 95% of the time the first thing the survivor does is admit to the killing.
Physician, Heal thyself!
