Constantly Furious is, err,
quite annoyed. With good reason. He has looked into the latest unemployment figures:
Labour spinners gleefully leapt on the latest unemployment figures - yet another triumph! Jim Knight proudly announced that "These figures show a significant slowing in the rate of increase of unemployment" ..... What's that supposed to mean, Jim?
(Yes, I thought that was a rather convoluted turn of phrase, too...)
Where, pray, have the job losses been? Well, the private sector shed 230,000 jobs between March and June. And how many jobs were lost in the public sector during that period, would you think? Nearly a quarter of a million 'normal' jobs lost, how many from the taxpayers' payroll? How many?
The answer isn't 'None'. Oh no. That would be ridiculous.
In fact, it's worse, far worse than none. In that same period, the number of public sector workers rose by 13,000.
And, as CF puts it, it doesn't stop there
"public sector workers received a pay rise of 3.4 per cent in the three months to August compared a pay rise of just 1.5 per cent for employees in the private sector"
I have to agree with CF:
If this was a satire, it would be derided as excessive. But no, tragically, this is ****ing real.
This bastard, ****witted government is still, in the face of huge recession, and a mounting debt that our great-great-grandchildren will struggle with, creating more jobs in the public sector. More seats on the gravy train.
And, not only that, they're giving those in that sector, with their jobs-for-life and their gold-plated ****ing pensions, above-inflation pay rises too.
Gordon 'desperate' Brown would doubtless have us all believe that the 3.4% increases went to "nurses 'n' teachers","teachers 'n' nurses", but you know what? They ****ing didn't.
No, they went to the endless pen-pushers and prod-noses who sit on the hundreds of ****ing Quango's that blight this country, sucking the liberty and the cash from us all.
They went to all the Outreach Co-ordinators, Diversity Managers, Community Space Challenger Co-ordinators and Enviro-Crime Enforcement Officers that sit around all day thinking of more ways to ruin our day.
Gordon Brown incessantly accuses the Tories of being the party that would make "slashing" cuts. If and when CallMeDave takes the reins, Gordon warns us he'll make "deep, savage" cuts in the public sector.
You know what? The sooner the ****ing better.
Bring it on.
Yes; Dave - bring it on. Do it. Slash it. Then, we might have a real recovery. You'll also relieve the NHS budget of the cost of blood-pressure pills for me and CF.
Spread the fury!
ReplyDeleteCF
Pay freeze for me, plus the prospect of significant tax rises in April. Thanks Gordon.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen theFuture Jobs Fund awards for September?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to know why local authorities seem to be hiring all of a sudden, 'The Future Jobs Fund' is where you will find some of the answers.
Be prepared for a fight, though.
ReplyDeleteWe all know that the ones that should really be cut are the backroom pencil pushers, 'diversity officer' and target-gatherers.
But take a look at what happens when 'public sector cuts' are mentioned on this well-known front-line worker's blog.
Yes, there is an odd asymmetry. Spend more, and the penpushers multiply while the front-line workers stay static (but do less, thanks to the penpushers). Cut, and the frontline workers get it in the neck.
ReplyDeleteTheoretically, if spending were cyclic for long enough, could we achieve a state sector of 100% penpushers?
(Follow-up question; have we already??)
"Theoretically, if spending were cyclic for long enough, could we achieve a state sector of 100% penpushers?"
ReplyDeleteWould we notice if we did?
Over at CiF, two more columns are full of entitlement meeting harsh reality for the public sector.
Comments are interesting, considering the Guardian's usual mainstay audience.