Salaries and austerity

I note from the press and TV that there remains concern about salaries of the more privileged and those in senior management positions. It seems the banks and those in the financial world are still  paying big salaries or hefty bonuses and latterly I have seen comment about the Universities giving the upper tiers of management some equally large salaries and bonuses. Now they have the green light to wack up fees, that seems to mean that they can wack up their salaries! If this is true then it horrifies me.

I am basically politically a Conservative, a Tory, a person who believes in a "reasonable" free market that believes you must create wealth to have a richer society, that in turn spreads it about. In this respect I mean businesses create wealth, and they employ people, and some people do get rich out of it, but the entrepreneurs are entitled to that, as they do tend to pay more tax, or invest it, or spend it, and this provides jobs and/or they themselves tend to employ more people in their expanding interests as they progress. Good and decent entrepreneurs often go on and give generously too, or set up philanthropic activities. Government must therefore be able to balance this act of wealth "spreading" to assist the "fairness". Each political party will have different ways of addressing this basic economic model and that is why I use inverted commas around spreading and fairness as there are many viewpoints. Conservatives will always see that wealth is the PRIME creation and that this must come from business, then that can support the country, and the public sector. But as a Conservative I see other models I like.

I like the French Cooperatives, they succeed in many ways. The farming industry is full of them, including the wine industry. There is a culture of "we are in it together" and we will work with each other. They are happy to share and spread things out. I love the way in France that if you want an ordinary road and do average speeds to get from A to B, then there is an ordinary road for cars. But if you want to go quicker and want a better road, the motorways are tolled. If you can afford it you use motorways and if you choose the main roads and want to take more time then the main roads are quite sufficient. This is something I really enjoy as a Tourist, but I can really see the economic benefits, and the cultural ethos that comes out of it.

Yesterday we saw David Cameron talk about his "Big Society". It is a vision, but I believe I can see his point. It is about co-ops, mutuals, community localism, and people taking some initiative for themselves. Some people may include The Third Way or community enterprise, or social firms in this vocabulary. It is a vision I broadly subscribe to, and it should relate to good times or bad times. Sadly economically it is bad times at the moment, and people are so quick to turn the screws on a fundamentally good vision, and blame him and HIS cuts for it to fail. Politically I just ask "who got us into this mess in the first place"???

Back to salaries and austerity some of the banks are supported by public money given by the former Labour government, they should recognise the need not just for returning profits and creating their own wealth, but also being accountable for the public funds placed in them-that kept them up and able! Yes there has to be incentives and rewards in all walks, but what is actually fair and just?

There has to be some reward in Education too and well run Universities, Colleges and Schools and in the whole public sector. Yes I agree that in essence they are businesses. Hospitals and Local government need to be run on business terms, but there are without doubt some greed and sanctimonious attitudes about. I may be a Tory, but I am also pro-Unions, sensible ones, like the University & College Union and Sally Hunt have said that many of the bosses are just looking after themselves as they make many of their best workers redundant. Indeed a lot of things I have seen imply that bosses are just re-inventing or massaging new management structures out of old loyal friends who have pledged allegiance in an obeisance subservient manner. In other words members of the family, friends, the sycophants, the croneys, the shoe lickers and the brown nosers are alright! And they have done this-created new structures-to appear  as if "we are all being affected" by changes in job roles and salary adjustments in the name of austerity measures! Whilst more people suffer and actually lose their jobs entirely.

I suppose life is never fair and as I promote a wealth creation economy, then I should accept these unfair situations. Or should I? I am actually active in my own local community affairs, and maybe this is even more reason to stay there and get stuck in.