A Rainy Day For Liberty (Part 1)

It’s raining, it’s pouring, coffers overflowing. No doubt you will all be aware of the ongoing chatter about the island’s so called ‘rainy day fund’. Those of you who were not aware of its existence may be shocked to learn that the Shitheads States of Jersey are sitting on a stockpile of your money. This money was stolen from you through taxation or extorted from you with fixed penalty notices/fuel duty/GST/stamp duty/Jamaican switch/whatever name they attach to the con.

 They are sitting on this stockpile of your money. It cannot be put simpler that the theft of this money through the above means was not ‘justified’ insofar as government programs/schemes/scams could merit. There has been a concerted effort to fuel this discussion, largely by the biased, government ran toilet newspaper, the JEP. On the 11^th July, the headline read “Use rainy day fund to boost economy”, whilst the tagline in the same article read “Chamber of Commerce call for a 2% cut in GST rate.” Both of those headlines sound very promising indeed, don't they? 

“Boost[ing]” the economy is needed as a matter of urgency. We live in a time where unemployment is higher than it’s ever been, with many more on their way out in the very near future, such as those in the fulfilment industry and even the Untouchables in the finance ‘industry’. (Admittedly, this is a misnomer as the ‘industry’ produces nothing but debt, they are only moneychangers and should be referred to as such for clarity). Despite the positive wording the proposed “solution” in the article is an outright con and potentially very dangerous indeed.

The president of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce, David Warr, “wants urgent action to be taken to address the Island’s struggling economy and rising unemployment levels.” Sounds good doesn't it? “He said that a reduction in GST to three percent from the current 5% would make a huge difference to firms struggling to survive and would give the Island’s economy a £30 million boost.” So far I totally agree with him. Taxes such as GST are crippling the economy, robbing the people and further entrenching and expanding government intrusion into every facet of our daily lives. An effective 60% reduction in GST is welcome by me and many, many thousands of islanders (except the ruling political class).

As if by some sort of sick joke, this refreshing moment of clarity and welcome change to the status quo of ‘all talk and no walk’, which islanders have come to expect is followed by the most catastrophic of anti-climaxes. The next sentence in the article, (in a paragraph of its own no less) reads, “And he wants the States to use the Strategic Reserve to pay for the tax cut.” So what the president of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce is saying in the most basic terms is this;

“There’s a stockpile of islanders’ money. We [the oligarchy] should use it to (1) line our pockets (2) line our friends’ pockets (3) waste it (4) all of the above.” Option 4 is sadly what we have become indoctrinated to accept as the norm. In addition to this, what he is saying is “We [the oligarchy] should brag about how connected we are to the community and dependable at responding to the will of the people to reduce this unwanted and immoral tax, GST.” The JEP will run with this bs propaganda, as they routinely do, islanders will welcome the reduction in tax and everyone will go back to sleep. Problem solved, right? Not at all.

GST is a tax, which means you that money is given to the government for no specific purpose, leaving the government to spend it on anything at any time, without any input from you. If you believe in the Jersey politicians’ promises, I almost feel sorry for you. Remember Mr “I won’t increase GST to 5%” Ozouf’s campaign? What happened to GST? It went to 5%. Do you get the picture now? What David Orr is proposing is “Tell the people they are getting a tax cut, without actually giving it to them.” According to him, GST would go down but there is no net gain in islanders’ pockets as the money that would’ve been stolen at the till by the government had GST remained at 5%, would instead be stolen in advance. Oh, and then the “rainy day fund” would be gone.

What makes me even more incensed at this is that Warr openly jokes about it. “They call it the rainy day fund. Well guess what – it’s raining.” What an incredible piece of sick humour. “It’s raining outside, it’s the shittest summer on record, its called a rainy day fund, so we’re gonna openly take your money and your gonna thank us for doing so. You’ll even re-elect us as your saviours.” AHAHAHA!!! Comic. Fucking. Genius.

To be continued…