Read

User menu

Search form

UN: Austerity Is Crippling Planet With One-Quarter of Europe Now In Poverty

UN: Austerity Is Crippling Planet With One-Quarter of Europe Now In Poverty
Wed, 6/4/2014
This article originally appeared on AFP

The United Nation's labor agency has denounced "premature" austerity measures brought in by governments around the world during the financial crisis, saying they have hurt the world's most vulnerable people.

Isabel Ortiz, director of social welfare of the International Labor Organization (ILO), said on Tuesday that in 2014 alone at least 122 governments cut public spending, including in 82 developing countries.

In the European Union, where many states brought in severe budget cuts in response to the debt crisis, she estimated that as many as 123 million people – or a quarter of the bloc's population – were now classified as poor because of cuts in social protection.

Now, more than 70 percent of the world's population was not adequately covered by social protection, the ILO said.

But China, the world's second-largest economy, has almost succeeded in rolling out universal pension coverage and has increased the wages of its lowest-paid workers.

In 'Time of Most Need'

Cuts to "pensions, the health system and social security... the removal of subsidies, downsizing among social workers and health personnel" hit poor people at a time when they were most in need of support, she said.

People also had to pay the cost "at a time when jobs are scarce and support is more necessary than ever."

Between 2008 and 2009, at least 48 developed countries implemented stimulus packages worth $2.4 billion, of which about one quarter was spent on measures for social protection.

These "acted as an automatic stabilizer that helped economies to regain their balance and protect the unemployed and the most vulnerable from economic disaster," the ILO said.

But from 2010, many governments changed tack and took what the ILO said were "premature fiscal consolidation measures" despite the need to stabilize consumption and support the poor.

"Most people do not have adequate social protection when it is most needed," said ILO deputy director general Sandra Polaski.

Almost four out of 10 people worldwide don't have access to a healthcare system, while in poor countries that rises to nine out of 10.

Globally, only 12 percent of the unemployed receive benefits, ranging from almost two-thirds in Western Europe to less than three percent in the Middle East and Africa.

Meanwhile, the aging population in developed countries mean many retirees live below the poverty line. In at least 14 European countries, pensions for future retirees are expected to fall.

Faced with this situation, the ILO called for social spending to be "high on the development post-2015 agenda."

"The rationale for social protection is even more undeniable in this period of economic uncertainty, low growth and growing inequality," Polaski said.

Originally published by AFP

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Donald Trump, Hitler

Like Hitler, Trump has a unique command of propaganda, a captivating public presence, and he knows how to drive home narratives beneficial to him and harmful to his enemies.

Trump’s brand of hyper-nationalism combined with the intense consolidation of executive power follows the same playbook as fascistic leaders in other countries like India,Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Argentina, among others.

The Florida governor’s humiliating loss has a dark undertone: Most Republicans, and many independents, apparently have a craving for the unchecked lawless vengeance that Trump has promised if he wins a second term.

Are we truly “stuck with” this Supreme Court for the next quarter of a century? Not if we abolish the Electoral College and reimagine the way presidential elections are conducted.

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Donald Trump, Hitler

Like Hitler, Trump has a unique command of propaganda, a captivating public presence, and he knows how to drive home narratives beneficial to him and harmful to his enemies.

Trump’s brand of hyper-nationalism combined with the intense consolidation of executive power follows the same playbook as fascistic leaders in other countries like India,Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Argentina, among others.

The Florida governor’s humiliating loss has a dark undertone: Most Republicans, and many independents, apparently have a craving for the unchecked lawless vengeance that Trump has promised if he wins a second term.

The case against ‘Cop City’ protesters follows the pattern of Republican abuse of the legal system to create false equivalences that advance their political narrative.

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.

Posted 2 weeks 20 hours ago

Trump’s brand of hyper-nationalism combined with the intense consolidation of executive power follows the same playbook as fascistic leaders in other countries like India,Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Argentina, among others.

Posted 1 month 1 week ago
Donald Trump, Hitler

Like Hitler, Trump has a unique command of propaganda, a captivating public presence, and he knows how to drive home narratives beneficial to him and harmful to his enemies.

Posted 1 month 2 days ago

The Florida governor’s humiliating loss has a dark undertone: Most Republicans, and many independents, apparently have a craving for the unchecked lawless vengeance that Trump has promised if he wins a second term.

Posted 1 month 3 weeks ago

Based on details that have emerged about Trump’s presidential agenda, the far-right Heritage Foundation plans for the next GOP president to have all the tools necessary to demolish multicultural democracy and establish a white, Christian ethnostate that imposes a gender apartheid not unlike the Taliban’s Afghanistan.