In Mel Brooks's very funny History of the World Part I, King Louis XVI is told by his advisor that the people are revolting. The king replies "You said it. They stink on ice."

As the UK government tries to implement "austerity measures," hundreds of thousands of people are peacefully and violently letting them know that they won't stand for it. For some strange reason, "Europe's debt crisis remains toxic and unresolved." Perhaps it has to do with UK debt growing 157% between 2000 and 2008. What has all this debt been paying for? As an example, in Britain, the government is running an annual £167 billion deficit on public sector services. In other words, the government spends £167 billion more annually than it takes in. Yet "the people" don't want to give up their services that they can't afford in the first place. After all, if you have to take a loan out (i.e., debt) to pay for something, you can't afford it without making our children pay for it in the future. Talk about being "stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Any program that redistributes wealth is considered socialistic. The Soviet Union experimented with socialism for 75 years. It led to a total collapse. Britain has been experimenting with socialism for a similar timeframe. Besides, taxing the wealthy doesn't work anyway - governments that rely most heavily on taxing the wealthy "are now among those with the biggest budget holes." What do you think the government should do to resolve the problem? Are the protesters justified in their demands against cutting public services? Are the protesters really "fighting for equality, freedom and justice" as they claim, or are they just acting like spoiled brats?

FTA:

Around 400,000 people have joined a march in London to oppose the coalition government's spending cuts.

In what looks like being the largest mass protest since the anti-Iraq war march in 2003, teachers, nurses, midwives, NHS, council and other public sector workers were joined by students, pensioners and direct action supporters, bringing the centre of the capital to a standstill...

The biggest union-organised event for over 20 years saw more than 800 coaches and dozens of trains hired to bring people to London, with many unable to make the journey to the capital because of the massive demand for transport...

"The thousands coming to London from across the country will be speaking for their communities when they call for a plan B that saves vital services, gets the jobless back to work and tackles the deficit through growth and fair tax."

Barber is expected to tell this afternoon's rally in Hyde Park that there is an alternative to the "brutal" spending cuts, which have already led to the threat of 170,000 council job losses and another 50,000 elsewhere in the public sector...

The education secretary, Michael Gove, acknowledged the public's concerns about the planned cuts, but insisted they were necessary.

"Of course people will feel a sense of disquiet, in some cases anger, at what they see happening," Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "But the difficulty we have, as the government inheriting a terrible economic mess, is that we have to take steps to bring the public finances back into balance.

Anti-cuts march swells to 400,000. London hosts largest protest since Iraq war as workers and public demonstrate against government spending cuts

DISCUSS!

Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Mar 27, 2011 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=512