By a commentator for Tjen Folket Media.
Cuts and austerity in the rules for work assessment allowance force more people into welfare programs or leave them without any registered income. The poor and sick are under attack in today’s capitalist Norway.
Fri Fagbevegelse writes that there is now a greater chance that poor people end up on disability leave.
Forskjells-Norge: Nå er det større sjanse for at fattige ender opp som uføre
Findings from the studies of two researchers show the severity of the situation for poor people. The findings are reliable, but in the article, the researchers come with naive interpretations about the state and its politicians when Simen Markussen tells Fri Fagbevegelse that:
It is disturbing that there have been fewer possibilities over time – despite the fact that the policies have a goal of establishing the opposite. Therefore, the development is concerning. Our society is built on the idea that everyone should have equal opportunities.
The researchers behind the findings are in other words not equipped to point out the problem that leads to these conditions, or to identify the path to solving problems.
We live in a capitalist society, which is built on the principle that workers are exploited so that the capitalists can get rich off of their work. Our society consists of two classes, and these have irreconcilable interests. This system pressures workers to work as hard as possible while giving them as little as possible in return. In particular, the poorest work under harsh working conditions, which makes people sick.
And politicians are not friends of the proletariat. The problem is neither that the wrong politicians rule nor that they are solving problems with the wrong policies. Politicians are a part of and work in service of the bourgeoisie, that is the ruling class in capitalism. This class must be removed through revolution if the proletariat is to improve its conditions.
The politicians cannot reverse the crisis in capitalism and this forces cuts in the people’s welfare. And since politicians serve the bourgeoisie, the burden is thrust upon the poorest. This is also seen in the state’s assault on the unemployed.
In a report from NAV [Transl.: NAV is the public welfare agency in Norway], it has been revealed that after cuts and austerity in the rules for work assessment allowance, more people are forced to turn to social assistance or to be left without any registered income. Dagsavisen writes the following:
Compared with the period between 2015 and 2016, last year there were 2,200 more people who were neither registered as employed, received disability support, nor any other NAV benefits in the six months after they left the [work assessment allowance] arrangement. In total, there were over 10,000 people who ended up in this category in 2018.
In the report, the researchers write:
There is little doubt that the rule changes for [work assessment allowance] has led to more people ending up in social assistance or going without registered income.
The researchers make it clear that most of the people who “end up with social assistance or go without registered income” continue to be registered with reduced ability to work, but without “necessarily” being granted disability benefits. “We are now talking about people who are undefined when it comes to employment or disability support.”
In other words, the government forces those that the capitalists have forced into unemployment or those who have been made sick by the system, deeper into poverty.
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