VOTE BRENDAN O'DONNELL
THE INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR AIRDRIE
Over the past few years working people all over the country have been struggling with a cost of living crisis which has been primarily driven by; interest rates, food inflation and energy costs.
And yet, as people struggled to pay their mortgages, profits at Britains four big banks went through the roof thanks to interest rate rises. Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest and Barclays raked it in, with HSBC, more than doubling their profits to £16.9 billion, in the first 6 months of 2023 alone.
In 2021/2022 as children went to school hungry and people struggled to put food on the table, the world’s largest agricultural corporations made astronomical profits, with Cargill, one of four agribusiness giants making £5.5 billion alone, the highest profit in their 157 year history, combined, all four of these corporations, which account for a huge share of global trade, made £11.3 billion profit in the same year, compared to £2.3 billion in 2019.
Hedge Funds hit the jackpot by exploiting the war in Ukraine, speculating on grains, oils and fertilisers as people went hungry and the profits at Britains supermarkets also soared, in 2021/22 our largest supermarkets profits combined hit £3.2 billion more than double their profits in 2019.
We had pensioners literally freeze to death because they couldn’t afford to heat their homes, as energy suppliers filled their boots. In 2022 BP reported record profits; over $27 billion and Shell's profits increased to $32 billion, the company's highest profits in their 115-year history, British Gas also reported a bumper year in 2023 as their profits soared by 889%, from £72 million in 2022 to £751 million in 2023.
And to this day, this exploitation, profiteering, racketeering, call it what you will, continues.
We are not in a cost of living crisis. We are in the middle of a well planned, ruthlessly executed, corporate sponsored and politically enabled; swindle: and there is no political appetite to challenge this obscene behaviour, and no institutions to challenge their failure to do so.
It's down to us.