Freedom in Wales

State In Wales

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With the UK economy continuing to "bump along the bottom", one must wonder what on earth is going on. Mismanagement, or rather the urge to completely manage the economy, has put us in terrible shape. Yet, look more closely and the picture is even more frightening.

It was reported in 2008, that 448,000 people, (25.1% of the potential working population), are recorded as economically inactive in Wales. This is above the national average of 21%, putting us at the bottom of the table. Essentially, these are people who are not presently seeking work or unavailable to start. It’s a rather alarming figure in itself, but there is much more. Welsh unemployment, 8.5% of the population, is also higher than the national average of 7.8%. Yet it gets much worse. Of the working population, just over 400,000 are employed directly by the public sector, coming in at just under 25% of the total. Again this is far higher than the National average. Such is the scale of the problem in Wales that roughly only 1/3 of our future economic growth will come from the private sector, a figure more suitably linked to the old Soviet Union.

The number of people claiming incapacity benefit in Wales stands at around 190,000 adults, again much higher than the National average. These figures also do not take into consideration the number of people who are indirectly reliant on the public sector, whether it is in other forms of other benefits or Welsh Assembly funding.

These figures make for rather depressing reading about the state of the economy in Wales. Large swathes of unemployment, coupled with reluctance to embrace a true free market has left us bottom of the pile in almost every department.

Wales has essentially replaced industry with the public sector. Whoever is left to clean up this mess is going to face some very tough choices, it simply cannot continue.

A roll back of the state and devolution of power to local councils could be a start. A reduction in taxation on all levels may entice private enterprise to genuinely invest in Wales, but the future is looking rather bleak.

The Freedom Association is a strong supporter of free markets, individual freedom and a limited Government, yet these are alien principles to the many political classes here in Cardiff Bay.

With the brilliant work of Simon Richards and some help along the way, Freedom in Wales can hopefully force some common sense into the current political climate.

Sean Melody

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Freedom In Wales

Hello and welcome to the Freedom In Wales page. Over the next few months we hope to really get things going here in Cardiff Bay. With the Welsh Assembly continuing to waste taxpayer's money daily, we plan to keep a closer eye on things...