The UK Budget of July 2015 could be interpreted as a vainglorious attempt to tell the waves of globalisation to go back. Blatantly utilitarian, with some class smirking, it was designed to benefit the perceived middle class, making the majority happier, at the expense of a minority, with mild raps for the plutocracy and elite, while allowing affluent family friends to keep more of their inherited wealth.
We should reflect on the moralistic project that underpins the budget. Before doing so, consider the economic reasoning behind the headline-making policy of a new national “living wage”, even though the term itself is a misnomer, since it will be neither national nor an amount on which to live in any decency.
