Rail workers, teachers, doctors, airport staff…, the list of those striking, or threatening to strike, is seemingly lengthening by the day.

At first glance, some of the claims do not seem entirely unreasonable – these workers have seen their take-home pay diminished by the rapidly increasing costs of day-to-day life. In some instances, workers appear to have a cast-iron argument for a pay increase.

The problem with large pay rises

Unfortunately, in general, pay increases will not solve the crisis – rather they will exacerbate it, particularly the large rises demanded by some. (Small ones are probably inevitable.) Increases in one industry will fuel calls for others. And wage rises across the board will set inflation into a spiral that will be incredibly difficult to stop. It has the potential to lead to hyperinflation, which in historical terms, has led to many woes.

Hyperinflation was one of the factors that led to Hitler being able to take control in Germany, for example. It may not always have such a dramatic effect, but it can mean a country’s entire currency needing to be replaced. To prevent inflation running out of control, one of the few tools available is to deliberately cause or worsen a recession in order to dampen down prices.

One of the ways to do this is to rapidly increase interest rates – which would, in itself, cost nearly everyone in terms of mortgage-payment or rent increases. These are bitter pills to swallow and are best avoided by not getting into this situation in the first place – hence the need for unpopular wage restraint.

Strike selfishness

Though few really understand the economics of it all, viewed in this light many of the strikes come over as being quite selfish; people demanding their own standards of living be maintained while others around them suffer financial hardships – worsened by the misery caused by their strikes.

... people demanding their own standards of living be maintained while others around them suffer financial hardships – worsened by the misery caused by their strikes.

It’s interesting that it is the better paid that seem to be striking. The average rail worker’s salary is over £43,000, according to ONS figures. The average salary for a teacher is said to be over £38,000, and medics, on average, earn considerably more than the patients they treat.¹ On the other hand, most lesser-paid workers, such as care workers, supermarket or factory staff, are virtually never found striking, despite regularly being on minimum wage. The contrast is striking.

It’s not that some of these don’t deserve a good wage – I see just how hard teachers work, for example, particularly those working in challenging schools. But we’re in a crisis situation.

Self-inflicted pain

The reality is, it is possible to bring this country back from the brink of disaster, with the right choices and attitudes. Some decisions are in the hands of the government, but the majority actually belong with the people.

The reality is, it is possible to bring this country back from the brink of disaster, with the right choices and attitudes.

In this ministry, however, we have long been predicting that God would soon shake both the nation and the world, because of our collective rejection of him and the ways he taught us to act, and we are very much now seeing the effects of that. It looks very likely that things are going to get considerably worse.

In many ways, however, this is something that God is allowing, rather than causing. We are effectively causing it ourselves. God allowed the coronavirus pandemic – most likely caused by humans, as a lab leak – but it was our collective response to it that has caused the biggest damage. Paying people to sit idly at home has directly created much of the inflation we see today. Not to mention the other devastating effects of lockdown.

Of course, much additional pressure has been caused by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions have pushed up oil and gas prices immensely, and the war itself is having a dramatic impact on food supplies across the world.

A reduction in green energy levies and fuel duties could cut prices significantly, which would then filter back down to everything that fuel prices are currently affecting. But the adherents of the big green eco-religion (which, whilst having some real merit, has gone beyond all reason) will make it almost impossible for this to be done.

Rights v responsibilities

Clifford Hill feels that it’s too late to save this country from the coming disaster. Personally, I believe he’s right, but mainly because people simply can’t or won’t see that a return to biblical principles and the God of the Bible could be enough to prevent it.

People simply can’t or won’t see that a return to biblical principles and the God of the Bible could be enough to prevent disaster.

Simply put, people no longer really look out for each other, no longer want to listen to each other. Many strikers are far too focused on me-me-me, rather than what they can do to help their own communities and country.

It’s not just them, of course, they are just the outer face of the general attitude of most of the population. There are still a great many in our country who genuinely do put others first. But, while once that would have constituted a majority of the population, it’s now a small minority.

Rights have subsumed responsibilities. The right to luxuries that most of the world can only dream of.

Rights have subsumed responsibilities. The right to luxuries that most of the world can only dream of. The right to an income without working for it. The right to unfettered sex without consequences. The right to kill your unborn child. Once we were exhorted, ‘think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ Now we face a culture of entitlement.

A return to God’s ways?

Instead of striking, how good it would be if the better-paid in society sought to help those who are genuinely struggling, out of their own pocket (as some already do) – not just telling the government to do it. And, of course, let’s not forget the other biblical laws that we need to return to.

If, as individuals, communities, and as a country, we all made a concerted effort to come together, think of and support one another, work hard, and enact the principles of the Bible, we could possibly avert the disaster ahead. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that we will. In the end, things are likely to get a lot worse before people are ready to hear the message.

Notes

1 These are, of course, average figures for full-time work, some will earn less, particularly outside of London.