Work was once the way to a better life. Not any more

> If workers have any spare time, it doesn’t go into campaigning in their workplace for better terms and conditions. It is spent in the long queue at Aldi and Lidl for cheaper food. It is spent scouring the newspaper best-buy tables for a cheaper mortgage deal, a lower energy tariff or discounted car insurance.

I do feel like life is a bloody attrition war against the universe. Everything is too complicated.

Income tax return? Months of paperwork and letters sent back and forth. Car insurance? You better know what you need or the agent will sell you insurance against squirrel attack. Renting an apartment? You better know all renting regulation nuances or in the best case you lose the deposit. Job search? Months long full time job. Health problems different than broken bone or blood squirting out of your body? You’re looking at months and years long waiting for diagnostics and specialist’s attention. Lawyers? Various legal trolls stalk you, but once you need one, none is available.

Whatever goes wrong - it’s always your fault, never the fault of the corporate or institutionalized other side, and penalty fees are waiting.

The sub heading says property and pensions have replaced work - what are the differences between the USA and UK for pensions? As an American I think of a company provided retirement plan benefit, and this is not very common here outside of government work, so are they referring to the general system providing for retirement benefits (so that would include USA's social security/private retirement plans)?

There are many underlying reasons for the ongoing deterioration of the fortunes of the "underclass" but one aspect that doesn't get enough acknowledgement is cultural change. In the 19th century society had extreme class divisions and it was a common sentiment among the upper classes that the lower classes were fundamentally (even perhaps genetically) inferior and deserved to be relegated to poverty. In the 20th century some of that changed a bit but then boomeranged back to an even more aggressively classist sentiment which started growing sometime around the 1980s and is now practically ubiquitous. That being something along the lines of "all is fair in love, war, and capitalism", the idea that the economy is a game and any behavior whatsoever is acceptable (within the law, -ish) so long as it follows from the foundational axioms of personal selfishness and greed it is seen as desirable behavior. Since the rich and powerful have all the wealth and the power this unequal situation tends to further amplify itself given such a values system.

Even more disturbing is that this values change has seem to be paired with an aggressive demonization of and heartlessness towards the poor and infirm, even compared to 19th century norms. Today it's very common to hate the poor, the homeless, and the disabled as well as those injured by institutional iniquities and injustices. If anyone gets ground in the gears of capitalism, well, they probably deserved it. Also, why should we help the homeless and the poor when their lives are full of so many problems and they are so dirty and disgusting? That values system filters up all the way into the workforce. The worker is seen as justifiably powerless, a pawn or a cog, and if they are taken advantage of, well, they had the "choice" to not be taken advantage of, right?

It's more than a little disturbing and disheartening that we've somehow managed to end up here.