Welfare for sale, price to be discussed... From " the Welfare State" to " the Predator State"

Rising inequality in Europe and the United States, draconian austerity policies, growing pauperization of the middle classes, freeze of social benefits in the UK for the fourth year in a row, reform of the NHS, retirement points in France, the future of social policies looks bleak… it is the future of our societies, of the social state and of democracy which seems today threatened.

The HBAI annual report reveals in March 2019 that 3.7 million British children live in absolute poverty for the period 2017-2018, compared to 3.5 million in the previous period. The introduction of universal credit could further worsen the situation of the most precarious³, "long-term" poor, as shown by the conclusion of the study conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which concludes that almost two millions of people will lose more than 1000 pounds a year with this policy measure, in the first place, disabled people, self-employed and low-income families, with little or no savings…