Amergent

Financial success is like one of those carnival fishing games. Middle class kids can afford one throw. Most miss. A few hit the target and get a small prize. A very few hit the center bullseye and get a bigger prize. Rags to riches! The American Dream lives on. Rich kids can afford many throws. If they want to, they can try over and over and over again until they hit something and feel good about themselves. Some keep going until they hit the center bullseye, then they give speeches about "meritocracy" and the salutary effects of hard work. Billionaires own the ground the carnival is run on, they make money without even visiting the carnival. And Poor kids. They aren't even visiting the carnival. They're the ones working it Maybe we can change things up a little bit so the poor have an opportunity to play the game and the very rich don't make quite as much just by owning the land. A carnival where the ticket prices are a little more reasonable is more popular and ...

Media is an ideological battle ground that obfuscates understanding and disempowers so many people before they ever reach voting age. Politics students get an insight into the way the world works, and the way it has worked in the past, which most citizens never encounter through the media and its blatantly opaque if not misinforming take on the world and current affairs. If we want the democratic population to be informed empowered and to engage with elites as equals then a good place to start would be early in the education system. Inserting political understanding into young people’s awareness from the age of 10-12 years would seem a key antidote to ideological indoctrination and misinformation, a grounding that can then be built upon as they progress through to voting age, and beyond. Politics students at university engage with a rich and multidisciplinary curriculum designed to provide deep insights into the functioning of the state, society, and the interplay between power, instit...

  Proposal for Reforming Inheritance Tax Relief to Protect Family Farms and Businesses Let’s ensure tax policy works for those who work the land—not just those who trade it. 1. Introduction The 2024 reforms to Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief on agricultural and business property have sparked significant backlash, with critics labelling them a "family farm tax". Affected parties are now seeking judicial review, arguing that the government failed to conduct a proper consultation on the economic impact of these changes. This proposal goes further, advocating for a clear policy distinction between true family-run farms/businesses and financialised business interests. The goal is to: Eliminate IHT entirely for genuine family farms and businesses, ensuring generational continuity. Apply full IHT to financialised and speculative holdings, reducing land price inflation driven by tax avoidance. Introduce a state-held trust system to protect family enterprises while ensuring the state ben...