For over a century Marxists have argued the need to take the banks and
other financial institutions into public ownership as part of the
socialist transformation of society. The founding document of
scientific socialism, the ‘Communist Manifesto’, in 1848 called for,
"Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a
national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly."
On 8th October the government
and the banks came to an emergency agreement to prevent financial meltdown. The
government agreed to commit:
The banks committed themselves to – nothing.
A
few days ago RBS and Lloyds TSB/HBOS alone claimed £31.5bn of public money. The
final bill could come to £75bn
Parliament will once again be discussing the Human Fertilization and
Embryology Bill in October. Once again battle is joined between those
who defend the right for women to decide over their own bodies, and
those who want the state to do it for them. This time, however, there
is room for improvements to existing legislation – not just calls to
turn the clock back fifty years.
Panic
has gripped the stock markets of the world. Things are completely out
of control, and there is nothing that governments can say or do that
can stop it. As in 1929, every time people thought that the worst had
come, further falls were just round the corner. Nobody knows how far
share prices have still to go. The world economy now finds itself in
unsheltered waters.
The disarray among ruling circles in the
European Union could hardly have been more clearly depicted than at the
‘summit’ over the weekend of October 4th and 5th. In
reality the event was little more than a photo-shoot. The meeting brought
together the Prime Ministers of Britain, Germany, Italy and France. The Prime
Minister of Spain clearly had his nose put out of joint by the lack of an
invitation. The other EU members (currently 27 nation states) also may well
have asked why they weren’t to be asked to take part in decisions that could
profoundly affect their futures.
The only realistic reply could be that the
meeting would have been even more of a shambles. Europe cannot get its act
together. First the participants at the summit swore to unite in action in the
teeth of the crisis. Secondly, when it came to pumping money in to the European
banking system (which must come if the plan is serious) they all got cold feet.
National interests came first. German finance minister Peer Steinbruck blew the
gaff. “We as Germans do not want to pay into a big pot where we do not have
control and do not know where German money might be used,” he complained. Since
the EU nations are not hanging together, they will hang separately.
Sometimes
little incidents reveal much more fundamental truths. This article from the Guardian on Tuesday
September 09 which covered some of the fringe meetings at the TUC conference
clearly demonstrates just how out of touch many of the New Labour careerists
really are:
“One telling anecdote to
emerge from the Compass gathering was when David Lammy, the schools minister,
discussed his shock at finding one of his mother’s pay slips, dated 1986.
Lammy’s mother, recently deceased, had worked both in the NHS and for London
Underground. Going through his mum’s things after her death, Lammy learned that
her take-home pay 22 years ago was just £900 a month."
After being sacked for
whistle blowing and fighting for her rights Karen Reissmann has been elected to
the National Executive of UNISON. It’s a great victory, but there is still a
risk that Karen’s sacrifice and struggle will be in vain. Karen was offered a
financial settlement by her employers. When she declined to accept this,
(against advice from the union), the NW Region of the union withdrew her
funding. She is now appealing to the NEC, because she wants to fight to
get her job back.
While workers are being asked to take below-inflation pay increases to stop inflation, directors’ pay has increased by 6.1%, states a survey by Deloitte’s annual executive compensation study. They looked at the top 350 FTSE companies (except investment trusts).This survey does not tell the whole story. According to the Financial Times (08.09.08), “This understates total remuneration, because most top executives also receive a bonus worth on average of 157% of their salary last year. That is 10 to 15% higher than the previous year. Many also receive long-term stock awards that can be worth up to 165% of salary if […]
The credit crunch spares no-one. Liz Windsor of Windsor Castle has been forced to cut down on travel costs. No more £22,849 helicopter trips to the Kentucky Derby, then. She’s scraping by with just £12.7m from the civil list. How can you expect to keep up all those palaces on that money?
An oil man from Kazakhstan hit a nightclub in Regent Street one Saturday night in August. He and 15 mates started out with dinner and fine wine for £10,000. After that they really pushed the boat out with 20 bottles of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades champagne autographed by Jay-Z for £40,000. Then… well, we don’t want to bore you, but the drinks bill for the evening came to £95,000.
Lord (Jack) Cunningham – a former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister has been paid £36,000 for just 3 hours a week advice. Not surprisingly Jack was unwilling to reveal these consultancy fees to the House of Lords anti-sleaze register. What, exactly, are these companies buying?
Not quite instant bestseller. Japanese author Takiji Kobayashi wrote The Crab Ship (described as the Japanese equivalent of the Ragged Trousered Philanthopists) in 1929. Since then it’s sold a steady 5,000 a year. Now it’s taken off, because, “Young people…see themselves and today’s situation in the novel. ” 79 years on it has just sold half a million copies. Unfortunately Takiji won’t be counting his royalties. He was tortured to death by the secret police in 1933.