The Conservative smoke screen

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, was correct when he referred to David Cameron as the biggest conman in British Politics. Cameron, along with Osbourne are a complete disaster. They have said nothing of substance….ever. They are merely riding the tidal wave of anti-Gordon Brown sentiment. They don’t need to say a word, they are destined to become the next PM and Chancellor of Britain. They are Friedmanites in ideology, but why don’t they say so? I’d suggest it’s because people weren’t that keen on Milton Friedman’s experiment here in Britain in the 1980s, and they aren’t likely to have forgotten the misery it caused.

Watching shadow Chancellor George Osbourne on Sky News (which is apparently trying to take over the World at the minute….. unsurprising, given that it’s run by Murdoch) talk about the Country being in financial ruin, whilst stood on the steps of his Notting Hill home, was a little bit cheeky to say the very least. The Conservatives, are certainly up to their old, regular tricks.

What they have rather cleverly managed to achieve, bewilders me, and destroys what little faith I have left in the British public. They have managed to turn the debate toward public spending cuts. The public are now engrossed in talk of public spending cuts, as if it’s going to be the saviour of Britain. One thing is for certain, without investment over the past year in public services, by the Government and opposed by the Tories, we’d be in much deeper mess than we are now.

Now, they don’t ever mention that public spending cuts should only come when the economy improves and we can afford to cut the deficit a little, so as to keep as many in work as possible; the way the Tories speak of spending cuts is in the context of the tough times we’re in today, as if spending needs to be cut immediately! Which, it doesn’t. They are no different. Fight for the Country, put your life on the line when war rears it’s ugly head…..and then work for next to nothing (they opposed the minimum wage) when you return.

It is interesting that they’ve taken this route, but it’s an illusion. It is simply a smoke screen to take our minds off the real problem. The system of economics that the Tories themselves brought into the Country in 1979, failed miserably. Yet they cling to it. They’re anti-Brown, when the Country is anti-Brown, they’re climate change progressives when the Country is climate change progressive, they then hide behind manipulative terms like “progressive Conservatives“, suggesting they are capable of changing their colours. They aren’t capable of changing their colours. How did we get to spending cuts? The real issue is the economic structure. Deregulated, free for all, Capitalism does not work. It failed. It is no surprise that the financial crises we now find ourselves in, came directly from the two epicentres of the neo-liberalist agenda of the 80s; America and Britain. They instilled into the minds of a generation the idea that we must all strive to own our own home by any means necessary. Fast forward thirty years, and the sub-prime market melts down horrifically. It allowed banks to inflate beyond destruction, steal, bribe, corrupt their way through life, and then it brought the entire World down with it. You can be thrown in jail for robbing money, on any street in the World…..apart from Wall Street. The Thatcherite revolution destroyed the power of the unions, yet masturbated the egos and gave power to arguably a bigger threat than the unions….big business and the financial sector. The Thatcher era, lead into the Blair era, which will lead into the Cameron era. There is no real change. It’s the the same tired message. Cameron will not address this. He will carry on, and we’ll hit another financial crises when the next deregulated financial bubble of unsustainable growth bursts. Neo-liberalism, whilst cloaked in manipulative language such as “freedom” is merely the horrendous suggestion that a stable economy is built on immense debt and excessive risk taking.

The Tories have made the wrong call on pretty much everything, since this crises began. They opposed the stimulus. They opposed the bank bailouts. They opposed further regulation of the utterly immoral financial sector. In fact, in early 2007, the produced a report that called for the TOTAL deregulation of the financial sector, which means sub prime would be the least of our problems. They are just a nightmare of a party. They are the problem, not the solution. The idea that regulations that exist to protect consumers against con tricks like sub prime, should be rolled back to allow the free market to flourish, is a Conservative/Republican ideology, an epic failure of an ideology. The idea that markets will deliver respectable services, when unhindered, is simply ridiculous. With the regulations pulled back, the corrupt banks were able to look to short term gain, without assessing the risk of long term Global meltdown. Sub Prime was a scam, the epitome of the heartless unhindered greed of a Conservative ideology, that failed miserably.

It follows then, that those who support the Conservative ideology of less government intervention (I have little faith in government, but I have far more faith in government, than in the private sector) would support Matt Ridley’s ideal, that less government intervention in the financial sector is preferable to sustain a healthy financial industry. That Socialism is a great evil. Of course, Matt Ridley was on the board of Northern Rock when it collapsed, due to it’s ridiculously over risky business model, unethical with it’s saver’s money, leading to Socialism bailing it out (which Ridley didn’t seem to complain about).

Why are we complaining about Government? The market placed failed. And why isn’t Gordon Brown (who is hugely responsible for this mess) saying “okay, I made a mistake, I followed on where Conservatism left off, and it failed, miserably. Time to do it the right way!“?
The Conservatives aren’t offering anything different, the Conservatives are being Conservatives. This is what they do. Tax cuts for the rich, public service cuts, and lack of support for those struggling the most. It’s an ideal time to be a Tory.

I guarantee nothing will change. Banks will go back to excessive risk taking (worse than before, given the roll backs in regulations likely to come from the next Tory government), another bubble will appear, there will be widespread misery, job loss, suicide rates will shoot up, homes repossessed, but those at the top will enjoy greater wealth than ever before, and the bubble and will eventually burst, in 20+ years time, and we will be faced with another round of Socialism having to bail out the miserable failure of Capitalism. They have simply been incredibly clever in turning the debate away from the failures of free market capitalism (I haven’t heard Cameron mention anything like closing Corporate tax loopholes), and onto the role and financing of the public sector.

To sum up, I wont be voting Conservative, ever!

What’s next?

“The real debate today is about finding the right balance between the market and government. Both are needed. They can complement each other. This balance will differ from time to time and place to place.” – Joseph Stiglitz

If the 1970s marked the death of social democracy; the flawed ideals of Socialism and it’s proponents, then 2005-2010 marks the death of the neoliberalist experiment. Thatcher, Reagan, New Labour, Alan Greenspan and other prominent neoliberalist proponents were wrong. The Banking crises with it’s roots lodged deeply into the cancer of the sub prime market spread and infested the very concept of neoliberalism itself; exposing the financial system for what it is – a corrupt entity, focusing on monetary value only rather than a mix of monetary, environmental, and human value; a germ that feeds on deregulation and a sub standard FSA.

This neoliberalist concept has forced itself on other nations. They have to allow Coca Cola and Starbucks to destroy their land and exploit their resources and workers, because if they don’t, they fail – falling further and further into poverty. Just because America loves it, doesn’t mean we all should.

There is of course one big problem. There isn’t another coherent philosophically sound economic theory that could replace the system we currently have. When the Callaghan government fell in 1979, it’s social democratic form was replaced by a Thatcherite Conservative movement which sparked the beginning of the neoliberalism experiment; thirty years later causing the biggest financial crises in modern history. The left wing didn’t cause this mess, we merely sat by and let it happen. We were theatre goers. We watched on as the boys in suits on stage attacked each other and set fires, whilst exclaiming to the audience that everything is great, that this system of setting fires and destroying each other, is the height of human nature. We watched helplessly as tax was set on fire, investment in public goods was set on fire, poor nation’s resources were set on fire, the environment was set on fire, financial regulation was set on fire, human kindness was set on fire, and we stood back and merely said “we told you so” when the money itself was set on fire.

The problem the Left has, is we do not know how to put those fires out. We have nothing new. We have no great intellect. We have no one like Milton Friedman who has a clear economic way forward. We lack a coherent set of economic strategies to combat the global recession and create a new World based on fairness and equality.

Conservatives and Republicans alike appear to be under the naive impression that if you’re not a supporter of deregulated markets and financial institutions, then you’re a communist. Well i’m neither. Socialism cries that the State is the answer to everything. Neoliberalism cries that deregulated free markets are the answer to everything. Neither ideas are right. Neither proved themselves worthy. The right mixture of market values and State supervision along with a safety net and assurances, is the right way forward.

We need to fight the attacks made by the American Right Wing, that any thing other than reimplementing Neoliberalist ideas is Socialist. We need to look back to Keynes for answers. We look to people like the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who insists on striking the middle ground when he mentioned a new order known as “Social Capitalism” . We need left wing intellects and prominent politicians willing to think the unthinkable and publicise it. For twenty five years not only have the Conservatives and Republicans dedicated themselves to neoliberal concepts, even our centre-left Parties have embraced neoliberalism. Tony Blair and New Labour embraced deregulation in all it’s disastrous glory. Thatcher herself, a a dinner in Hampshire was asked what her greatest achievement had been, she replied “Tony Blair and New Labour. We forced our opponents to change their minds“. The failure of New Labour and it’s ties to Thatcherism is evident today. They deregulated financial markets further, which in turn allowed 3.5million house holds to brave the winter months in fuel poverty; they sold industries further reducing Britain’s exports and social responsibilities whilst simultaneously killing the unions off further. The Tories are offering the same nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place. There is nothing new. They simply suggest that the super rich should be able to accumulate even greater wealth in the short term, whilst the rest of us get ever so slightly richer as the years pass by.

Economic growth along with the ability to accumulate great wealth at the expense of whoever they saw fit, has been considered a moral “right” and true “freedom” for thirty years, rather than a by product of social inequality and spectacularly wrong ethical standards. That, has to change. Let’s stop claiming London is such a powerhouse purely because the super rich in Mayfair have a number of yachts to their name; and let’s stop measuring the success of a city by how those less fortunate people in places like Peckham could benefit from huge investment in public education, policing, job creation, community support and healthcare. Let’s measure the success of a city by the way they pull together to help each other. Let’s stop considering houses to be “investments” and start seeing a house as a home primarily. Let’s stop considering the water supply in Indian slums as perfect places for Coca Cola to drain the water for profit to the detriment of local communities. Let’s stop claiming that poor nations are “lazy” when in fact most bi-lateral trade agreements favour the West in general and have very little benefit for poor nations. Let’s stop teaching our kids that it’s perfectly acceptable and necessary for the future of the concept of “freedom” to allow your child to get superbly over weight, whilst another starves to death. It isn’t right. It never was right. And the ethical system based on this flawed concept of “freedom” has been nothing but a disaster. Conservatives and Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for continuing to support it.

The State, which has been the centre of attack from Neoliberalist proponents across the globe, now has the task of saving us and those Neoliberalists from themselves through bail out schemes. The State has been resurrected and has a duty to regulate the financial markets, invest in public healthcare, housing and education, lead the way on climate change and make sure the hungry are fed.

Whilst this is a small window of opportunity for the Left to present it’s ideas on climate change initiatives, social welfare, bank regulation and new rules on global trade to include help for the poorest Nations, and ways out of this crises, there is nothing to be heard from them. As a leftie, liberal, green, hippy – this stands only to disappointment whilst we wait for Cameron and the New Thatcherites to start fighting the fire, by pouring petrol onto it.

So if Social Democracy failed; Communism failed; and now Neoliberalism has failed. What’s next?

Right Wing Economic wonder

I’ve managed to keep my mouth closed over the whole financial crises. I don’t know enough about it, and apparently i’m the only person in Britain who doesn’t consider Gordon Brown to be an economic powerhouse given that he’s run the Nation’s finances for the past ten years and it’s all gone to shit. Surely if he were THAT great, we’d all be fine now? Surely he wouldn’t think that the way out of recession, is to spend more whilst simultaneously borrowing more? It’s the equivalent of me starting a fire, but then putting it out again, after first trying to tackle it with petrol. But you know, i’m no expert. 

And now we’ve deduced that i’m infact, no expert, I can go crazy with opinionated nonsense, and it wont matter, because i’ve already stated, i’m no expert. 

For a few years i’ve had a bit of a dilemma on my mind. I know it must be logical somewhere, but i’m unable to figure it out. Washing up liquid that I buy for washing up here, costs £1.20 for a bottle. If I want three bottles, it’ll cost me £3.00. A saving of 60p. Surely that’s fine, if i have that £3.00 to spare, which I don’t, I’m a student, so I have to buy the £1.20, but then a month or so later, i’ll buy another, and then another, and so i’ve spent more than I would have if I had bought the £3.00. But then that’s fine, if I have that £3.00 in the first place. And so, it appears that if you have money, you’re fine, the market LOVES you. But the Market LOVES us low lives more. 

Recently I went £0.20p over drawn on my account. They charged me £15 for this, which is obscene in itself. I paid it. They then told me that if I were to have left it unpaid, that mere 20p, for five days, they’d charge me £25. So i’d be £25.20p overdrawn. Twenty days, and i’d be £125.20p overdrawn. What gets me is, if i’ve not paid it, in twenty days, then chances are, I can’t afford to pay the £15 charges, so what makes these people think i’d be perfectly able to pay £125.20p? I asked my bank manager that very question. He answered, as they all do, to justify their robbery “You should look after your accounts better”. That’s the same as telling a rape victim “You shouldn’t wear such short skirts”. I almost said “Ok, so you guys have borrowed from the Taxpayer for not looking after your fucking accounts properly, so you will be hearing from me within the next week outlining my charges to you.” 

I looked at the whole Sub Prime lending issue today, desperately trying to understand the concept. As far as I can tell, it seems like the whole concept of sub prime lending, is much the same as suggesting that Titanic, was unsinkable. I read a description of sub prime lending, and ended up thinking “Seriously, did no one see this crisis coming? But again, i’m no expert blah blah blah. 

And whilst on the annoyance of Sub Prime lending, let’s move onto Sub Prime insurance. An even deadlier cancer than sub prime itself. AIG greedily insure sub prime mortgages, knowing they will benefit massively from the plight of those less fortunate whilst the housing market is on the rise. And then the housing market collapses, and AIG say “can we have a handout please Government?” No you fucking can’t! 

Goldman Sachs this year asked for $6.1 billion to be bailed out of the shit. They then put $7 billion aside for boss bonuses.50% has fallen from the valuation of the company this year. And yet they can afford to pay the top dogs a hefty bonus totalling more than the tax payer is paying to bail the bastards out. Lehman brothers appear to be doing the exact same thing. The whole Goldman Sachs case, stinks disturbingly of Mr Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary and ex-Goldman Sachs CEO bailing out his friends. The dictionary has “bonus” defined as “A sum of money added to wages for good performance”. $7 billion awarded for destroying your company, putting thousands out of work due to your greed, and adding to the already doomed capitalist system, please someone explain the logic behind this. 
Is this the amazing deregulated free market that those moronic advocates, Thatcher and Regan so naively promoted? The deregulated free market that Milton Friedman insisted was the perfect system? 
If i’m sat around a cabinet table, and the bosses of Goldman Sachs ask me to bail them out, and then tell me that they’re paying $7 billion out in bonuses, my first comment, after a bout of hysterical laughter, would be “no you fucking well aren’t!” 

Does anyone else get the feeling Bush has just given up? I saw Paulson the other day, tell CNN that the $750 billion bail out package that they told us was the perfect solution, and HAD to pass Congress as quick as possible, that it’d save everything, and we’d all be fine, and that if Congess didn’t pass it, we’d all be doomed…… had failed. And then, to top it off, Bush said during his speech the other day that “The market didn’t need more regulation, what the market needs is less regaulation!!!!”….. Are these people on the same planet as the rest of us? 

And doesn’t all this, stink horribly of Thatcherism and Reganomics? Telling us all that the deregulated capitalist market is wondrous and promotes the beauty of ‘freedom’. That we’d all benefit, and all will be fine, like an economic heaven, where Milton Friedman is God………… Where banks are free to encourage personal debt at a rate that the consumer will never be able to pay back, and nothing at all could possibly go wrong……….. yeah, how’d that work out for you?

Still, i’m no expert.