Image via Wikipedia
It was only a matter of a few weeks ago that this page went into some detail about the stupidity of the talk about “popular capitalism,” fair capitalism or words to that effect being used in the UK. Now it has been given the PM’s approval as a policy. It is one thing to talk about popular capitalism and another to say what the policy is to get there. you can read an article at the Guardian site at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/19/david-cameron-pledges-popular-capitalism
Questions that spring to mind are
Who will it be popular with? Obviously with those who profit or find comfort in dead possessions obtained from the people.
Who will put this miracle system into place? The answer from Cameron is,”I want them to lead to a socially responsible and genuinely popular capitalism,”
Who will benefit” The answer from Cameron comes in a fairly twisted way, ”The result was a series of lethal imbalances in our economy, between north and south, between financial services and manufacturing, between the people who got huge rewards at the top, or welfare at the bottom, while everyone else seemed to be left out.” This piece of nonsense paints those on welfare as fortunate at least, while at the top the rewards were huge.
The inevitable conclusion is that he sees welfare as a reward, the difference between the top and bottom and why this inequality has occurred is left to empty words and gestures.
Has this happened before? Well the answer to that depends on where you either went to school or what you consider a square meal. To Cameron it seems that, This spirit led to the Factory Acts under Benjamin Disraeli, which began to set working conditions, and continued into the modern era as Conservatives forged a “genuinely popular capitalism” by opening up markets, ” You could be forgiven for thinking or wondering that many with a genuine interest in real history would view the Factory Acts somewhat differently. But he does expose a major theme. All will be good with new markets. Hence colonialism and the bastardisation of whole continents as the British imposed their economic will mostly by force on the rest of or as much as possible of the planet
It should be noted that by the 1844 Act,
- Children 9–13 years could work for 9 hours a day with a lunch break.
- Women and young people now worked the same number of hours. They could work for no more than 12 hours a day during the week, including one and a half hours for meals, and 9 hours on Sundays.
Together with popular capitalism comes a call for “responsible capitalism” the question there is responsible to who? Of course what is meant responsible to the same sort of people who put the pernicious system in place. In other words you get back to where you started.
The Cameron nonsense is shown by this part of what he is reported to have said,
“I believe that open markets and free enterprise are the best imaginable force for improving human wealth and happiness. They are the engine of progress, generating the enterprise and innovation that lifts people out of poverty and gives people opportunity.
“I would go further: where they work properly, open markets and free enterprise can actually promote morality. Why? Because they create a direct link between contribution and reward, between effort and outcome. The fundamental basis of the market is the idea of something for something – an idea we need to encourage, not condemn. So we should use this crisis of capitalism to improve markets, not undermine them.”
As to the idea that open markets and free enterprise promoting “morality” you need to give that word a severe twist to see the morality in exploiting other countries and their people, enforcing your own political beliefs through murder and by promoting unrest. Of course you have to totally ignore the unequal distribution of wealth, you just accept that as part of the “morality” being preached. Perhaps luckily for Cameron his idea that,” we should use this crisis of capitalism to improve markets, not undermine them” seems to go unexplained perhaps the only explanation is that if capitalists were perfect people then they would have a perfect system or some such nonsense.
To put more nails in the capitalist coffin Cameron graciously says,”"No true Conservative has a naive belief that all politics has to do is step back and let capitalism rip,” But that is the whole point, there are no free markets they are rigidly controlled to direct the profits to the elite. Free enterprise is just the freedom to take part in the process of domination. manipulation and humiliation of the people by those lucky enough to be at or near the top.
What he says is completely correct there is no point in letting anything “rip” let alone capitalism what is needed is absolute control at all times. Try listening to one of those stern Fourth Reich lectures by Merkel and you will see how prized and valued these ideals are for the capitalists and how the rest is expected to pay and keep paying for these capitalist virtues. Then should the need arise you can always put members of the rest in uniform military or police ones and send then out to enforce the capitalist ideals. Failure to conform is as usual dealt with by the law of the rulers and dispensed through their court system.
George Ikners ikners.com gikners@gmail.com
Related articles
- Responsible capitalism is Labour’s agenda | Stewart Wood (guardian.co.uk)
- The Camerons take their holiday in Tuscany (travelnews.britishairways.com)
- We Need a 21-Hour Work Week (drewdowns.net)
- A 21-hour working week is long overdue (leftfootforward.org)
- Cut the working week to a maximum of 20 hours, urge top economists (guardian.co.uk)
- Alternative Vision to Capitalism (tincup68.wordpress.com)
- Capitalism Is Broken? (slog.thestranger.com)
- The price to pay for capitalism and growth. An aspect of Austerity. Do not think it can not happen to you. (ikners.com)
- Income inequality growing faster in UK than any other rich country, says OECD Top 10% have incomes 12 times greater than bottom 10%, up from eight times greater in 1985, thinktank’s study reveals (ikners.com)
- The main endless war is The war against the poor: Rampant poverty and further welfare cuts have created a need to move towards a moral economy of the many, not few (ikners.com)
- Exposing Austerity for the dirty plan it is. All it does is allow more to be stolen from the people. Germany is a master at this game of theft (ikners.com)
