Bradford and Bingley has been nationalised and news has just been announced that US Congress has voted down the $700bn to bail out the banks. And lets not forget that Bradford and Bingley, the demutualised building society, had cornered the niche market of “buy to let” mortgages along with self-certification loans (“liar” loans). Oh, yes, those halcyon days of the housing market that has gone bust.
All this before an expected huge rise in unemployment. What will happen when half a million more in Britain are trying to get by on £60.50 each week? Lots more companies with serious cash flow issues. Lots more prime mortgages turning sub-prime. We may even see the neo-liberals of 3 weeks ago bypassing the current social democratic phase of nationalisation with big bucks from the taxpayer towards Bolshevik expropriation as the taxpayer will be fresh out of big bucks.
The last 30 years will be mulled over by economic historians yet to be born. The debt driven free market jamboree was meant to be the saving of capitalism following the exhaustion of Keynesian welfarism in the 1970′s. Except that it was a lie. The free market was said to be self regulating. This was an axiomatic truth that could not be denied for three decades. All it has achieved is that on top of the crisis of arising from capitalist overproduction there is a huge surplus of fictitious capital. The owners of this capital will not be pleased by its destruction.
This destruction will be carried out by expropriation at some stage. This destruction is necessary for the continued existence of capitalism as an economic system. The Bolshevik methods mentioned above will be carried out for the benefit of the property owning class as a whole. BTW whatever can or cannot be said whether the working class is ‘in’ or ‘for’ itself the bourgeoisie most certainly is the latter. The decades of neo-liberalism represent the most far reaching and most self conscious ideological training any social class has received in history.
What is certain is that ordinary people will be expected to bear the cost. If you like the working class will be expropriated of the things that have been so hard won and hard defended over the years. Lower living standards. Lower hours at work. Shivering to death as a pensioner. Never going away on holiday. Worrying about what to eat tonight. Getting visits from the bailiffs. Utility cut-offs. Being chucked out of your job and going on workfare. Cuts in public services so tough for you if you cannot pay for a top up charge for your op.
All this and worse if we do not get organised now. We need to be militant around pay, around housing, around tax for the low paid and around pensions. People will be angry and people will be ready for a lead. Remember: we need to make our own optimism. We need to do this by organising. Organising. Organising.
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It is interesting that, because of the lay of the election land these days, the Republicans felt far more comfortable “rebelling” against their leadership than the Democrats, though 95 Democrats did vote no.
It is a testament to the real RAGE people are feeling here in the States at the minute that the leaderships couldn’t get this passed this round. Even as all of them say that it is either this or catastrophe. This time the “weapons of mass destruction” argument didn’t work.
The leadership of both parties are saying Thatcher-like that There Is No Alternative, and folks aren’t buying it. As you said Harpy- time to organize. Time to raise our analysis, our perspective. We have an alternative.