Should the tax payers be providing loans and bailouts for companies that for all intents and purposes have failed?
The fact is that we live in a capitalist system and we should therefore abide by the rules of the game. Its shouldn't be a case of proclaiming the system as the obvious way forward when things are going well and then making excuses with words such as "unprecedented" and "extraordinary" when its shown to be the sham that it really is.
One big advantage of a capitalist method of production over a planned economy is that its fairly easy to tell if a product is being overproduced. The selling price falls and falls quickly and then company goes bye bye. Well correct me if I'm wrong but the sea of cars and flat screen T.V's in production yards all over the country (and the world!) are screaming "I'm being over produced and the world doesn't need me!". The onus has been placed on the consumer to buy buy buy! Surely it should be on the producers to make that which is required. That is what is supposed to be good about the capitalist system.
Maybe people are starting to realise the difference between what they need and what they want. My car is ten years old and is owned outright by me. Its done 96K and provided I look after it it will do another 96K. Why the hell would I want to buy a brand new car for £10K or more??!! Should I buy a new one so I can be the youngish to middle age suave professional with an attractive wife, two kids and a Labrador in the adverts? Should I buy one so I can be the young kid with all his mates + blond piece in the back arriving at the party?? Its all fucking nonsense. I know people with a beautiful house and car but have an empty fridge and are constantly juggling bills. So much for the lifestyle promised in the advert. They would never admit it but what would they give to "downsize" the house and get a banger of a car. I would imagine they would give up their house and car. Pity about the falling house prices and car depreciation. They are now stuck. Same story for hundreds of thousands in this country.
The reason that these goods were produced was because people could "afford" them via cheap credit. Now the credit is not available, people cant afford them. Further to that, people wanted them because they thought it would make them look more successful but, and more importantly, it made them FEEL successful. What they were buying was not a 42"flat screen but an idea, a lifestyle, a myth.
So what about a possible planned economy or at least a majority nationalised manufacturing industry. This is happening to a degree at the minute. "Loans" to car companies, bank bailouts and greater regulation.
It is possible for all those who want a job to have one. It all goes back to my earlier post (means of production) about men being paid the true value of their labour and also producing goods which society needs and not wants. True needs are absolute. One needs the goods/service or they don't. Wants can be generated, manipulated and abused.
The hard part is deciding what is a need and what is a want because in truth needs and wants are different for different people. An example of what I would call "true" needs are food and water. Death occurs without them. "Wants" are T.Vs, computers, designer sofa's etc. Arr but things like computers lead to the advancement of mankind you may say. Well it leads to the "advancement" of the minority of mankind and leaves the rest drinking disease ridden water and fighting for bags of rice thrown from UN trucks.
It must surely be dawning on our nation that for the last 25 years we have been taken for one ride after another following Thatchers disastrous "reforms". Deregulation in the money markets and the destruction of industry has made this country ripe for ruin.
Apparently we were supposed to lose the smokey dirty industries and become an exporter of financial services. How the hell can a country export financial services? Countries export goods. Things you can touch and use. The smug bastards sat at the top of their trees spewing nonsense about how their "wages" were justified by magical performance on the markets ad infinitum. Well now we can see just how "magical" they really were. They were magical in the true sense of the word, with sleight of hand and puff of smoke they were criminally defrauding banks, governments, individuals and anyone intoxicated enough to be blinded by the promise of easy money.
The current crisis could have even more devastating impacts on our society than even the Iron Bitch.
3 comments:
Good, well made points Bob! Struggling to find anything to argue with!
One thing I will say is that the world would be a boring place if we only produced what we need and not what we want! We are not automatons, we are humans with desires, there's nothing wrong with wanting something which is realistically within reach, the problem as you mention, is wanting things which we cannot realistically afford/attain! When 99% of the time, it's just so you can beat the Jones's or appear to be doing well. It's about finding the realistic level of your needs/desire's, there's certainly nothing wrong with me owning a lovely 42" HDTV, yes, I could have just gone for a 22" and sat a little closer to it, but where's the fun in that? Considering that buying the 42 hasn't had a noticeable financial impact on my life! But then again, in your ideal world, we would still be watching a B&W 9" TV with poor picture and reception, and it would be the size of a cow!
Bob, do you think that 'Unite' and other trade unions should withdraw their monies that they give to the Labour government, considering the Labour government effectively abandoned the working classes during the recent 'Lindsey Oil Refinery' worker disputes?
Also, isn't it about time that we stopped having TUC sponsored MP's and started having trade union's putting up their own MP's?
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