- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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It is heartening to note that, while the British establishment's behaviour is shameful, most ordinary people still live by a moral code
British establishment:A cesspool of corruption
Henry Porter writing in today’s Observer (8 July 2012) asks a very important question:
“One thing we can say after the succession of eye-popping scandals in public life is that the British must be one of the most stoical, resilient and phlegmatic people on this planet. But how long will we continue shrugging our shoulders at the scandals in banking, politics, journalism, the police and the priesthood? Our forbearance seems inexhaustible but at some stage it's surely going to run out.”…
…”Dream on, you will say. The British establishment is incapable of reforming itself. The only reason there is any kind of hand-wringing at the moment is because people got caught. There's no sense of remorse, no understanding among the perpetrators of the impact of these scandals, as was evident watching Bob Diamond at the Treasury select committee or any of Rupert Murdoch's clan over the past year. Nothing ever changes, goes the argument, only fundamental revolution will prevent bankers and politicians and businessmen behaving in the way that they always have.
I have sympathy with these frustrations because corruption and abuse of power is always accompanied by incompetence. Police officers who are being bribed and wined and dined by powerful interests cannot at the same time carry out their duties efficiently and for the good of the public. Bankers who preside over a system of illegal rate fixing do not run a sound and responsible bank. Politicians who are doing deals behind closed doors with media owners are bound to allow these deals to skew policy and damage the quality of government. Where there is a lapse of ethical standards, a general decline in performance is the corollary.
Some suggest that the abuse of power at the top is simply a reflection of a decline in general standards. I am not persuaded of this for the reason that I think there are heartening levels of decency still to be found across the population, together with persistent signs of understanding and tolerance. You don't have to have an unfeasibly rosy view of British society to agree that most people behave honestly most of the time.
Something did go wrong in our society during the last decade and half – maybe well before – which explains these scandals.
Britain engulfed in corruption: The chosen economic model is the culprit: HOW THE NEOLIBERAL PROJECT EMBEDS CORRUPTION IN BRITAIN
This was more than a few individuals mislaying their moral compass or being encouraged to think they could get away with something because of light-touch regulation. It has to do with the way we tolerated a vast increase in the wealth divide. A society that allows bankers to be remunerated in millions at the same time as there is widespread child poverty has lost its way. Attitudes that encouraged greater and greater inequity are the same ones that created the conditions for the abuse of power that so many of these scandals reveal. The common denominators are a disdain for the rights and welfare of ordinary people and a decline in compassion for the less fortunate.”…
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- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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Capitalism is in crisis across the globe – but what on earth might the alternative be?
Well, some are saying: what about Marx and Engels?
“Class conflict once seemed so straightforward. Marx and Engels wrote in the second best-selling book of all time, The Communist Manifesto: "What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable."…
…” Sales of Das Kapital, Marx's masterpiece of political economy, have soared ever since 2008, as have those of The Communist Manifesto and the Grundrisse (or, to give it its English title, Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy). Their sales rose as British workers bailed out the banks to keep the degraded system going and the snouts of the rich firmly in their troughs while the rest of us struggle in debt, job insecurity or worse… "The revival of interest in Marxism, especially for young people comes because it provides tools for analysing capitalism, and especially capitalist crises such as the one we're in now"…
… Could Britain have its Tahrir Square, its equivalent to Castro's 26th of July Movement? Let a young woman dream. After last year's riots and today with most of Britain alienated from the rich men in its government's cabinet, only a fool would rule it out…"one thing about Marxist thought that remains solid is class struggle. The disappearance of our factories, that's to say de-industrialisation of our countries and the outsourcing of industrial work to the countries where labour is less expensive and more docile, what else is this other than an act in the class struggle by the ruling bourgeoisie?"…
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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First came the US sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Now entire towns are declaring bankruptcy
Photo:parade.com
“They were hanging up the bunting in Mammoth Lakes this week, celebrating Independence Day in the traditional small-town fashion. First, locals queued up for an eat-all-you-can-eat "pancake breakfast". Then they took part in a fiercely contested "hot-dog-eating contest". Finally, after witnessing the annual town parade, the community oohed and aahed over a short but patriotic fireworks display.
Yet behind the show of civic pride lay a palpable sense of unease. For all the conspicuous consumption of junk food, and the proudly worn stars-and-stripes paraphernalia, locals were grimly aware that their picturesque resort, in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, was making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The previous day, local councillors voted unanimously to seek bankruptcy, after Mammoth Lakes found itself facing a bill of $43m (£28m) from a botched property deal. The town, in winter a popular ski destination, became the state's second municipality in a less than a week to suddenly declare itself insolvent. Officials issued a statement claiming "bankruptcy, unfortunately, is the only option left", after a court ordered it to immediately pay the $43m to its largest creditor. It remains unclear how local police, firefighters, and core services will continue to be funded.”…
The towns left in financial ruin
Stockton, California
The biggest city in the US to run out of money so far, it listed a debt of $1bn in its bankruptcy application last month
Mammoth Lakes, California
The ski town filed for bankruptcy this week after losing a legal fight costing twice its annual budget
West Fall, Pennsylvania
The economy was doing well in this small town yet its $20m debt still proved too big for it to cope with
Jefferson County, Alabama
Failure to restructure $3.1bn bonds on its sewers sent its finances down the drain
Central Falls, Rhode Island
Went broke last year due to its massive pension bill for the baby boomers among its 18,000 citizens
Vallejo, California
Debt led to police officers being laid off, fire stations being closed, and cuts imposed on other services in 2008
Moffett, Oklahoma
Raised 78 per cent of its income from speeding tickets – until a state-imposed ban on the fines made it insolvent in 2008
Pritchard, Alabama
When town ran out of money for pensions in 2009, it simply stopped paying them, but that was not enough
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