- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 4497
What would John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the 20th Century, have made of the current economic situation, ponders philosopher John Gray.
“The influential Cambridge economist has figured prominently in the anxious debates that have gone on since the crash of 2007-2008. For most of those invoking his name, he was a kind of social engineer, who urged using the power of government to lift the economy out of the devastating depression of the 30s…
…But would Keynes be today what is described as a Keynesian? Would this supremely subtle and sceptical mind still believe that policies he formulated long ago - which worked well in the decades after the World War II - can solve our problems now?...
Intimately familiar with the history of economic thought and widely read in many fields, producing a major treatise on the nature of probability alongside his famous General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and a host of penetrating essays, Keynes had a depth of culture that few economists could claim today…
…Influenced by the Cambridge philosopher GE Moore, they thought the only things that had value in themselves were love, beauty and the pursuit of knowledge.- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 5043
Business won't be ethical until it shares society's values again
“Have we got the picture now? In banking it seems it's entirely fine to twist an entire system to secure a commercial advantage, turn a blind eye to moving large amounts of dubious money without question, and, in your spare time, construct products that are so inherently unstable that they can bring down whole banks and economies. Damn the rest of us.
Oh yes, and, as if Barclays' and HSBC's antics are not enough, we find a large company like G4S can fail to fulfil a major commitment at a time of intense national pride and yet still collect their management fee from the taxpayer. Are we being mugs here? How much more can we take? Or have we become inured and accepting of corporate arrogance? Asks David Jackman, writing in Independent on Sunday (22.7.12)
I fully agree with Jackman’s remarks when he says:
“The solution lies in a number of steps that explicitly focus on building a corporate maturity and bridging a connection between corporate aims and broader social objectives.” Or “In the same way, the deferring to the mantra "the market will decide" is a similar cop-out. The market of itself is capable of deciding nothing.”
And now please see what I had written years ago, well before the emergence of the financial meltdown of September 2008:- Details
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 4753
Private hospital told doctors to delay NHS work to boost profits
A private hospital which accepts NHS work has instructed its doctors to artificially delay operations on non-paying patients to encourage them to pay fees
“Bernie Creaven, executive director of the private BMI Meriden Hospital, Coventry, had ordered an immediate four-week postponement of operations on NHS patients referred to the hospital, which will be extended to a minimum of eight weeks by September.
…"I believe time to access the system is the most critical factor for private patients converting to NHS patients," she wrote. She added that "other aspects of differentiation" would be introduced over the next few weeks to make NHS treatment at the hospital relatively less attractive.”…
Read more:
For further reading see:
The Crimes of Outsourcing, Workers Exploitation, Huge Profits, Bonuses and the Hell with the Masses!
The shaming of privatisation and deregulation, the so-called neo-liberalism
- The Crimes of Outsourcing, Workers Exploitation, Huge Profits, Bonuses and the Hell with the Masses!
- Britain Today: People’s democracy? Oh no! It’s all for the barons
- The shaming of privatisation and deregulation, the so-called neo-liberalism
- Neo-liberalism, privatisation, de-regulation, profit maximisation, cost minimisation and the Security of London Olympics
- Harrowing picture of post-capitalist America: The 'sacrifice zones'