Showing posts with label deficit reduction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deficit reduction. Show all posts

Thursday 28 November 2013

A Wee Story About Debt.


      The fastest ever run through the economic system, a system that has the basic rule that for a rich man to get poor he has to be real stupid, and for a poor man to get rich he has to be real smart. Humorous, but with some truth.


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Tuesday 23 April 2013

Bullshit Economics.



      Well they came in swing their hatchet, cut, cut, cut, pain is necessary to get “the economy” going again. Of course the cuts and the pain were not for them, no, that part was for you and I the ordinary people. Millionaire Osborne, took the economic reins two and a half years ago with his pompous know-all statement that the UK's triple "A" credit rating was the hallmark of success and he would make sure we kept that rating. His next guarantee he made was his cut, slash and burn policies would lead to the UK deficit being reduced and the land would be covered by lovely green shoots. Well what a load of cobblers all that has been, the UK triple "A" rating has been downgraded by two of the three rating agencies and the figures out this week show public sector borrowing in March this year was £10.6 billion, up from £9.7 billion the previous March. So it looks like the first estimate of net borrowing in 2012/13 is similar to last year's £120 billion.
      Two and a half years of austerity, a nice way of saying poverty, heaped on a people for the prize of a deteriorating society. All the Cameron/Osborne bullshit exposed for what it is. I have never swallowed this crap about the “deficit reduction” would lead to growth, to the financial Mafia it was irrelevant whither it did or didn't. The plan was a little more multifaceted than that. “Deficit reduction” was plain and simple, a transferring of public wealth to the coffers of the financial Mafia to make up for their gambling losses, a way of legitimising the selling off all public assets to the corporate world, and of course to get wages down and create a UK sweatshop economy to compete with their Eastern sweatshop competitors. So it is working well at the moment.
     This is capitalism, all this chatter about deficit reduction, credit ratings and growth, is not with your welfare in mind, it's all about corporate profits, you and I are incidental to these calculations. We are an inconvenience to the corporate world, they need us to buy their crap, and sadly we need to be fed, and that means paying us, that in turn hits their profits. They will of course, always struggle to keep that cost down and they have this system of so called “representative democracy” which puts the stamp of legitimacy on policies to keep us in our place and to protect and enhance their profit margins. Until we change that system, we will continue to be screwed. They need us, we don't need them.

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Wednesday 21 November 2012

ZOMBIE CAPITALISM.


      I keep going on about the worst is yet to come, and keep pointing to Greece stating that it is not the exception, it is the pattern of the future. All the crap from our millionaire suits in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, about reducing the deficit and increasing growth, is an attempt at a feel-good factor, it is an illusion. After two years of Millionaire Osborne's master plan of screw the poor and reduce the debt, it is obvious that it is now in complete disarray. The latest figures have shattered even the economic "experts" by the size of the increase in government borrowing. The only growth is in the number of firms going bust and the number just holding for the meantime. That babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, still keep up the fantasy that Greece is the problem, if only we could sort that lot out, everything would be just right. Well, their stock and trade is bullshit, so what do you expect from them? Believe me, the worst is yet to come.
This from A World to Win:

'Zombie capitalism' more dead than alive

     You don’t have to listen too closely to hear the sound of factory gates slamming for the last time, and shutters rolling down over retail outlets. Consumer electrical chain Comet is just one amongst the many household names facing up to the consequences of the accelerating global contraction.
    Closing down sales are in progress across the country and thousands upon thousands of jobs are disappearing. Close to 2,000 of its former employees will be on the streets by the end of November.  
    Workers for iconic brands in every sector are under attack. Alongside Comet comes Hovis. Premier foods, owner of Hovis which it acquired in 2007 with the purchase of Rank Hovis McDougall is struggling with £1 billion of debt. The debt burden was much bigger until it was forced to sell Branston Pickle to the Japanese Mizkan group and Hartley’s jam to the marvellously-named US-based Hain Celestial.
     This summer’s extreme weather around the world devastated crops, driving wheat prices towards the stars, and pushing the cost of Premier’s bread beyond the reach of the Co-op which then cancelled its contract. 
Read the full article HERE:

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Monday 25 June 2012

SCHOOLS BECOMING CULTURAL DESERTS.

          Our education system at present is not fit for purpose but as our millionaire cabal, called the cabinet, working on behalf of the financial Mafia, continue with their "austerity", "deficit reduction" plan, the situation can only deteriorate. Schooling at present is not about education, it is about being a conveyor belt system to feed the needs of the corporate world. Those that can't be used at a profit by the corporate beast, can be dumped as surplus to requirements. Our kids deserve more than that as their future prospects, they deserve the full spectrum of cultural interaction, every opportunity to develop to their full potential. Of course we all know that it will not happen in a capitalist exploitative profit driven system of greed. 

 OOR SKOOL'S CRAP.

This from A World to Win.

Schools becoming cultural deserts

            What kind of education you get – and the chance to participate in music, film, theatre and other forms of culture – is more than ever dependent on your parents’ status and income, how aggressive they are in getting you into a well-resourced school, if they can afford extra tuition and where you live.
           Middle class and wealthy parents offset poor provision in many state schools by moving to other areas, sending their children to fee-paying schools or paying for  private tuition. But these options are difficult or impossible for those on lower incomes, those whose benefits are being slashed and those living outside urban centres.
            Above all, children’s access to culture is most affected by inequality, as Action for Children’s Arts (ACA) reveals. Using information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the charity discovered that, while children under 12 years make up 15% of the population, “their share of the available public funding for the arts is rarely more than 1%”.

 

Friday 22 June 2012

TIME TO TAKE SIDES.


      The media always shows the world affairs in terms of summits held in expensive locations surrounded by a wall of security. We are fed statements that are supposed to solve our problems but in fact are attempts at cementing their wealth and power. Somehow their decisions taken behind closed doors to smooth the path of corporate greed are supposed to make you and I feel better so that we go back to our daily grind and let them get on with our exploitation. Seldom does the media show what is actually happening on the ground among the ordinary people. Their real problems may become the subject of some future documentary, to make you feel how lucky you are now.
      However, across the globe, people are suffering the consequences of this system of corporate greed, people are angry and people are on the streets. It is an illusion to say that the system works, has ever worked or will ever work for the benefit of the people. There is not a country that does not have poverty, deprivation, protests, demonstrations and strikes, it is all a matter of degree. In Europe at the moment Greece is furthest down this line of "deficit reduction" "bank restructuring" policy, euphemisms for "plundering public assets" than the rest of us, but others are teetering on the edge, which merely means a little less suffering but more to come. This is the best this system can come up with, a continual plundering of the people. Then when the people after fighting and struggling to get some benefits from their labour, the system sets about clawing it all back into the coffers of the financial Mafia.


        Only when we an make the decisions that influence our lives will we be able to create that world where we see to the needs of all our people. As long as we leave those decisions to be made behind closed doors by the millionaire suits, we will continually be screwed. Will a millionaires make a decision that will benefit you and not themselves? They know whose side they are on, DO WE?


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Wednesday 2 May 2012

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE AND THE BATON.


       This video shows how “austerity cuts” are pushed through in Greece, the resentment and anger of the people at the savage slashing of their living standards, is met with unbridled brutality. While the unelected leader of the Greek government forces through the dictate of the financial Mafia, the state's muscle men are on the streets doing their damnedest to instil subservience through fear. It is not that the Greek state is any more brutal than any other European state, it is just that the Greek people are being hit harder by the “deficit reduction” plan, and are therefore showing more anger, so have to be beaten down harder by the Greek state, who are doing no more than any other state will do, should they feel the need. As the number of people in the UK being pushed into poverty rises, unemployment soars and social services are slashed, we can expect to see the anger spill onto the streets, it is then we will see the UK state unleash its well trained, well kitted out riot police to do its duty, and brutally subdue the will of the people. Nothing must stand in the way of the plunder of public assets, nothing must hinder the transfer of wealth from the public to the private bank accounts of the financial Mafia.

 



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Thursday 26 April 2012

BANKERS BONUSES - HOMELESS, THEY ARE CONNECTED.

        One aspect of our millionaire supreme leader's policy of “deficit reduction” “austerity cuts” is that families are finding it harder and harder just to keep their heads above water. Sadly not all can, and thanks to soaring unemployment and banks' repossessions, homelessness in this country has risen by a staggering 14%. Statistics are one thing but the human side should never be forgotten. What this translates into in human terms, is that there are 48,510 destitute families with no home, within this figure there are 69,460 homeless children. Again because of the financial Mafia's “austerity” agenda, support for these families is fast disappearing, which means that lots of them find their way on to the streets. This is the 21st century in the UK, one of the richest countries in the world, yet we have families trying to survive living homeless on the streets of our cities. From bankers bonuses and millionaires wielding power to struggling families and homeless children, our society is a picture of inequality and injustice, a society where money and profit are valued above human dignity, a society where the wealthy cement their power by subterfuge and corruption.


          While this cruel injustice is taking place before our eyes, the mainstream media will encourage us to enter into debate about tweedle-dee-Tory and tweedle-dum-Labour as if changing the suit and smiling face that occupies that stewpot of corruption, No.10, will solve all our problems. Surely history has taught us by now that, no matter how many times we send them in and send them out through the revolving doors of that No.10, our lot doesn't change that much, but those who slither into that place end up doing very well for themselves. Elections never benefit the people who vote, but do wonders for those who get the votes. Instead of voting for a bunch of egotistical parasites and keeping everything the same, why don't we ignore the elections and organise to take control of our own lives and all the assets of society and create the type of society that we want. One that sees to the needs of all our people. We are the ones that create the wealth, we make and distribute everything, we run all the services, the parasites need us, we don't need them.


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THEY'RE NOT STUPID!!


           I have often spouted that as far as the financial Mafia are concerned, the economic situation is going to plan and that the real game plan is to transfer all public assets and services to the corporate world, but at the same time reduce Europe to one very large sweatshop so that the we can compete with the other sweatshop areas in the world. As far as the various national governments are concerned, their job is to keep the lid on the discontent caused by this policy at the same time as managing the process.
The following are two quotes from an excellent article from Infantile Disorder.
         "But for all their mendacity and corruption, leading politicians are rarely stupid. Since John Maynard Keynes, the bourgeois have at least theoretically understood that increases - rather than reductions - in government spending stimulate a stagnant economy. When PMs and Chancellors since then have refused to do this, it has been because they've had an eye on the longer term picture, and have focused on reshaping the economic landscape. But no, that's a polite way of putting it. I really mean taking a sledgehammer to working class living standards."

        "The politicians - and behind them the international banksters - are hellbent on using the economic crisis to reduce our living standards to those that existed before the working class made huge gains in the aftermath of World War Two. They figure that a recession makes this easier, as workers are more likely to put up with their lot, for fear of losing their jobs, their homes, and so on. However, an elastic band can only be stretched so far before it snaps back, and that day is fast approaching."
Read the full atricle HERE:

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Thursday 19 April 2012

THE ROSE OF FIRE.


         As the "deficit reduction" and the "austerity cuts" bit ever deeper into the living standards of the ordinary people, what shape will the protests take? I always say, workers know your history, there are lessons to be learnt there.
This from Crimethinc.com


The History

“La rosa de foc ha tornat!” This was the expression of excitement on many people’s lips during the general strike throughout Spain on March 29, 2012. While the unions estimated an impressive 77% turnout, it was the fires blackening the skies over Barcelona that everyone talked about.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, when more anarchist attentats and bombings were carried out in Barcelona than in any other two countries combined and dozens of churches and police stations were burned to the ground, the city was affectionately known as la rosa de foc, “the rose of fire.” The period of“revolutionary gymnastics” in the ’20s and ’30s foregrounded the city as a laboratory of subversion for anarchist struggles worldwide, a role that was taken further with the revolution of July 1936. The struggle of Catalan maquis—guerrillas—during the Franco years was the precursor to the guerrilla struggles that blossomed in Europe and Latin America in the ’60s and ’70s; in some cases, it was the vector along which experience and materials were directly passed on. But this history has largely been lost, thanks to the rupture imposed by fascism and democracy, and Barcelona lost its significance on the revolutionary stage.


With the backing of the democratic powers, forty years of dictatorship and repression effectively suppressed the anarchist movement in Catalunya and the rest of the Spanish state. A great deal of pro-anarchist sentiment remained, but this was dissipated when the rebounding social revolution was sidetracked by the transition to democracy in the 1970s. Hundreds of thousands of people were taking the street, hoping to pick up the torch that had been dropped in ’36, but the government played its cards well, the returning CNT played its cards poorly, and democracy carried the day. Since then, the city has been tamed, if not outright pacified, and the rose of fire forgotten.


Tuesday 17 April 2012

14.5% ANNUAL PAY INCREASE, NICE ONE LLOYD.

        While the financial Mafia, lead by the likes of Goldman Sachs etc. continue with their slash and burn of the living standards of all the ordinary people across Europe, they have no qualms whatsoever in gorging themselves on the fruits of their plunder. It is not done surreptitiously, no it is done quite blatantly, their arrogance makes them feel they are entitled to such stratospheric payments.

It's hard being a banker, I have to make some tough decisions.

      Take Mr Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs, while you and I are suffering from a wage freeze or wage cut, this hard working gentleman received, for his 2011 annual pay, an increase of 14.5% taking his reward for a hard years work to the princely sum of $16.2million. This is approximately £10.3million a payment that makes up his salary, bonuses, long term share rewards and perks. You can rest assured that every penny/cent of that was gleaned from the “austerity cuts” and “deficit reduction” being imposed on the rest of us. Well, that's capitalism for you.


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Tuesday 3 April 2012

ECONOMIC WAR IS CLASS WAR.


            The mainstream media is still not telling the truth, they still don't report the human side of all this "deficit" reduction, they still try to create the impression that everything is going well, with a few protesters creating trouble on the streets. It is those nasty unions trying to undermine the growth strategies of the good and benevolent IMF (International Mankind Fuckers) and their henchmen the financial Mafia. Yes, they have a growth strategy, it is the growth of their already obscene wealth and power. Does it matter if a generation or two of young people are thrown into the whirlpool of despair, that poverty ravages the homes and lives of millions? The don't enter the equation, mere pawns, to the power mongers. People can become an inconvenience, they have to be controlled or they might rebel. That's where the national governments come in, they are merely there to keep control of the civil population, so as to allow the corporate fascists to plunder all public assets and rape the planet. All this in the name of greed, there is nothing on their agenda that is for the benefit of the ordinary people. But the last thing they want you to know is that the people across Europe are rebelling, they are taking to the streets in ever increasing numbers. The people are demanding change, but demanding is not enough, we have to create that change we want. To millions this world system means poverty, deprivation and repression, we can create that other world, a world of mutual aid, free association, voluntary co-operation and sustainability, a world system that sees to the needs of all our people, a world where the parasites have been permanently removed from our backs.



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Thursday 30 June 2011

     A CLASSY MAYFAIR FIRESALE!!!


     For those poor deluded souls who still think that "their" government is driving the fiscal policy in their respective countries, the extract below helps to clear the smoke from the bankers and bond markets smoke and mirrors illusion. Austerity cuts, as I keep spouting, have nothing to do with deficit reduction, it is all to do with flogging off everything in sight to the corporate world at "firesale" prices. Everything must go, ports, airports, land, anything that the corporate world can make money from will be handed to them on a plate, social services will be starved of funds letting the corporate world step in and sell the service to you at a price and profit to them, all of this at the dicate of the IMF and ECB. "Your" government is selling "your" country and the money raised will of course, not go to those who actually own these assets, the people, no, it will all go to the bankers and bond markets to cover their losses, and "your" government will comply, even if it decimates the living standards of the people, even if the people take to the streets in mass protests making it quite clear that they do not want this policy to continue. The state's minders will also be on the streets dealing out brutal repression with baton and tear gas, and if that doesn't work their is always the army. So much for democracy. 

     The short extract below was taken from from an article that appeared in The Guardian June 29 and was written by Aditya Chakrabortty and  titled, Greece crisis. As Athens erupts Mayfair hosts a classy firesale,.  The full article is well worth reading. The graphics are not The Guardian's.

     'At first, yesterday's meeting looked like a thousand other upmarket business events; suits gathered at Claridge's hotel in London's Mayfair for a day's discussion of how to reform Greece and its economy. But listening to the presentations from Greek ministers and officials about the airports, the ports, the land they were auctioning off to the highest bidder, the real purpose of the day came into sharp focus. Here in an art deco room with five chandeliers and too many mirrored surfaces to count, was the beginning of a classy firesale.

       The men from Athens were not calling it that, of course. “A professionally run privatisation plan” is how George Christodoulakis, the man in charge of Greece's asset sales preferred to describe it. But even he conceded that the pace and scale of the government's scheme to flog €50bn (£44.8bn) of assets within the next five years had been forced on it. “One can say; is this the best time to sell assets?” '
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Tuesday 17 May 2011

THE ILLUSION OF DEFICIT REDUCTION!!!


        What you have to realise about the deficit reduction brigade, those millionaires that spout that deep cuts are necessary to reduce the deficit, is that the deficit reduction is not their real aim. The aim of the exercise is to accelerate a vast privatisation program. In there eyes, public assets could be earning their millionaire friends in the corporate world, billions of £s. Practically ever country in the world, China probably being the exception, runs its affairs with a deficit. The entire stinking capitalist system relies on debt to function, or should that be dysfunction, as that seems to be the only way the system runs. The system continually needs debt and fresh capital to fuel their greed driven dream of eternal growth. So the Banking sector has come up with this wonderful illusion, get rid of your deficit and everything in your garden will be rosy, we will all find ourselves in the promised land of milk and honey. Decimate your living standards now and for the foreseeable future and all will be well, and of course the banking sector will not lose any money inspite of all its greed driven dodgy gambling mistakes.

      Of course to get rid of your deficit, you have to sell off all your assets. So, the millionaire public school thugs under the guise of “your government”, lead by the Cameron/Clegg spivs, will hand all our public assets over to the corporate world in the biggest privatisation operation ever undertaken. Everything must go, libraries, museums, public parks, schools, canals, health and welfare, education, all social services, all to be handed over to the private sector to feed the greed of the corporate world. What you will be left with is a corporate society where everything is available, but at a price, good health care, good education, well stocked libraries and fascinating museums, but all at a price. Those who don't have the price, will you can just do without, we will have a society that gives the rich their every wish and the poor a selection of charities. A society designed especially for the corporate world to make loads of money and nothing else.

       Forget the cuts, fight to change society away from profit and greed and towards people's needs. We don't need to carry an army of pampered parasites on our backs, sucking us dry like a plague of leeches.