THE RICH GET RICHER

"One of the most exclusive clubs in the U.S. has picked up more members. About 47,000 people had a net worth of $20 million or more in 2004, the latest available year, according to new estimates by the Internal Revenue Service. While that was up only slightly from 46,000 in 2001, it was up 62% from 29,000 in 1998. The IRS also reported increases in the number of people with a net worth between $10 million and $20 million: 79,000 people qualified for this group in 2004, up from 77,000 in 2001 and 51,000 in 1998."
(Wall Street Journal, 28 August) RD

BABY, IT'S COLD INSIDE

"Npower and Scottish Power are the last of the big six energy suppliers to increase prices this year, taking the average household bill to almost £1,500 a year - that is a 40 per cent increase on last year. .... For millions of vulnerable consumers, particularly the elderly and low-income families, the stark reality will mean huddling in a cold house that they cannot afford to heat this winter." (Times,30 August) RD

Buck House

Buckingham Palace , the Queen's official London residence was estimated to be worth £935 million. The palace has 775 rooms, including 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. It also has a cinema, swimming pool, 40 acres of land and it's very own post office.
It was reportedly purchased for only £21,000 by George III in 1761.

The Queen's weekend retreat, Windsor Castle, has also been valued for the first time at £180 million.

The Market System Must Go! Why reformism doesn't work

While looking at the recent pieces,to place in Glasgow's website, on this Blog, 'The struggle for even more reforms is irrelevant and only gets in the way , as well as 'Slowly does it' , I was reminded that our pamphlet,
'The Market System Must Go!' was subtitled ,'Why reformism doesn't work'.
The link takes you into Glasgow's site and the pamphlet is available in HTML or PDF formats.

This pamphlet, on the subject of ‘reform or revolution’, is intended to explain why the Socialist Party advocates a revolutionary transformation of existing society rather than piecemeal reform, like the Labour Party or the Conservatives. It is primarily intended to be a detailed back up to our more introductory pamphlets putting the case for revolutionary change, and to our journal The Socialist Standard.

Much of the material in this pamphlet is from the late nineties , but some has been adapted from previous editions of our pamphlets, principally the now out-of-print Questions of the Day. The earlier chapters develop the case against reformist politics in general, while later chapters discuss specific subjects of concern to modern reformers, ranging from the welfare state to tax reform. It provides a comprehensive critique of the outlook of those who oppose the politics of democratic socialist revolution in favour of reform activity, and is to be particularly recommended to those who consider that reform intervention can make capitalism run in the interests of the wage and salary earning working class.

POVERTY STALKS THE USA

"More than one out of four people in Buffalo are poor, according to the latest estimates by the U. S. Census Bureau. Figures released Tuesday on U. S. income and poverty show Buffalo still has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation — 28.7 percent in 2007. That compares with 29.9 percent the previous year. But given the margin of error figured into the estimates, Buffalo’s poverty really hasn’t improved from 2006 to 2007, said Wende A. Mix, an associate professor in the geography and planning department at Buffalo State College. “Statistically,” she said, “there’s no change.” That also was true nationally, where the poverty rate was 12.5 percent in 2007, according to the Census Bureau report. ...In the report released Tuesday, Detroit’s poverty rate of 33.8 percent was the highest among cities with more than 250,000 people, followed by Cleveland, at 29.5 percent; Buffalo; El Paso, Texas, 27.4; Memphis, 26.2; Miami, 25.5; Milwaukee, 24.4; Newark, 23.9; Philadelphia, 23.8; and Cincinnati, 23.5. The Census Bureau pointed out, though, that the poverty rate for Buffalo was not statistically different from the rate for El Paso, Memphis and Miami, and cautioned about comparisons. “Their percentages might be slightly different, but with a margin of error, there’s really no difference,” said Mix, who works with the census data. “Statistically, there’s a lot of ties here.” But advocates for the poor said it doesn’t matter whether Buffalo has the highest poverty rate or the 10th highest, it’s still unacceptable. “No matter what the numbers show, the fact that close to a third of all the residents in the city are living in poverty is an absolute disgrace,” said Bill O’Connell, executive director of the Homeless Alliance of Western New York." (Buffalo News, 26 August) RD

PROGRESSING BACKWARDS

"More than 37 million Americans live in poverty and nearly 46 million have no health insurance, an official report showed Tuesday, spotlighting two key issues in the race for the presidency. Some 37.3 million people lived in poverty in the United States in 2007, an increase from the 36.5 million people in 2006, the US Census Bureau's annual report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage showed. The poverty threshold for 2007 was set at 21,000 dollars (14,360 euros) for a family of four, regardless of whether they lived in a smaller US city such as Milwaukee or a large city like Los Angeles, where the cost of living was significantly higher. (Yahoo News, 26 August) RD

TROUBLES AHEAD?

"The Russian oil boom, which has produced a gusher of cash, political power and an opulent elite— and has helped fuel the country's renewed assertiveness in Georgia and elsewhere— is on shakier ground than officials in Moscow would like to admit. Most of the oil produced after the country's 1998 financial collapse has come from drilling and re-drilling old Soviet oil fields with more advanced equipment— squeezing more black gold out of the same ground— and efforts to develop new fields have been slow or non-existent. That strategy is potentially disastrous, said Valery Kryukov , who researches oil companies in western Siberia for a government-funded think tank. "If the situation which exists now stays the same, oil production will start to decline seriously in two years," Kryukov said in a phone interview from his offices in the city of Novosibirsk ." (Yahoo News, 22 August) RD

HEY, BIG SPENDERS

"England's richest football clubs shell out fortunes to their players in pursuit of glory. Today, though, all 20 clubs are accused of penny-pinching because they pay more humble members of staff – such as cleaners, catering staff and shop assistants – the lowest legal wages. Some employees receive only match tickets as recompense, or the promise of commission. The revenues of Premier League clubs last season reached almost £2bn and they spent £600m on players. But two days before the 2008/09 Premier League starts this weekend, the Fair Pay Network (FPN), a coalition of charities and trade unions, warns that poverty pay is endemic in the league. It found that all 20 clubs are offering positions at the national minimum wage of £5.25 an hour. The five London clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United – are paying staff at least £2 below the London Living Wage of £7.45, which the Mayor Boris Johnson says is the minimum to avoid living in poverty in the city.
(Independent, 14 August) RD

AIN'T SCIENCE WONDERFUL?

"A band of pre-eminent scientists and war-fighters has concluded that the nation's military might isn't powerful enough for the 21st Century; and so the National Research Council (NRC), an independent, congressionally-chartered body charged with assessing scientific issues, is urging the Pentagon and Congress to get cracking on developing a weapon capable of hitting any target in the world within an hour of being launched. The NRC's Committee on Conventional Prompt Global Strike Capability believes that there are threats (like nuclear terrorism) that the Pentagon's fleets of attack planes and missiles cannot handle and which have to be stopped with the immediacy of the push of a button by a future U.S. President. It's not quite a "death ray" but it's the closest existing technology can get to that fantasy weapon." (Yahoo News, 24 August) RD

The struggle for even more reforms is irrelevant and only gets in the way.

(The case against reformism.)
Back in the 1970s Italy was struck by a plague of snakes. These poisonous vipers were such a menace, particularly to holiday makers, that some resort areas decided to do something about them. At first they of­fered a bounty for every dead snake pro­duced but, inevitably, some smart operators hit on the idea of breeding the snakes and made a substantial profit until the authorities realised they had been outsmarted.
Next, they heard that the number of snakes increased because their natural enemy, the porcupine, was extinct in Italy. Porcupines were acquired from Yugoslavia and let loose in areas infested by snakes. Sadly, word quickly spread among the local hunters that roasted porcupine was deli­cious and soon the fate of that animal in Italy was sealed once again.
Finally, it was decided that the Italian tur­key, with its quickness and sharp beak, would be more than a match for the snakes. Five hundred were ordered but, as their in­tended use was not specified, the shipper assumed they were destined for the dinner table and clipped their beaks to prevent them damaging one another in transit. In the circumstances the dinner table was where they ended up. So far as we know the problem of Italy's surplus snakes re­mains unsolved because somehow or other all the plans made to deal with them always went wrong.
All of this is reminiscent of the efforts made by politicians of left, right and centre to reform away capitalism's plague of prob­lems such as war, poverty, racism, crime and unemployment. They forever plan reforms which they fondly imagine will solve all the problems but, just as with the snakes in Italy, the plans never seem to work out in the intended way.
Experience shows that reforms rarely achieve what their supporters hoped they would. For a start, no matter how closely thought out and worded, every reform con­tains loopholes which will be found by those looking for them. The Equal Pay Act, for example, was supposed to bring women workers the same earnings as men for doing the same job, but many employers found ways of getting around it. They can either slightly lessen the amount of work a woman is to perform or reduce the hours worked by women so that they are clas­sified as part-time workers, a category not covered by the Act. One way and another, the Act has not lessened the gap between what women are paid in relation to men for doing the same work. Indeed the gap has increased. In 1977 women earned on aver­age around three quarters of what men get, but by 1983, the last year for which figures are available, women's comparative earn­ings are down to around two thirds.
The laws passed to outlaw racial dis­crimination in employment don't seem to have had any more success. Despite the existence of the Committee for Racial Equal­ity and the passing of the Race Relations Act there is still widespread discrimination against black job applicants. The Policy Studies Institute reported recently that ". . . employers continue to hire people on the basis of the colour of their skin" (Guardian, 26 September). The report adds that breaches of the law by employers are usu­ally invisible to black applicants, who are told that the job has gone to someone better qualified.
Nor has the Incitement to Hatred Act re­duced racial violence and abuse. The evi­dence is that not only are these increasing but they are becoming more respectable and have spread from the inner cities to the suburbs. The reason why reforms fail to deal with this problem isn't hard to find. Ra­cial antagonism is the product of capitalism's competitiveness and insecurity and the fears these characteristics arouse. In this case it is the fears of white workers that blacks and Asians will take their jobs and get preference in the allocation of council hous­ing or, if they are suburban owner-oc­cupiers, that the presence of ethnic minorities in their area will reduce property values. These fears go hand in hand with capitalism's tensions and cannot be simply legislated out of existence.
Besides rarely having the desired effect, reforms often have unexpected and un­pleasant side-effects. The policy of rent con­trol adopted by the wartime coalition and postwar Labour and Tory governments was aimed at holding down wage demands in a period of full employment but some of its supporters justified the policy on the grounds that it would protect tenants from greedy landlords. This policy had considera­ble success on the first count and some on the second, but it also greatly reduced the amount of housing available as many land­lords found that the artificially low rents they received didn't make it worthwhile to main­tain their properties, which deteriorated so badly that they often had to be demolished.
So in the long run rent control created a situation where rents just had to rise and the Tory Rent Act of 1957 began the process of de-control. But here, too, an unwanted side ­effect resulted because the act froze tenants' rents for fifteen months unless vacant pos­session was obtained. This provoked some landlords, including the notorious Peter Rachman, to use violence and intimidation against tenants in order to get them out right away.
Recent government legislation designed to move on young unemployed people liv­ing in digs after six weeks is another case in point. Intended to show that the govern­ment was determined to stop alleged abuse of DHSS payments by landladies, the mea­sures didn't take into account that many of these youngsters have lived in institutions for much of their lives and are emotionally or mentally disturbed. For some, their digs are the only real home they have ever known and the thought of having to leave produced a spate of suicide attempts, some successful.
Even when the reformists have achieved their objective, they may well face a struggle to prevent the legislation being reversed. Generations of Labourites put a great deal of time and effort into bringing about the Na­tional Health Service and the nationalised in­dustries, which they imagined would intro­duce a golden age of medical care and full employment. Now they watch in dismay as the NHS is eroded and the nationalised in­dustries are once again privatised.
Were a future Labour government to re­store the NHS to its pre-1979 condition and, however unlikely, re-nationalise whatever industries had been sold off, there would be no certainty that this would last. Govern­ments must always be looking for ways to economise, even in boom conditions, but in the event of a future slump the government, of whatever complexion, will need to cut its expenditure and the NHS and re­nationalised industries could be obvious targets, just as they are now
This much is certain: no programme of reforms can ever unite the whole working class. The reforms so earnestly sought by left wingers - such as positive discrimina­tion in favour of ethnic minorities in housing and employment, the unification of Ireland, lower council house rents, the abolition of mortgage relief, and so on - will please some workers but enrage just as many more.
The really vital reforms of capitalism were won a long time ago. The vote gave the working class the opportunity to take its fate into its own hands, and wider educa­tional opportunities made it possible for workers to at least consider the socialist case. These gains, together with the fact that society's productive forces have been de­veloped to the point where an abundance of wealth is now possible, make socialism a practical proposition now. The struggle for even more reforms is irrelevant and only gets in the way.
VICTOR VANNI SOCIALIST STANDARD JANUARY 1986

SLOWLY DOES IT

(The case for reformism)

I think I'll become a reformist. Change soci­ety a bit at a time. Erode the edifice of social misery, gradually but surely, and make the world a better place to live in.
It's all very well these revolutionary socialists telling me that the only way to end working-class problems is to abolish the whole system of world capitalism and intro­duce socialism, but I can't wait for that. Something needs to be done now. If we sit around trying to persuade workers of the need to abolish the cause of their suffering it could take ages. No, I want action now. To­morrow morning I'm going to sign up in the heroic struggle to reform this evil system.
What shall I start with? I know, I'll begin by dealing with the worst problems and then work my way down the list to the little insignificant ones. My task for the time to come is to deal with the real biggies. War. Mass starvation. I might even deal with the homeless and slum-dwellers if I've got a bit of spare time. And the Third World - I'd bet­ter lend a hand in supporting them. Oh, and I almost forgot about pollution, I must make sure that something is done about that. Good. Now I know what my immediate aims are all I need to do is get on with the action.
Right, war. What is the practical way for us reformists to end war? Well, let's be prag­matic - we won't end all wars, but we shall certainly abolish all nuclear weapons. How? To begin with we shall establish a mass movement made up of people who think that nuclear weapons are "a bad thing". Then the government will be forced to lis­ten. True, such a movement has existed in Britain since the late 1950s and it is now larger than ever and the governments have not been forced to accept our demands and most of our members voted to elect the governments which have not accepted our demands, but that must not dispirit us. Hav­ing built our mass movement we shall un­leash our unstoppable tactic: we shall have a march every year from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square and we shall shout slogans (very loudly) like "Ban the Bomb" or "Jobs Not Bombs". Let them try to ignore that! Well, yes, they have ignored that in the past, but that is quite evidently because there weren't enough of us marching. In addition to that tactic, which will leave us all feeling like a big movement which cannot be ig­nored, we shall do other practical things like holding hands around Greenham Common and sitting down in the middle of the road in Hampstead. Of course, we must be prag­matic about abolishing nuclear weapons: we would be prepared to settle for a nuclear freeze, I suppose. That means that they keep all the nuclear weapons which exist in the world today (enough to blow us all up several times), but no more can be pro­duced. That would be an achievement. True, there have been more people killed in the non-nuclear war in Iran and Iraq than were killed in Hiroshima, but we must not allow ourselves to be diverted into side-is­sues. We reformists like to deal with the big issues, like the possibility of a nuclear war in the future, rather than these petty wars which are going on now. (Although I have made a note in my diary to join a campaign to deal with Iran and Iraq - and Ireland - and Israel and the Lebanon - and Afghanis­tan - and Central America -just as soon as I've solved this nuclear problem.)
After all, the danger of a nuclear war is by far the greatest problem facing humanity today. Admittedly, Oxfam does claim that thirty million people are dying now as a re­sult of starvation every year. And hundreds of millions of people are living in conditions of hunger and diseases caused by malnutri­tion. There is the equivalent of one Hiroshima every two days as a result of world hunger. Come to think of it, that prob­lem is at least as important as nuclear war. I agree with Bob Geldof: "something" must be done now. What we need is a mass movement made up of people who oppose world hunger. We can appeal to the consci­ences of the leaders who hold the purse strings. After all, we elect them. And we must organise collections for the benefit of those who are starving. Just think, if every person in Britain gave a fiver each that would amount to £300 million. That would give £10 to each of the people Oxfam says starve to death each year. But then, what about people living in poverty in Britain? They can't afford to donate £5; according to the Child Poverty Action Group one in four children in this country are living under the official poverty line. We shall need to do something about that. I'll join a campaign to make sure the government doubles family allowances. After all, who can be more im­portant than the children? Well, yes, there are the elderly as well: I shan't forget to do my bit for them. I shall join another cam­paign, such as Help The Aged, which will demand that the government taxes the rich so that pensions are increased. Then there are the disabled. And drug addicts. And vic­tims of domestic violence. I shall need to join a separate campaign to see that each of them gets a fair deal. Then, of course, I shall be joining with my sisters to fight for sexual equality. And I shall also join a separate organisation to demand racial equality. And one more to call for compassion for crimi­nals who ought not to face barbaric penal­ties just because society has turned them to crime. And I really ought to join with the Women Against Rape who want rapists to be castrated. It wasn't until I decided to be­come a reformist that I decided quite how much action I had to do.
Well, I have been working at cutting down the list of organisations to join, so that I don't commit myself to too much. There are the anti-war (sorry, anti-nuclear war) ones: CND, END and the Peace Pledge Union. Then the anti-hunger ones: War On Want, Band Aid, Oxfam. Then the CPAG, Help the Aged, Shelter, London Against Ra­cism, the local feminist collective (they won't let me join, so fortunately I'll have one Tuesday evening free every fourth week) and the campaign for "fair trials" for the min­ers. And I almost forgot Greenpeace. And, of
course, Friends of the Earth. And the Troops out movement. Paying the subscriptions will present a few problems. And I'll need a diary with whole pages for each day so that I can remember which problem I'm solving when. I mean, I'd look a bit daft sitting in an anti-nuclear war meeting talking about the need for a march against unemployment, wouldn't I?
Once joined, the action really starts. We shall pass resolutions which will be sent to progressive" MPs. And we shall organise petitions. It is surprising how willing people are to sign them. True, they are usually filed away in some civil servant's waste paper basket, but at least it's action. Then there are the marches. And it's surprising how many people you meet on one march who you know from the others. Then there's the odd battle for the leadership. Somewhat time-wasting, I admit, but it is all part of prac­tical politics. To be perfectly honest, I have my hopes to become Badge Organiser for Islington Save The Whale. But, of course, I'll have to spend a few nights canvassing sup­port otherwise the post will go to one of those terrible Trots who use reformist or­ganisations by doing all the donkey work.
So, I am in on the action. Unlike those revolutionaries from The Socialist Party, who insist that you cannot eradicate the symptoms without destroying the disease, I am applying many bottles of medicine to the contaminated anatomy of the capitalist system. True, the pills and potions have never been successful in the past. But I have faith. And you need it if you think that refor­mism is the solution to the horror epic of this problem-packed society.

STEVE COLEMAN SOCIALIST STANDARD JANUARY 1986

AND THEY CALL IT SPORT!

"If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them. The only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam. Another gold medalist, weightlifter Cao Lei, was kept in such seclusion training for the Olympics that she wasn't told her mother was dying. She found out only after she had missed the funeral. Chen Ruolin, a 15-year-old diver, was ordered to skip dinner for one year to keep her body sharp as a razor slicing into the water. The girl weighs 66 pounds." (Los Angeles Times, 26 August) RD

RICH BOY MAKES GOOD

"On Aug. 11, Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian in history to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics, rallying late from fourth place to take the title in the 10-m air rifle. The shooting win came just days before his country's Aug. 15 national holiday and set off a frenzy back home. Bindra's picture was splashed across front pages; his medal ceremony played in a ceaseless TV loop. Even the English-language, state-run China Daily featured Bindra, a gesture of goodwill to the country's rival rising power. Unlike China, though, India has until recently shown a monumental indifference to Olympic sports. The well-manicured Bindra, 25, is now his country's most eligible bachelor. His mother has fielded several marriage offers. She wants a traditional housewife for her son, thank you. The new bride would join a very wealthy bunch: Bindra's father Apjit owns an agriculture, manufacturing and power conglomerate. After his mother Babli caught him tossing balloons off a maid's head--right on target--she hired a shooting coach, and his father built him an air-conditioned range in the backyard. His reward for winning gold: a $350,000 bonus from steel baron Lakshmi Mittal, who has sponsored some Indian athletes, and more than $550,000 from local government bodies and sports ministries. His gift from Dad: a hotel." (Time, 14 August)

AN INEFFICIENT SOCIETY

"Apple growers fear labour shortages could force them to leave fruit rotting on trees because of government restrictions on the number of foreign workers allowed into Britain as pickers. As harvesting of the earliest varieties gets underway, farmers are `extremely concerned` about attracting sufficient people to work through until the end of of the season in mid-October. ... "If we can't get the pickers, there is a grave danger that apples will be left on trees and over-mature. Frankly, by then it won't be worth the cost of picking them, so they will be left unpicked,` said Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples and Pears, which represents 430 growers. `That would be an absolute tragedy and quite shocking at a time when there are reports of food shortages`." (Observer, 24 August) RD

Capitalism an all that Jazz

A Canadian airline is removing life vests from all its planes to cut weight and save fuel , in other words , to save money .

Canada regulations allowed airlines to use flotation devices instead of life vests within 80km of shore . Jazz spokeswoman said it was a transcontinental airline that never flew over the ocean. However , she didn't explain that they do fly over the Great Lakes and along the eastern seaboard from Halifax to Boston to New York.

CAPITALISM KILLS KIDS

"An `epidemic of poverty` in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families, an influential coalition will warn this week in a major report that casts doubt on government efforts to close the inequality gap. End Child Poverty, a 130-strong network of children's charities, church groups, unions and think tanks, claims that the gap bettween rich and poor represents a `hugh injustice` in British society and has become one of the major factors affecting child mortality rates. Its report, based on a wide-ranging analysis of government data, finds that children from poor families are at ten times the risk of sudden infant death as children from better-off homes."
(Observer, 24 August) RD

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

"There seems to have been some confusion at Orange around yesterday's launch in Poland of the 3GiPhone. Newswires reported that actors had been paid to stand outside its shops to create excitement after a lacklustre response. Orange claimed that it was all a misunderstanding and that "things got a bit misconstrued". Or maybe not. When I recounted the story to a British mobile phone retailer, he said that it was a common practice in the industry to pay people to bulk up queues. "We do it all the time." (Times, 23 August) RD

TOUGH AT THE TOP?

"Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, a long-time fixture on the list of the world's richest people, is now ensconced atop The Associated Press' rankings of the top-paid chief executives in the United States. Never shy about flaunting his estimated $25 billion fortune, Ellison established himself as the best-paid CEO among major U.S. companies by persuading Oracle to award him a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million under the AP's calculations. The total compensation, disclosed late Wednesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, catapulted Ellison to the top of the AP's annual analysis of CEO pay. With a pay package valued at $83.1 million, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain held that distinction in June when the AP released its 2008 analysis of executive compensation at more than 400 large companies." (Yahoo News, 21 August) RD

CONSPICIOUS UNDERCONSUMPTION (2)

"The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday. With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel (69 pence) from 1,200 riel last year." (Yahoo News, 27 August) RD

CONSPICIOUS UNDERCONSUMPTION

"The World Bank said on Tuesday more people are living in extreme poverty in developing countries than previously thought as it adjusted the recognized yardstick for measuring global poverty to $1.25 a day from $1. The poverty-fighting institution said there were 1.4 billion people -- a quarter of the developing world -- living in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day in 2005 in the world's 10 to 20 poorest countries. Last year, the World Bank said there were 1 billion people living under the previous $1 a day poverty mark." (Yahoo News, 23 August) RD