A BRAVE NEW WORLD?

"Here's a vision of the not-so-distant future: Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items — and, by extension, consumers — wherever they go, from a distance. A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them. In "Smart Homes," sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets — all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants' private lives." (Yahoo News, 26 January) RD

INDIAN RUPEE TRICK

Inside capitalism everything has a price even your organs as this news report from New Delhi shows. "As many as 500 poor labourers may have been tricked into operations by a gang of organ traders selling kidneys in a wealthy suburb of the Indian capital, according to a report Friday. Police in Gurgaon, home to call centres and high-rise buildings, raided a house late Thursday on a tip-off from a middleman who was arrested earlier this week, the Indian Express daily reported. Two people, including a doctor, were arrested while three others who had recently been operated on were taken to hospital, the report said. Two men who were yet to be operated on were also rescued. Gurgaon police commissioner Mohinder Lal told the paper that the labourers were paid between 50,000 (1,250 dollars) and 75,000 rupees for a kidney. The kidneys were later sold by doctors for between 800,000 and one million rupees, Lal said, citing information from those arrested Thursday. (Yahoo News, 25 January) RD

1957 and 2006 - Are we better off ?

What difference does 50 years make for the working class . Are we all better off . Well , it certainly appears that way . UK household income has doubled in real terms over the last fifty years. And the pattern of family spending has also changed dramatically. Basic necessities including food accounting for a smaller proportion of our family budget, while spending is up on leisure activities, travel and motoring. Income going to housing makes up a greater share.

According to the BBC and the Office of National Statistics

In 1957, spending on food, fuel and rent , the basic three items , made up nearly half of all household expenditure. Taken together with clothing and travel, basics made up nearly two-thirds of family spending. The main luxuries for the ordinary family were tobacco and alcohol, which combined made up just under 10% of spending. The biggest other luxury item was meals eaten out making up 3% of spending. Four of the top ten spending items were food or drink, with spending on meat, fruit, vegetables and beer all in the top twenty.
Overall, the average family spent a total of £14.30 per week in 1957, out of a gross income of £16. In today's money, spending was £243 per week.

In 2006 the average household spent £456 out of a gross income of £642 before taxes.

In five decades, spending on most basics has declined sharply, with food making up only half as much of the average household budget as it did in 1957. And half of that food budget now consists of meals and takeaways - a new category introduced in the l970s.

But the cost of housing, including mortgage interest payments or rent, has more than doubled since 1957. Mortgage interest payments or rent accounted for 19% of spending in 2006, up from 9% in 1957Using a slightly broader measure of housing costs, which includes council tax, insurance and home improvements, UK households spent an average of £143 a week on housing-related costs in 2006 - or 22%.

Motoring and travel costs have doubled from 8% of spending in 1957 to 16% in 2006, mostly because of rising car ownership .

There are big social divisions in the ownership of some popular consumer goods, and the greater affluence is at least partly a result of more families having two incomes - both parents going out to work .

And But there are big differences in consumption between rich and poor.
Nearly every household in the richest tenth of the population had a computer and an internet connection. In contrast, among the poorest tenth, only 31% have computers and 21% have an internet connection. And 56% of that group have mobile phones, compared to 92% of the richest tenth. The pattern of car ownership also varies sharply by income, with less than a third of the poorest tenth of households owning a car, compared to 94% of the richest tenth of families.

Nor are we happier it is claimed .

According to economist Richard Layard of the London School of Economics, once people can afford the basics, happiness does not increase with income when comparing happiness among rich and poor countries. And looking at surveys of happiness over time, he says levels of happiness have not changed across either the UK - or US - in the last 30 years, despite the doubling of living standards in both. Moreover, the availability of new goods can just make people more jealous of what they are unable to afford, especially for the less well-off.

Other studies show that what we have lost in the last 50 years is time. Strikingly, most families now talk more in the car than at home.

Paradoxically , while we spend more on leisure goods than half a century ago, we have less time to enjoy our free time - increasing numbers of households need two earners as earlier said and working hours have increased even if there has been an official reduction , since doing overtime has climbed .

Blair - quids in

My , isn't he going to be busy man for business . First he has a job with J P Morgan Chase Bank as reported here , although the fee turned out to be 5 times what we believed at the time - $5 million a year . Now Zurich Financial Services AG, Switzerland's biggest insurer have said former Tony Blair has agreed to advise the company on international politics according to Bloomberg.com .
Blair will specifically help the insurer with its climate initiative, the Zurich-based insurer said today in a statement. He will also advise Chief Executive Officer James Schiro on general political trends and developments. No word on the filthy lucre yet though, but it's rumoured to be another half million or so .

SOUTH CAROLINA REMEMBERS

"Although the election has become all about "change", precious little of that commodity can be found in this corner of the Old South. This is where the Confederate battle flag from the Civil War still flutters outside the state capital in Columbia, next to a large statue of Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman, a former Governor who justified and even participated in lynching." (Times, 25 January) RD

NOT SO PRIMITIVE

Daniel Everett once was a missionary in Brazil dealing with so-called primitive tribes, but his experience of the Piraha people made him give up that calling to become a linguist. When asked how he had changed his views he replied: "They lived so well without religion and they were so happy. Also they did not believe what I was saying because I did not have any evidence for it, and that made me think. They would try so hard to understand what I was saying, but it was utterly irrelevant to them. I began to think: what am I doing here, giving them these 2000-year old concepts when everything of value I can think of to communicate to them they already have?" (New Scientist, 19 January) RD

AN INHUMAN SOCIETY

There are many examples of how capitalist society favours property rather than human life, but this is just about the craziest example we have come across recently.
"A Spanish driver who collided with a cyclist is suing the dead youth's family $29,300 for the damage the impact of his body did to his luxury car, a Spanish newspaper reported on Friday. Businessman Tomas Delgado says 17-year-old Enaitz Iriondo caused $20,500 of damage to his Audi A8 in the fatal 2004 crash in La Rioja region, El Pais newspaper reported. Delgado, who has faced no criminal charges for the incident, wants a further 6,000 euros to cover the cost of hiring another vehicle while his car was being repaired, El Pais said."
(Yahoo News, 25 January) RD

GREAT WALL OF CHINA

The biggest division in China today is between the rich and the poor. The advances of Chinese capitalism have left the working class well behind. "Despite its growing wealth, China still has a large number of poor people struggling with dramatic increases in the price of daily essentials such as pork, which jumped by 50%. Inflation hit an 11-year year high in November. Thursday's figures show that it fell back in December, although at 6.5% it remains a worry. The government has introduced a range of price controls recently aimed at bringing the cost of ordinary goods, particularly food, under control. Dramatic price rises have led to social unrest in the past and Beijing cannot afford for its millions of poor to go hungry." (BBC News, 24 January) RD

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE?

We are often told that capitalism is a very sophisticated system and that only bankers, investors and stockbrokers can be trusted to deal with its complexities, but recent events suggest otherwise. "French bank Societe Generale says it has uncovered "massive" fraud by a Paris-based trader which resulted in a loss of 4.9bn euros ($7.1bn; £3.7bn). The bank said the fraud was based on simple transactions, but concealed by "sophisticated and varied techniques". It also announced fresh losses of 2.05bn euros related to the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US. The losses are four times greater than those made by Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who brought down Barings Bank. Leeson was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail. ... Richard Fuld, the chairman of Lehman Brothers, told BBC News in Davos that "nothing stuns me; nothing really surprises me these days." (BBC News, 24 January)
It seems that even these so-called masters of the universe haven't a clue about the slumps and booms of capitalism. RD

NINE TO FIVE KILLER

The old saying "hard work never killed anyone", like most old sayings, turns out be nonsense."Work really can kill you, according to a study on Wednesday providing the strongest evidence yet of how on-the-job stress raises the risk of heart disease by disrupting the body's internal systems. The findings from a long-running study involving more than 10,000 British civil servants also suggest stress-induced biological changes may play a more direct role than previously thought, said Tarani Chandola, an epidemiologist at University College London. "This is the first large-scale population study looking at the effects of stress measured from everyday working life on heart disease," said Chandola, who led the study. "One of the problems is people have been skeptical whether work stress really affects a person biologically." (Yahoo News, 22 January) RD

OUR BETTERS?

From a very early age members of the working class are taught to respect authority and look up to "our betters". One of those would undoubtedly be Boris Johnson. His birth, education, wealth and social standing would certainly qualify him for that position. The following news item shows that notwithstanding birth, wealth and social standing he is still a bit of an idiot. "Boris Johnson has apologised for referring to black people as "piccaninnies" and talking about "watermelon smiles". During a debate for the London mayoral contest on Monday, the Conservative candidate said he was "sad" that people had been offended but insisted the words had been taken out of context." (Guardian, 23 January) RD

LIVING ON TICK

The desperate lives of many workers are haunted by debt and poverty. Just how widespread this misery has spread can be seen by this item.
"The scale of Britain's credit dependency is revealed today by a study that shows more than five million people are spending more than they earn every month. The research into the scale of the ''buy now pay later" culture has found spending on eating out, leisure and holidays has soared above inflation and income in the past decade. Millions of people are increasingly using credit to fund their lifestyle and loan repayments have risen at twice the level of income since 1997 as people try to emulate the profligate behaviour of high-spending celebrities." (Daily Telegraph, 22 January) RD

A FRAUDULENT SYSTEM

Governments are always boasting what an efficient social system capitalism is. They also claim how well they run the system, but such a claim seems somewhat hollow.
"Benefit fraud has fallen from £2 billion to £800 million a year since 2000, but the Government is spending more money identifying overpayments than the amount being tracked down, an official report has shown. More than £154 million was spent in the last financial year to identify £106 million worth of overpayments due to fraud, said the National Audit Office (NAO). An MP said the track record of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in recovering money lost to fraud was "frankly embarrassing".(Guardian, 23 January) RD

Global Warming and Capitalism

We are not at all surprised . We have been saying it all along .

The Independent On Sunday carries an article on a report that global warming ranks far down the concerns of the world's biggest companies . Nearly nine in 10 of them do not rate it as a priority . The report's publishers believe that big business will concentrate even less on climate change as the world economy deteriorates.Nearly twice as many see climate change as imposing costs on their business as those who believe it presents an opportunity to make money.

The survey found that only 5 per cent of the companies questioned – and not one in China – regarded global warming as their top priority. And only 11 per cent put it in second or third place. Overall it ranked eighth in business leaders' concerns, below increasing sales, reducing costs, developing new products and services, competing for talented staff, securing growth in emerging markets, innovation and technology. Although most are taking limited action to reduce their own emissions, almost one in five had done nothing.

What we of the world socialist movement said was "We can only 'cure the planet' by establishing a society without private productive property or profit where humans will be freed from the uncontrollable economic laws of the pursuit of profit and the accumulation of capital."

LAND OF THE FREE?

"A chasm still separates the black people of South Carolina, from what Rev Jackson calls their white "brothers and sisters". It is a deep division, as was apparent after a short parade from the porch of Rev Jackson's church to the domed statehouse, where the marchers congregated in the shadow of the South's most defiant symbol of white supremacy, the battle flag of the Confederacy. Across the street from where the marchers were honouring the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr, a small group of white secessionists jeered. They spoke of keeping alive the memory of the "lost cause", a euphemism for racial domination. Uniformed police and secret service agents mingled with the crowd, watchful for trouble." (Independent, 22 January) RD

HANDS FULL OF DOLLARS

The recent study of the Institute for Fiscal Studies that showed 0.1 per cent of the UK population has an income of £780,000 per annum looks decided modest when compared with the US figures. " ... the IFS's findings will be cited alongside the work of Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, the US academics who have highlighted how wealth is held in ever fewer hands. Their study, published last year, showed that the most affluent Americans are better off than at any time since the 1920s. The top 10 per cent now account for 48.5 per cent of income, and the top 1 per cent for 21.8 per cent of income." (Times, 18 January) RD

CHINESE CAPITALISM BOOMS

Despite its nonsensical claims to be communist the growth of Chinese capitalism is explosive and inevitably has lead to gigantic differences of wealth. "Growth in China has been spectacular but it has also been unbalanced and has created staggering inequality; the US magazine Forbes identified 66 billionaires on its China rich list last year, their coffers swelled by soaring share prices on the Shanghai exchange. Neither Donald Trump nor Steven Spielberg is rich enough to make it into a table of the top wealthiest Chinese, but most people are still desperately poor, and the Beijing government is worried that rampant food price inflation will lead to serious unrest." (Observer, 20 January) RD

WORDS OF WISDOM

David Attenborough in an interview said: "Every society that's ever existed has felt it necessary to have creation myths. Why should I believe one? People write to me and say: `You show us birds and orchids and wonderful, beautiful things - don't you feel you should give credit to He who created those things?` My reply says: what about a parasitic worm that's boring through the eye of a four-year-old child on the bank of an African river? It confuses me that I should believe in a god who cares individually for each and every one of us and could allow that to happen" (Observer Magazine, 20 January) RD

NO SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE HERE

Many workers as they struggle to pay their mortgage are concerned about the so-called credit squeeze, but it does not affect members of the owning class as can be seen from the following.
"A palatial home complete with a Turkish bath for 20 people has been sold for £50 million, breaking the record for the most expensive new-build house in Britain, which was recently set by a nearby property. Toprak Mansion in north London boasts seven bedrooms, four kitchens and an 80ft dining room containing a 40ft table. It also has a green copper roof, Grecian-style pillars, a grand double staircase, a glass lift, a swimming pool with a glass bridge and a two-acre garden. The new owner, who has not been identified, is reported to be planning to spend £30 million on a makeover by an Italian designer to create a beauty salon, spa, helipad, cinema and squash court. ...The mansion was built on The Bishops Avenue, a street full of palatial homes that was once known as Millionaires' Row, but is now referred to as Billionaires' Row. The price tag trumps that paid for Palladio, a mansion in a nearby street that was bought last year by Lev Leviev, the Israeli billionaire, for £35 million."
(Daily Telegraph, 21 January) RD

LOADS OF MONEY

"In a detailed study of the very rich, the Institute for Fiscal Studies uses data from the HM Revenue and Customs to show that the top 1 per cent of adults - comprising a group of 47,000 people - earn an average of £222,000 a year; while the top 0.1 per cent make a pre-tax income of, on average, £780,000 compared with the average across all taxpayers of £25,000." (Observer, 20 January) No worries here about minimum wage legislation or foreclosed mortgages we imagine. RD