SOCIALISM? WHAT'S THAT?

"Tony Blair has taken a second big job with a leading financial player, attracted by the prospect of working on its climate-change initiative. The former Prime Minister has joined Zurich, the Swiss company, as an adviser. The appointment, thought to be worth at least £500,000 a year, comes less than three weeks after he took a similar role with J P Morgan Chase, one of the biggest investment banks on Wall Street. That was believed to be a package worth about £2 million a year." (Times, 29 January) RD

SOME DEMOCRACY

When she was in power Mrs Thatcher called capitalism in Britain a "property owning democracy" as she introduced legislation to sell council housing. Her supporters must now be wondering what kind of "democracy" it turned out to be. "More than a million homeowners could be at risk of serious financial difficulty and possibly losing their homes in an economic slowdown, the City regulator warned yesterday. The Financial Services Authority is preparing for a tougher climate of rising inflation and a slower economy. It fears that many homeowners with large mortgages who have borrowed three and a half times their salaries or more could be at risk. The warning comes as surveyors predict today those 123 homes a day will be repossessed this year." (Guardian, 30 January) RD

The real leisure class

An article in The Times reveals the clubbing and pubbing of the wealthy but also exposes the true class nature of to-days society

“Mahiki aims to be egalitarian,” says Conway, an Old Harrovian promoter and fashion journalist . Conway organises the guest list. “If you can get on with anyone, no matter what walk of life you come from, you’re welcome.” But Mahiki excludes on the grounds of money. The drinks bills can be ruinous. The princes’ favourite tipple, the Treasure Chest – half a bottle of vodka, a bottle of champagne, fruit, ice, and eight straws – comes in at £112.50 [ Prince William once paid an £11,000 bar bill here.] “It’s true, money is the big equalising factor. It’s not about where you went to school...Money speaks.” says Conway.

Why is it Tuesday that is the most popular night out for the Sloanes and the rich and thier hangers-on and flunkeys ?

Luke Blackhall, a journalist explains why Tuesday has come to be the most popular night. “It’s the old thing of growing your fingernails to show you don’t do manual labour,” he says. “There is a kind of showing-off involved in going out really hard on a Tuesday night.”

AN UNCARING SOCIETY (2)

If you are old and poor inside capitalism then you are a very low priority to the owning class. "Just 358,000 households received home care in 2006 compared with 479,000 a decade earlier, while nearly three quarters of local authorities now refuse help to anyone whose needs are not considered "substantial" or "critical". Most of those with "moderate" needs, who can not carry out routine daily tasks such as getting out of bed, bathing and doing the washing up, are excluded, along with 275,000 pensioners with less intensive requirements - such as needing help to go to the shop. Another 6,000 elderly people with "high support needs", means they can not bathe or eat without assistance, receive no services and no informal care. Altogether, the CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) estimates 450,000 older people rely on friends and family to get by, even though they have been assessed as needing more help." (Daily Telegraph, 30 January) RD

AN UNCARING SOCIETY

Capitalism's priorities are to make profits and cut costs, so it is no surprise that the poorest, the sick and the mentally ill are treated in such a shabby fashion. "Mental health wards have become "tougher and scarier" places under the Labour government and many are so overcrowded that it is difficult for staff to deliver good care, the official watchdog for detained patients reports today. As an urgent priority, ministers must honour previous commitments that women patients should be safe from sexual harassment, abuse and assault and those children as young as 12 are no longer placed on adult wards, the Mental Health Act Commission's biennial report says." (Guardian, 30 January) RD

Bankrupt Scotland

From an editorial in The Herald

Although it is traditionally people on the lowest incomes who get into debt they cannot repay, the boom in consumer credit, fuelled by rising house prices, has brought many middle-class families to the point where they are only a couple of pay packets away from not being able to meet their repayments. It only takes one setback, such as their marriage ending or losing their job, to plunge them into unmanageable debt.

The 14.5% increase in the number of Scots being declared bankrupt between 2006 and 2007, however, is likely to be a harbinger of worse to come. The scale of the situation is brought home by the fact that the 1563 Scots declared bankrupt in the last quarter of 2007 amounted to nearly twice the average number for any three-month period three or four years ago.
This is a reflection of the record levels of personal debt (one estimate of Britain's debt from credit cards, loans, overdrafts and mortgages is £1.35 trillion) but when that level of borrowing collides with the current credit crunch, these personal disasters will be multiplied. That is expected to happen later this year as fixed-rate mortgages reach the end of their term and require to be renewed, with lenders imposing higher rates to reflect the overall increase in interest rates since August 2006.

There can be no doubt that the tide of debt is rising alarmingly. Home repossessions leaped by 30% in the first six months of last year and householders in Scotland cannot necessarily rely on the relative stability of the housing market north of the border to protect them from the perils of negative equity. Both Motherwell and central Glasgow have been pinpointed as high-risk areas on the latest map produced by the credit reference agency Experian.

With Scottish companies failing at a rate of approximately 55 per month and the Financial Services Authority describing 840,000 mortgages as a cause for concern, the outlook is particularly grim.

A GRIM FUTURE, GRANMA

"Increasing numbers of frail or infirm elderly people are struggling to cope after being unfairly denied social care as councils ration help, the care inspectorate revealed today. Many local authorities are using strict criteria to deny care even to those who cannot wash or dress unaided, according to the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Varying rules on who qualifies mean a postcode lottery applies, says the commission's third annual report. Fewer people qualify for social services care than three years ago, despite a 3% rise in the number of people over 75. And care rationing is expected to get worse: the number of councils funding only those needing "substantial" care increased from 53% to 62% in 2006-07 and is expected to rise to 73% of councils next year. (Guardian, 29 January) RD

WOW, REALLY PROGRESSIVE

After the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan we were told that there was now a more progressive government under President Hamid Karzan, but what is the reality? "An Afghan court in northern Afghanistan sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for distributing an article from the Internet that was considered an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, the judge in charge of the court said Wednesday. The student, Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, 23, who also works for a local newspaper, was charged with insulting Muhammad by calling the prophet “a killer and adulterer,” the judge, Shamsurahman Muhmand, said in a telephone interview." (New York Times, 24 January) RD

CAPITALISM LOVES CHEAPNESS

"The tiny village of Jucu in north-western Romania, which will host a new factory making Nokia mobile phones, currently, earns its livelihood from farming vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and eggplants. It doesn't have a full-time doctor, a school-house or indoor toilets. Some 60 houses don't have running water. But it does -- still -- have relatively cheap labour. A decision by the Finnish mobile handset giant to move a major production line to Romania this year sparked rage in Germany over job losses, but in the nearby city of Cluj in Romania it calmed fears foreign investment was drying up." (Yahoo News, 25 January) RD

CAPITALISM KILLS

"A decade of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo is continuing to kill about 45,000 people each month - half of them small children - in the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, according to a new survey. The International Rescue Committee said preventable diseases and starvation aggravated by conflict have claimed 5.4 million lives since the beginning of the second Congo war in 1998, equivalent to the population of Denmark. Although the war officially ended in 2002, malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition continue to claim thousands of lives. The study of 14,000 households across Congo between January 2006 and April 2007 found that nearly half of all the deaths were of children under the age of five, who make up only 19% of the population." (Guardian, 23 January) RD

DREAM ON

"Tax avoidance by the super-rich costs the British taxpayer £13bn a year - enough money to increase old-age pensions by 20 per cent. The first ever forensic study of Revenue figures to establish the true scale of tax avoidance by some of the wealthiest people in Britain will pile pressure on the government to prevent the tax burden falling disproportionately on ordinary working people." (Observer, 27 January) RD

F1 - EFF THE SYSTEM

"A record price has been set for a British vehicle registration number plate after a businessman paid £375,000 to buy F1. Afzal Kahn, 37, smashed the previous record of £331,000 paid 18 months ago for M1, to purchase the plate from the Essex County Council. The Bradford entrepreneur, who has built a £75 million fortune through Kahn Design, his specialist car design company, plans to display the plate on his £317,000 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar." (Times, 26 January) RD

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY

"A restaurant in Britain's financial district has devised a 2,000-dollar-a-head menu for high-flyers to eat into their substantial bonuses, the Financial Times said Saturday. Vivat Bacchus has already taken at least half a dozen bookings for the 1,000-pound (1,347-euro, 1,980-dollar) meal since it began taking reservations on Friday, the business daily said. "Many of them work in the City and often ask for something unique during bonus season," co-owner Neleen Strauss was quoted as saying, adding that some people were unconcerned despite fears for the state of the world economy. "I have found over the years when bad news begins to circulate around the stock market, our City customers never fully lose their appetites," she said. The menu includes royal Seruga caviar, fresh Bahama rock lobster linguini, grilled Wagyu fillet steak, a 15-variety cheese board and chocolate souffle with clotted cream. Each course is washed down with its own glass of wine, including Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau D'Yquem, although diners can upgrade their vintages at extra cost." (Yahoo News, 26 January) RD

Child-care Blues

Childcare costs are rising above the rate of inflation, with parents paying more than £8,000 a year, a charity report suggests.

The Daycare Trust says costs nationally rose 5% last year. Inflation is 2.1%. The average cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under the age of two in England was £159 per week. It also said that the cost of childcare in out-of-school clubs had risen by six times more than the rate of inflation to an average of £43 a week.

The trust said that Britons paid more for childcare than elsewhere in Europe, and many did not claim tax credits and vouchers, which can lower costs.

"Claiming tax credits - which can cover up to 80% of childcare costs - and vouchers from your employer can cut the cost of childcare considerably." said Daycare Trust joint chief executive "But even so, parents in the UK are still paying a bigger share - around 70% on average - of this spiralling cost than their neighbours in Europe, where the average is nearer 30%."

Mortgage Blues

AROUND 123 homes will be repossessed every day during 2008 as people struggle to keep up with their mortgage repayments, research claimed today.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said just under 45,000 people would lose their home during the year as the cost of servicing a mortgage remains close to record levels .

The figure is in line with estimates from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which also expects 45,000 homes to be taken over by lenders, while City watchdog the Financial Services Authority said that 840,000 mortgages were a "cause for concern" due to their riskier lending characteristics.

It said a first-time buyer couple who were both on the bottom 25 per cent of earnings, bringing in £26,595 a year after tax, would now have to save the equivalent of 104 per cent of their joint annual take-home pay, or £27,729, in order to afford the deposit, fees and stamp duty for a typical home.

THE DISTORTION OF RESEARCH

David Hind, editorial director of The Bodley Head publishing, in a talk he gave at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce."Attacking astrology, New Ageism and religious fundamentalism is fun and profitable. The trouble starts when it distracts us from far more serious threats to reason...First let us look at the corporations. They pose as the trustworthy guardians of science, yet when they deem it necessary they will manipulate research to ensure the results fit their marketing needs. They even suppress research results outright, with sometimes lethal consequences. These are not accidental and occasional failings: maximising profits is what corporations are for....The pose of trustworthiness, for all its demonstrable falsity. Reaps them vast rewards, in the form of direct and indirect subsidies from the taxpayer. In the UK, for example, under a formula agreed by government and business at the end of 2004, 28 per cent of the money spent on branded drugs is earmarked to support R&D, a subsidy worth more than £2 billion every year. The largest part of this money is spent looking for ways to transform diseases of affluence and lifestyle disorders into chronic, and therefore revenue-generating conditions..." (New Scientist, 19 January) RD

BUSH IN SAUDI ARABIA

"As a Saudi soldier with a gold sword high-stepped in front of him, President Bush walked slowly beside King Abdullah through the shivery grey mist enveloping the kingdom, following the red carpet leading from Air Force One to the airport terminal. When the two stepped onto the escalator, the president tenderly reached for the king’s hand, in case the older man needed help. He certainly does need help, but not the kind he is prepared to accept. ...Blessed is the peacemaker who comes bearing a $30 billion package of military aid for Israel and a $20 billion package of Humvees and guided bombs for the Arabs." (New York Times, 16 January) RD

CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

"The Swiss company Caran d'Ache pays homage to watch making with a new limited-edition fountain pen. Known as the 1010—for the time at which a clock face is considered balanced, and which almost all watch ads display—the pen's body resembles watch gears and the clip a watch hand. Five-hundred silver-plated, rhodium-coated instruments will be sold for $19,000 apiece, and ten 18-karat-gold models will retail for $174,000. It's a sure way to add value to one's signature." (Newsweek, 28 January) RD

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