CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

"Liverpool. A designer has produced the world's most expensive mobile telephone, featuring almost 200 diamonds and costing £1.92 million. The casing of the iPhone 3GS Supreme is made from 22-carat gold. The front bezel has 136 diamonds, while the Apple logo is made from 53 of the same jewels and the front button has a diamond of more than seven carats. Stuart Hughes, from Liverpool, took ten months to make the phone, which comes in a chest made of granite and Kashmir gold and lined with nubuck leather. It was commissioned by an anonymous Australian businessman." (Times, 30 November) RD

POVERTY EQUALS DEATH

"The number of deaths during the coldest three months of the year was up almost 50 per cent on the previous year to 36,700, sending extra 10,000 pensioners to early graves, new figures showed yesterday. The rise in "excess winter mortality" for England and Wales for the three months to February was the biggest for years and the highest total in a decade, sparking fresh calls for ministers to combat high energy prices. ... As fuel bills have soared over the past six years, the number of households in "fuel poverty" – defined as having to spend 10 per cent or more of their income on power and heat – has risen five-fold to 6.6 million this year. Britain has a worse record on winter deaths than colder European states such as Sweden, Norway and Finland. Age Concern, the charity for the elderly, warned that unless heating was made more affordable, further large-scale deaths would occur this winter. ... Last winter more than 90 per cent of deaths were pensioners, who are among the least able to afford heat but the most vulnerable to cold-related disease, such as seasonal flu, hypothermia, bronchitis and emphysema." (Independent, 25 November) RD

THINK-TANK NONSENSE

From time to time politicians like to spread the lie that modern politics is a very complicated complex subject and that is why we need clever people like them to administer capitalism.

Part of this fiction is supported by what they choose to call "think-tanks." Recently the Tory party leader David Cameron has given his support to Phillip Blond's new organisation rather grandly titled "ResPublica". The political sketch writer Ann Treneman went along to the launch of this new organisation to try and find what it stood for. She was completely baffled.

"The label that the great and the good have given to Mr. Blond is "philosopher king". Not only is he a blond who is a brunette but he is also something called a red Tory, which I am told is a blend of Catholic social thought and a critique of the effects of economic neo-liberalism. Since I have almost no idea what that means, I was looking forward to the speech, which was his vision of a "radical transformative conservatives".

"I listened closely and can report that this is radical transformative conservatism at its deepest: abstract, abstruse, and quite possibly, total gobbledygook."

Political sketch writers are notoriously flippant and renowned for taking the Mickey, but to be fair to Treneman she has certainly got a point when she directly quotes Blond on human relationships.

"These associations themselves are not post-modern verities; they are arbitrary collections of whim and sophistry arrayed against the void." (Times, 27 November)

Before you go searching for a dictionary trying to decipher that utterance lets go with Treneman's description "total gobbledygook".

$10 MILLION A DAY MAN

Don't rely on experts.

"Even as th e financial system collapsed last year, and millions of investors lost billions of dollars, one unlikely investor was racking up historic profits: John Paulson a hedge fund manager in New York. His firm made $20 billion between 2007 and early 2009 by betting against the housing market and big financial companies. Mr Paulson's personal cut would amout to $4 billion, or more than $10 million a day. That was more than the 2007 earnings of J.K. Rowling, Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods combined".

(Wall Street Journal 15 November) RD

UK OWNERSHIP

"According to consultants AT Kearney, the richest 1pc in the UK hold some 70pc of the country's wealth. That there is this divide between rich and poor is not exactly new – but the scale of it, and the likelihood that it is not being narrowed by the financial crisis, is a big worry. Indeed, according to the report, in the US the amount of financial assets owned by the richest 1pc in the US is far, far lower at 48pc, and only 34pc in Australia. This must, to a large degree, be due to the fact that the UK set itself up in recent years as a haven for the super-rich, with its relatively generous rules on capital gains tax, because the income tax system itself is rather more redistributive than in the US. But the Kearney report is interesting because, unlike the traditional measure of inequality, the gini coefficient, it focuses not on income (the flow of money) but on actual substantive wealth (the stack of it that sits beneath us)." (Daily Telegraph, 25 November) RD

CLUNKERS AS CASH

While the "Cash for Appliances" programs will vary by state, some of the
proposed rebates that have been annouced so far, range from $50 to £100 per item

Capitalists can only access the surplus value extracted from the working class when they sell the products on the market. In times of recession they can reduce the price, but a method of selling and not reducing the price is preferable, trading in your old car as junk for a new car at a reduced price has met with some sucess, so the same method is to be used for refridgerators etc.

On the heels of its ballyhooed "Cash for Clunkers" program for cars, the federal government is expected to finalise details in the coming weeks of a tax- supported shopping extravaganza, known as "Cash for Appliances"

"Clunkers" is one of several stimulus programs whose purpose is to shift expenditures by households, businesses and governments from the future to the present," the coucil wrote in a September report. "Such time shifting is valuable in a recession when the economy has an abundance of unemployed resources that can be put to work at low net economic costs".

GOD AND MAMMON

"After what it must have deemed a decent interval since triggering a furore over its attack on traders and bankers as "robbers and assassins" last year, the Church of England is shamelessly seeking more yield. Just to refresh your memory, Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, last September said it was right to ban short selling, while John Sentamu, archbishop of York, called traders who cashed in on falling prices "bank robbers and asset strippers". But the Church Commissioners had a tough year in 2008, as the Church's total assets dropped from £5.7bn to £4.4bn, a 23 per cent fall over the period. Clearly, faith alone was not enough. As the FT's People column reports on Wednesday in an appropriately headlined piece "God meets Joy", the Church of England has appointed fund manager Tom Joy to run its £4.4bn investment portfolio from a "very strong field of more than 70 applicants". (Financial Times, 6 August) RD

THE PRICE OF COAL

"A gas explosion tore through a state-run coal mine in Northern China, killing 42 people and leaving 66 others trapped underground. More than 500 people were working in the Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province at the time. In the first nine months of this year, China's coal mines have suffered 11 major accidents with 303 deaths." (Observer, 22 November) RD

KING OF THE BRONX

Jacob Selechnik at his office in the Bronx, from which he oversees an empire of
apartment houses

"In the feudal world of real estate, where a handful of landlords claim ownership to its skyline of cramped apartments, Jacob Selechnik is most certainly royalty. He has been buying buildings in the city's poorest borough for nearly 50 years, amassing an empire that reached a peak of more than 7,000 apartments. Brokers estimate his net worth at more than half a billion dollars. What's more, Mr. Selechnik, who has $300 million in proceeds from recent sales and uncommon good will from banks, sees the haemorrhaging real estate market as an open season for bargain hunting."
(New York Times, 18 November) RD

FOR A PAIR OF GLOVES?

"Yves Saint Laurent. Advert" 

These jet-black gloves fuse bangles with supple leather for dramatic effect. The statement piece of the season - with a price to match.   Price: £2,345: (Independent, 9 November) RD

ALL RIGHT FOR SOME

"Britain may still be in recession, but the appetite for the finer things in life, it appears, lives on. Topping all expectations, Bonhams, the upmarket auction house, last week sold a decanter of whisky to a bashful buyer for a record-breaking £27,600. The unique Dalmore Oculus, blended from some of the most exceptional whiskies of the past 140 years, had been expected to reach up to £20,000. Instead it raised the largest amount of money ever paid for a Dalmore whisky. The buyer asked to remain anonymous." (Observer, 22 November) RD

OOPS, SORRY ABOUT THAT

"The head of Goldman Sachs apologised for the Wall Street investment bank's role in helping to create the financial crisis. After being ridiculed for saying he was doing God's work, and seeing his company labeled as a blood-sucking vampire squid, Lloyd Blanketing delivered a mea culpa to a conference in New York.

"We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret," Blankfein said. "We apologise."

So that's all right then." (Observer, 22 November) RD

Smart meters can't wait until after election, says energy boss

In a Socialist Society technical innovation can be welcomed as a further reduction in repetitive work and a further increase of opportunity to use the time saved for developing your interests: In a Capitalist Society technical innovation becomes a further opportunity for employers to increase their profits and reduce the number of workers.

Scotland on Sunday's article about "Smart Meters" is an example of this process.

SMART meters will be the biggest revolution in the power industry since North Sea gas was discovered, and legislation enabling their use should be pushed through parliament before the general election, says the head of the Energy Retail Association (ERA).

Garry Felgate said he expects an announcement on the roll-out of smart meters for residential customers to accompany next month's pre-budget report from Chancellor Alistair Darling

He said bills might also be reduced because utility companies would be able to save money on administration and postage costs associated with sending out amended bills when customers are unhappy with estimated amounts.

"The new meter technology will streamline a lot of our internal procedures, helping to improve account handling and turnaround times for processes like a change of tenancy or a change of supplier. Fundamentally, they will make it easier for our customers to do business with us."

Darling's pre-budget report is also expected to be accompanied by an outline for the UK government's "social pricing support" under which the ERA expects Westminster to define which customers need support.

I'm sure banks will be happy enough to lend the necessary capital in this stringent period to facilitate the energy bosses impatience, however, bills might be reduced, so it shows they're thinking about us.

THE ADVANCE OF CAPITALISM

"With the stroke of a pen, the last of Kenya's honey hunters may soon be homeless. Since time immemorial, the Ogiek have been Kenya's traditional forest dwellers. They have stalked antelope with homemade bows, made medicine from leaves and trapped bees to produce honey, the golden elixir of the woods. They have struggled to survive the press of modernity, and many times they have been persecuted, driven from their forests and belittled as "dorobo," a word meaning roughly people with no cattle. Somehow, they have always managed to survive. Now, though, the little-known Ogiek, among East Africa's last bona fide hunters and gatherers, face their gravest test yet. The Kenyan government is gearing up to evict tens of thousands of settlers, illegal or not, from the Mau Forest, the Ogiek's ancestral home and a critical water source for this entire country." (New York Times, 15 November) RD

POLLUTION AND PROFITS

Every vote seeking politician in the world waxes elequent about the urgent need for a curb to be placed on global emmisions. They fly hither and thither across the world addressing congresses about their deep concern for the planet's future. Behind these vote catching antics however lies a more pressing problem - how to compete against international rivals in obtaining a larger share of the profits. At a recent meeting in Singapore those politician showed where their real priorities lie.

"A key element of the international plan to address climate change is in jeopardy after several of the most powerful nations failed to confirm a previous commitment to halve gas emissions by 2050. The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum, which includes the US, China, Japan and Russia deleted their commitment from the final version of the official communiqué issued after a two-day meeting in Singapore. ...Most climate scientists believe that a 50 per cent reduction in global emissions by 2050 is the minimum needed to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic change." (Times, 16 November)

For national governments to reduce industrial pollution would be economic suicide. Their costs would go up and they would not be able to compete with other nations that had not reduced their pollution. Inside capitalism in the battle between less pollution or more profits there is only one winner. RD

BABIES AND BOMBS

The charity World Vision is running an appeal for funds that it calls Child Health Now. It recently took a full page advertisement in The Times (16 November) that illustrated the plight of the world's poorest children. It reported that twins in Zambia had severe diarrhea but that the clinic they attended had only enough drugs to treat one of them. The untreated one consequently died and joined the estimated two million children that die every year of this untreated condition. The advertisement then went on to point out "A simple mixture of salt, sugar and water that costs just a few pence can save a child's life, without requiring hospital treatment." The death of a child for the lack of something costing a few pence is shocking enough but the charity then claimed "Today, World Vision launches its Child Health Now campaign, calling for an end to preventable child deaths. ...If the UK government, and the international community, channeled more aid into simple community provisions, like vitamins and rehydration salts for children cut off from health systems, the lives of six million children a year could be saved."

What the well intentioned World Vision do not understand is that we live inside a capitalist society where the priority is making profit not saving children. As we reported in the July 2009 issue of the Socialist Standard "Military spending worldwide rose by 4 per cent to $1.46 trillion." Immense expenditure to protect markets, sources of raw materials and profits, yet millions of kids die for the lack of a few pence. RD

A NICE LITTLE EARNER

"All over America demand for firearms and ammunition is rising amid concerns that rising unemployment, which passed 10 per cent this month, will lead inexorably to higher rates of crime. ... Smith & Wesson is expecting sales to rise by 30% to $102 million (£61 million) in the first quarter of next financial year, after growing by more than 13 per cent this year to $335 million. At Strum and Ruger, sales for the third quarter hit $71.2 million, up 70 per cent from the same period last year. At Glock, the leader in law enforcement markets, pistol sales rose by 71 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year in 2009 in comparison with the same period last year."  (Times, 16 November) RD

Obama eyes Afghan costs: $1 million per soldier

While President Obama's decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications that are adding pressure to limit the commitment, senior administration officials say.

The latest internal government estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 American troops and sharply expanding the Afghan security forces, as favoured by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, at $40 billion to $54 billion a year, the officials said.

Even if fewer troops are sent, or their mission is modified, the rough formula used by the White House, of about $1 million per soldier per year, appears almost constant.

So even if President Obama opts for a lower troop commitment, Afghanistan's new costs could wash out the projected $26 billion expected to be saved in 2010 from withdrawing troops from Iraq. And the overall military budget could rise to as much as $734 billion, or 10 percent more than the peak of $667 billion under the Bush administration.

Such an escalation in military spending would be a politically volatile issue for Mr. Obama at a time when the government budget deficit is soaring, the economy is weak and he is trying to pass a costly health care plan.

( New York Times 14^th November)

GLASGOW BRANCH ACTIVITY

THIS IS DEMOCRACY?

American politicians are fond of lecturing other world politicians about how the USA is a wonderful model of democracy in action. A recent study on the wealth of U.S. Congress would seem to suggest that they have a wonderful model of "government of the people by the people- " by the rich people that is" Apparently, times aren't so tough all over. According to a new study compiled by the Centre for Responsive Politics, 237 members of the U.S. Congress, or 44 percent, are millionaires. "What's easy to see is that the economic reality of our elected officials is not reflective of the general population," said Dave Levinthal, who helped compile the study's findings. Nationwide, only 1 percent of U.S. citizens qualify as millionaires."
(Sphere News, 6 November) RD