Food for thought

On May 5, an article in the Toronto Star focused on people at New Delhi's Ghazipur landfill who 'live' on a trash pile, "On Trash Mountain, families earn $1 to $2 a day slogging through waist-deep muck. But 'residents' also marry, have children, pray, and celebrate life's other milestones." Let's speed the day when we can put capitalism on the trash pile where it belongs.
The police were up to old tricks before the recent NATO summit in Washington. Three men were arrested ahead of the protest and charged
with possessing weapons, a charge denied by the three. Their lawyer said, "This is obviously an attempt to chill dissent ahead of the NATO
demonstrations." So much for democratic rights if the denials are true.
An article in the Daily Beast, an American news reporting site (www.dailybeast.com <http://www.dailybeast.com/>) bleated, "Why can't
Obama bring Wall Street to justice?" The reporters were enraged that the corporate kleptomaniacs who brought down the global economy are getting away with it. They answer their own question by adding that Wall Street contributed heavily to Obama's presidential campaign. Another good reason to abolish money -- real democracy. John Ayers

Why are you fat?

Nearly 14 percent of women in the world are considered obese, up from 7.9 percent in 1980. Among men, 10 percent are obese, up from 5 percent in 1980.

Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public policy at New York University, one of the leading nutritional experts who has written many books on the food industry, explains obesity rates started to rise in the 1980s, she says largely because of demands Wall Street placed on food makers.

Wall Street "forced food companies to try and sell food in an extremely competitive environment," she says. Food manufacturers "had to look for ways to get people to buy more food. And they were really good at it. I blame Wall Street for insisting that corporations have to grow their profits every 90 days."

 Large government subsidizes given to the corn, wheat, soybean and sugar industries allowed farmers to reap high returns on their crops. Farmers could grow these commodities cheaply and were encouraged by the food industry "to plant as much as they could. Food production increased, and so did calories in the food supply," Nestle writes. Inexpensive food encouraged more eating, and more eating led to bigger waistlines. "Today, in contrast to the early 1980s, it is socially acceptable to eat in more places, more frequently and in larger amounts, and for children to regularly consume fast foods, snacks and sodas" Since 1980 the index cost of fruits and vegetables has gone up by 40 percent. Whereas the index price of sodas and snack foods have gone down by 20 to 30 percent.

Socialist speech - from Upton Sinclair's Jungle

Part Two

Part One

Hat tip to Stefan at his website

Greenwashing Capitalism

Presidents, politicians, UN officials, local government leaders, and thousands of environmental activistts from across the world are meeting in Rio to arguer over what ‘green economics’ really means. Should economic forces be harnessed in service to the environment or the environment subjugated to economic interests? If 700 international environmental treaties hasn't saved the planet, will 701... 702 do it? Will harnessing people power have more success?

Our ability to generate more output with fewer people has lifted our lives out of drudgery and delivered us a potential cornucopia of material wealth. Yet a billion or more people  face a worsening of their conditions, and the very existence of hundreds of millions of them is threatened. The vast majority of these victims bear little or no responsibility. Pushing 1 billion persons down to extreme poverty, and enriching a very few is one of the major “accomplishments” of capitalism. If we allow businesses to measure our natural resources only by their profits we will have a system headed for ruin. Unless we stop envisioning humanity's raison d’être as the pursuit of accumulating capital, the environmental crisis cannot be broken.

No "green" capitalism! We champion a green socialism that focuses on production for need only and common ownership of the worlds wealth. “Green” capitalism will bring about natural resource grabbing, displacing humanity and nature from the essential elements needed for their survival. The drive for profit, instead of reestablishing harmony within the system, will provoke even greater imbalances, concentrations of wealth, and speculative processes. "Green" capitalism is illusory, simple wishful thinking. The destructive "grow or die" imperative of our market-driven system cannot be wished or regulated away. Capitalism is based on the premise of eternal growth. It is not a steady state, but a rapacious system that is never satiated. Under a capitalist system, not growing is not the same as standing still; it is moving backwards. This is the fundamental contradiction in a finite world. Countless studies have documented that limits to growth in such areas as energy, minerals, water and arable land (among others) are fast being reached. The energy corporations are desperately trying to crash through these limits with technological fixes such as fracking, tar sands exploitation and deep-water drilling, which are equally or more environmentally costly than traditional methods. Yet the trends continue. Capitalism has utterly failed us. It has destroyed our communities, our democracy and the planet we live on. As long as people believe that capitalism is sustainable,  they'll focus on reforming it -- smoothing around the edges, re-writing regulations and so on. Some of us though seek a revolution that overthrows the whole system, clearing the way for something entirely new. Maximizing accumulation is the force that drives capitalism. Appropriating nature and labour is the cheapest way for maximization of accumulation. Capitalism is always about the theft of the people's sustenance and the looting of the source of their sustenance – Nature. Capitalists hate any sort of cost. Corporations don’t care much for building environmental costs into their production and spend millions of dollars in political lobbying to thwart such policies. This system where the master class try their best to maximize profit by minimizing cost, by appropriating labour, robbing nature, grabbing everything within their reach, creating pollution and destruction of the ecology and causing the ruination of nature are acts of crime - crime against the planet, against posterity, against humanity. It is eco-murder! These are crimes that not only harm present generations but hurt future generations. Vulture environmentalism is vulture capitalism’s hungry and greedy twin. Capitalism is a system that must continually expand, a system that, by its very nature, will eventually come up against the reality of finite natural resources. By its very nature the capitalism system stands against ecology and environment as its only concern is profit, nothing else. Standing up for environment will inescapably lead to questioning this ever greedy hungry economic system. Nobody as yet ever talks about the CAUSE of all these "issues" and underlying reasons but they eventually will arrive at such questions.

 A world without workers is impossible. A world without capitalists is imperative. An end to the reign of capitalism is necessary to save the Earth and all its people so that we can begin a human society offering hope for all and not just some. There can be no fundamental alteration of the status quo without the abolition of private and state property. This may seem a scary proposition and the fear of change is encouraged by those who currently benefit from the existing social order. We have not only to conquer the fear, but also to embrace a radically different perspective and way of being in the world.

Productivity — the amount of output delivered per hour of work in the economy — is often viewed as the engine of progress. The quest for increased productivity haunts the waking hours of C.E.O.’s and finance ministers. But the gains in productivity are used to increase the profits of shareholders, and not to reduce working time. Just before the recession the elite held slightly less than $80 trillion. After the bailout, their combined investment wealth was estimated at a little over $83 trillion. To give some idea, this is four years of the gross output of all the human beings on earth.

The ideas of the ruling class have hoodwinked us! Carefully crafted propaganda convince us that a society based upon individual greed, exploitation and inequality is normal, natural and desirable.What kind of system is capitalism? This kind: If there are wars, that benefits the arms trade. If disease spreads that is good for the pharmaceutical industry. If hurricanes and earthuakes reaps destruction upon communities, that is good for the construction industry. Such are the realities of the cold blooded economics by which the people of the world have been organized for hundreds of years. Many of us starve for lack of food while others go on diets because they eat too much. Many of us sleep in doorways and on the streets, yet pampered pets have their own beds in warm homes. The idea of keeping people healthy, safe, secure and alive is reduced to doing so only if they are able to create profits for those selling health, safety, security and life itself to the highest bidder in the market. If we can’t afford to buy those things and charity does not exist for us, we can all just drop dead. None of this happens because of individuals who are thoughtless or cold hearted or murderous. But in a system which dictates that profit must be created in a market sale. As Marx explains "Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity."

BE A WELL BEHAVED WAGE SLAVE

There is a notion abroad that the government do not favour the owning class as opposed to the working class but what is their view on this? "Low-paid workers who take strike action will no longer have their wages topped up by the state, ministers say. Workers on up to £13,000 a year can currently claim working tax credits to top up their income even when they take part in industrial action. But from next year there will be no increase in benefits if a worker's income drops due to strike action." (Sunday Telegraph, 17 June) Don't strike, do are you as told, behaviour you bastards. RD

Food for thought

On Saturday, May 19, 20 000 activists jammed the business district in Frankfurt to protest the dominance of the banks. Let's hope they eventually get the message that we can easily get rid of the banks and the whole capitalist paraphernalia that goes with it by electing socialist reps.
An article in the Canadian Jewish News focused on the plight of Christians in Iraq and Egypt from where they are emigrating in droves to escape persecution, bombings, and rape. In Egypt, Christians, who had second class status under Mubarak, now are even worse off and 'face an uncertain future in what may become a theocratic state.' Socialists are appalled, not because they are Christians, but because they are human beings and members of the working class. Only an understanding of socialism can stop the nonsense.
More details continue to come to light in the Harper government's budget Bill. Employment insurance is paid by all workers yet only 40% of the unemployed are eligible (26% in Toronto). That was done by the previous Liberal government but a new attack ensures that those who are eligible must be prepared to take a 30% wage cut or lose eligibility. The attack on the worker is being stepped up.
Toronto City council's new garbage fees for charities and non-profit-groups will take food from the mouths of the homeless. It will bring $2.9 million to the city, deeply in debt, but, according to Angie Hocking, Outreach coordinator, the fees would take $5 000 out of her $14 000 food budget. Under capitalism, someone always loses. John Ayers

OLD? POOR? TOUGH!

The news that disabled and elderly are seeing their day centres and key services disappear as budget cuts bite should come as no great surprise. The elderly are bearing the brunt of the cutbacks according to new research. "A survey of frontline social care staff uncovered a picture of widespread closures of local authority day centres, and a drastic "hollowing out" of those left behind. It reflected the erosion of an important service for the elderly and disabled, who otherwise can be isolated at home, said Dr Catherine Needham, who led the research, which was commissioned by Unison from the University of Birmingham's health services management centre. The survey found 57% of workers in social care in England and Wales reporting day centre closures. More than half also said that they were aware of impending closures." (Observer, 17 June) When it comes to cutting costs and keeping up profit margins you can always rely on the owning class to cut social benefits. RD

Old and in the way?

160,000 pensioners in Scotland are living in relative poverty – with an income of less than 60 per cent of the national average. Prices for pensioners have risen 20 per cent since the beginning of the financial crisis. By contrast, inflation for UK households as a whole prices have risen 16 per cent. An older person living alone is said to have experienced a 26.5 per cent increase in the cost of the things they buy since 2007 when the current financial crisis began.

 Today’s pensioners are experiencing real hardship, with nearly half living on an income below £10,000 a year. Those with private pensions have experienced a worrying drop in the value of their pension because of low interest rates, which are being held down by the Bank of England’s policy of quantitive easing.
Age Concern Scotland said: “For older people who are living on a low, fixed income, life can be tough, with basic living costs such as food and energy still high and April’s pension increase barely keeping up with inflation. Fuel poverty remains Scotland’s national disgrace, with almost two thirds of single pensioner households ‘fuel poor.’ " 

 Ros Altmann, director-general of over-fifties experts SAGA, says: “It almost seems as though policy is designed to take money from older people and give money to younger people. The government needs to acknowledge the difficulties that exist today and to try to ensure that today’s older people have a better quality of life.”

Food for thought

On March 7, the UN envoy to Yemen warned of the growing food crisis in that country. 6.8 million people have been left without enough food during months of political turmoil that has allowed Al Qaeda to gain ground. Three million are in need of immediate assistance and 500 000 children are at risk from malnutrition. Contrast that with the Ford motor company rewarding their CEO with $58.3 million in stock as a reward for improved sales and you get some idea of the crazy imbalance in the capitalist system.
The Quebec government is facing some strong people power over their legislation to curtail protest rights. Now protesters from all walks of life are out on the streets, banging pots and pans, taking over intersections, and taking part in impromptu, leaderless marches in defiance of the law. An estimated 400 000 gathered last week at the one hundred day celebration of the students' strike. John Ayers

MADNESS DOWN UNDER

Capitalism is an insane society. How else can you describe a society that condemns millions to survive on less than $2 a day and yet has an Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart with an income of £1m every hour? "Last month, Australian business magazine BRW estimated her fortune at AUD$29.2 billion (£18.1 billion), making her the world's richest woman, and eighth richest individual. According to predictions by Citigroup, she has a good chance of overtaking Mexican telecoms giant, Carlos Slim Helu, and Microsoft's Bill Gates at the top of the list, once her projects reach capacity. .... In the past 12 months, Rinehart has almost tripled her wealth, earning more than £1m every hour." (Independent, 16 June) RD

He who pays the piper calls the tune

More than a quarter of Britain’s richest people are donors to the coalition government’s senior partners, the Conservative party, the GMB union says. 

 248 out of the top 1,000 richest have made financial contributions to the party in person, through their companies or family members between 2001 to May 2012. Donations by rich financiers to the party total £83, 659,167. 

Lord Ashcroft topped the donations list with £6.1 million followed by the Getty family (£5 million) and Michael Spencer, the chief executive of the world’s leading interdealer broker ICAP plc (£4.8 million). 

 GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said the list of Tory donors clearly shows where the real allegiance of the government lies. “It is clear that the wealthy look to the Tory Party to protect their interests and they have been repaid with policies like the change in Income Tax, down from 50p to 45p. This is not philanthropy. It is an investment by an elite in an elite to look after their interests,”

Who is Gina Rinehart?

She is an Australian and the world's richest woman, the eighth richest individual. Her income is £1 million every hour. AN Australian business magazine estimated her fortune at £18.1 billion.

Rinehart wants new laws to allow cheap labour to be imported from overseas, tax breaks for mining, and a special economic zone to encourage development in the country's north.

Rinehart is developing huge coal projects in Queensland's Galilee Basin, which will produce more greenhouse gases than the whole of the Queensland economy currently. Rinehart's response to these concerns was to fly out one of the world's most prominent climate-change sceptics, Lord Christopher Monckton, for a speaking tour. Rinehart has purchased 10 per cent of the Ten television network and nearly 13 per cent of Fairfax Media, publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's The Age, making her the single largest shareholder in one of Australia's most powerful media groups.

 The Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, has labelled her a threat to Australia's success, democracy, press freedom and its egalitarianism.
Tasmanian Senator Bob Brown, the Australian Greens ex- leader, condemns her as a "selfish, anti-public multi-billionaire", who mounted her father's truck "not to defend the Australian ethos of a fair go, but to defend her dividends".

A GREEK TRAGEDY

As ordinary Greeks have been thrown into ever greater poverty by wage and pension cuts and a seemingly endless array of new and higher taxes, their wealthy compatriots have been busy either whisking their money out of Greece or snapping up prime real estate abroad. "Greek ship-owners, who have gained from their profits being tax-free and who control at least 15% of the world's merchant freight, have also remained low-key. With their wealth offshore and highly secretive, the estimated 900 families who run the sector have the largest fleet in the world. As Athens' biggest foreign currency earner after tourism, the industry remitted more than $175bn (£112bn) to the country in untaxed earnings over the past decade." (Guardian 13 June) The current economic crisis may be bad news for the Greek working class, but for the owning class it is business as usual. RD

PROGRESSING BACKWARDS

It suits the politicians and the media of today to spread the notion that somehow the present social system is improving. A look at the wages levels in the USA at present shows that this is just not the case."The federal minimum wage is now $7.25 cents an hour, about $15,080 for a full time, year round worker. At that level, it means poverty wages for a family of three, and weakened demand for the economy. As Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and New York's bishops concluded, this leaves workers "on the brink of homelessness, with not enough in their paychecks to pay for the most basic of necessities, like food, medicine or clothing for their children." ...... If today's minimum wage were at its previous height in 1968, adjusted for inflation, it would be over $10.00 an hour." (Washington Post, 29 March) RD

Food for thought

While austerity measures and economic downturns may save money for the owning class, they are decidedly unhealthy for the working class. All over Europe suicides by economic circumstances are on the rise, especially in the fragile nations. In Greece, suicides increased 24% from 2007 to 2009, in Ireland by 16%, in Italy suicides rose from 123 in 2005 to 187 in 2010. Capitalism is a dangerous business. Time to make our lives safe!
The recent federal budget was presented as a reasonably benign affair but careful scrutiny reveals a massive move towards getting government out of all kinds of public services. Apart from the thousands of public service job cuts, the budget ended the National Council of Welfare that advises the government on poverty (ignore it and it will go away!); closed the National Aboriginal Health Centre; trimmed funding for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by $115 million; scrapped the National Roundtable on the environment; cut funding to Transport Canada that regulates airline safety; cut foreign aid and over 1 000 positions from the Canadian Border Services Agency; eliminated over 2 000 professionals and scientists who protect the safety of Canadians in the food, product testing, and environmental fields. It is a sly and cynical piece of underhand work, and the only way to deal with it is to eliminate capitalism altogether, and soon.
Recent headlines in the business sections of the newspapers have highlighted the doom and gloom of the current recession -- " European
Auto Manufacturers heading into a Fifth Straight Year of Falling Sales"; "Yahoo Looks to Right its Sinking Ship...thousands of Layoffs"; "Tortuous Recovery Spurs China to Lower Growth Expectations"; "Global Growth Fears Hammer TSX"; "Toronto Hydro Dropped by Insurer -- Power Provider Warns Decision to Curb Equipment Renewal Will Lead to Blackouts" This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course, but it's enough to show a system in deep trouble and should make everyone think about something better. Let's work to make that something socialism!
Recent figures released by Statistics Canada revealed that youth unemployment (15-24 year-olds) now stands at 14.7%. However, figures do lie. This does not count the youths who have returned to school because they couldn't get a job, or those who are underemployed in part-time jobs, or those who have used up their unemployment benefits. It is pointless to publish such figures unless the object is to hoodwink the public. One more thing is pointless -- the continuation of a system that creates unemployment. John Ayers

Rangers are staring into the abyss

One hundred and forty years of football history has been brought to an end. Rangers, who played their first games in 1872 and have been Scottish champions a record 54 times, will go into liquidation. This is a massive football club that has been ransacked by crooks and their underhanded dealings, clearly over years.

The European Court of Justice ruling in the case of Bosman is authority for the view that professional footballers are workers like anyone else.

PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart said that Rangers prospective owner Charles Green had a legal obligation to consult the union about his plans. Players will be free to walk away from the club if it goes into liquidation. Equally, they would also be free to accept offers to stay on at Ibrox under the new company which is set to take over Rangers but the choice would be theirs.

Green said that players would be in breach of contract if they opted not to move to his “newco”. Arguing that Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) legislation, known as Tupe, compelled the players to move from the old company to the new. But Mark Hamilton, a Tupe expert with law firm Maclay Murray & Spens, said the legislation made a specific exception in the event of insolvent liquidation. “The current Tupe Regulations, which became law in 2006, do say that, in general, employees’ contracts are automatically transferred when a company’s business is sold from administration. But the rules are different for liquidation. In that case, the key point is that employees do not transfer under the Regulations, though they are free to agree new contracts with the buyer of the business...Players and other employees can choose to move to the newco. But, if people do not want to go, they cannot be compelled...they are under no obligation to work for the liquidated company or any newco unless that is agreed.”

Fraser Wishart said  “The purpose of Tupe is to protect employees’ terms and conditions of employment in exactly this type of situation...The players are being asked to decide upon their future with so many uncertainties involved. Unanswered questions such as which division the new club will actually play in, whether there be any sporting sanctions against the club, whether the club be eligible to play in the Scottish Cup and whether there will be a registration embargo. One or more of these factors may have an influence on a professional footballer’s career – particularly since it a career that is relatively short lived."
 
This is the face of 21st century football – clubs bought and sold speculatively and loaded with debt whilst communities get little benefit. Only TV companies, who stage matches at times to suit themselves are considered important. European football is where the strong thrive and become ever-more powerful and the weak get left behind.

 Back in season 2009/10, Christian Aid released the report Blowing the Whistle, which includes a league table of financial secrecy in UK and Irish football. Rangers came in at number 6. Ample warning of things to come. Channel 4 reporter, Alex Thompson, explained  how“Because – like the bankers – everyone was having too much fun living the dream? Partly yes, but partly a crucial check and balance to all the Ibrox hype had all but gone. For years too much football ‘journalism’ in Glasgow had been too lazy, sycophantic and incapable of asking awkward questions...Something about asking questions about RFC clearly angers some in the Glasgow media in a way I’ve never seen in 25 years of global reporting...So it went on – year after year. On one side the directors at Scotland’s football ‘governing’ bodies didn’t ask much. On the other, large sections of Glasgow football journalism declined to delve...Legions of fans sold out again,”
Football clubs are social entities and should not be corporate assets. The story of these clubs is the story of communities and the stories of the generations of families who have supported them through thick and thin. Club owners and their sponsors make millions from fans. There should be righteous anger from supporters - at capitalism.

Food for thought

Roper, North Carolina has a population of 617, so there are few officials -- just four, in fact, including a mayor who works for free, and its annual budget is $360 311. Roper's average annual family income is $20 600 or $2 000 below the poverty level for a family of four. When they can't pay their water bills, neighbour Dorenda Gatling turns it off. Some haul buckets from their neighbour's house but to prevent that, homes are sealed with yellow police tape to prevent entry. So the homeowners are waterless and homeless. In capitalism it's 'can't pay, can't have' no matter what the consequences are.
An article in The Toronto Star, March 4, called attention to the plight of non-unionized workers. A hotel worker had her part-time hours cut back to nothing for ten months in 2009 after she spoke at a rally in support of forming a union at her workplace, Novotel, in Mississauga.
About a dozen other Novotel workers have been fired, disciplined, or had their working hours cut since 2008 when they began union organization. The fact that, legally, they had a right to unionize meant nothing to the management. It's like it was two hundred years ago when unionization began. This shows that nothing has changed in capitalism, which is an excellent reason to abolish it.
Thomas Walkom writes in the Toronto Star that there has always been a tacit agreement in Canada that Canadians would welcome new immigrants as long as the government didn't use them to drive down wages. This is very shaky reasoning considering that Marx showed 150 years ago that the reserve army, including immigrants, is there to do just that, drive down wages. Walkom reports that even that agreement has been abandoned by the Harper government. Ottawa will now allow employers to pay temporary foreign workers less. Just who qualifies as a temporary worker is cause for stretching a point. By 2011, there were over 300 000 temporary foreign workers in Canada. What the government is saying, according to Walkom, is that if Canadians don't want to see jobs going to foreign workers they should quit whining and accept lower wages. Right! John Ayers

Brief history of Glasgow branch

To say times were hard when Glasgow branch was formed in 1924 would be a serious understatement. The branch consisted of working men, only some of whom had jobs, and money was so scarce that in the early days branch meetings were sometimes held in the open because members couldn’t afford to rent a hall.

If funds were lacking then energy and commitment were not, so members threw themselves into making the party known in the city. John Higgins, the first branch secretary, was particularly effective at this and his meetings Glasgow Green gave many Glaswegians their first introduction to the party’s case.

To branch members knowledge meant everything and they were determined to have as much of it as they could, so classes on Marxist theory, logic, etc, were an essential feature, but the main activity was always indoor and, especially, outdoor meetings. Glasgow branch always had a reputation for having first-class speakers and even our opponents, whatever else they thought of us, conceded that.

Two outstanding examples of this were Alex Shaw* and Tony Mulheron. Shaw was an old-time street corner orator with an ability to have his audiences in stitches – his lampooning of some of Glasgow’s left-wing folk heroes, especially the “Red Clydesiders”, was hilarious. Mulheron, by contrast, was in his element on the indoor platform. Tony was extremely articulate and had a witty, flamboyant speaking style that could turn even the driest-sounding theoretical subject into an entertainment.

During the war activities were stepped up. Ever more meetings were held and new, younger speakers came forward. The wartime scene was brightened by visits from London speakers taking a break from the Blitz and, later on, doodlebugs and V2 rockets.

After “peace” was declared the momentum was maintained and the branch’s biggest ever audiences attended meetings at the St. Andrew’s Halls and the Cosmo cinema. Membership increased and the branch even acquired its own premises. In 1949 a second branch was formed in the city and this lasted until 1961.

In the late 1950s an influx of younger members revitalised activities, and in the 1960s candidates were fielded in three parliamentary and five municipal elections. More outdoor speaking stances were opened and there were public debates aplenty with Labourites, Leninists and others.

Added to all this was a winter programme of Sunday evening indoor meetings which ran from October to April and continued for many years. This meant that members had to wrack their brains to come up with titles for around 30 meetings every winter!

Today the old propaganda methods, which were the branch’s strength, are all but finished. People will no longer come to indoor meetings or stop and listen to those held outdoors, and this means that the branch has had to adapt to the new situation. Now we organize day schools, discussion groups, hand out leaflets at demos, provide speakers and other assistance for party activities elsewhere in the country etc.

Glasgow branch has for over eighty years played its part in the party’s activities. Its members have, in the past, given generously of their time, effort and abilities, and today’s members, despite very different and difficult conditions, strive to maintain this record.
 V.V.
2004
* see here for a report on Alex Shaw in a 1931 debate with the SLP

A CABINET OF MILLIONAIRES

Politicians love to strike the pose of "we're all in this together" and stress how much they have in common with the ordinary man in the street but the combined wealth of the Cabinet is estimated at nearly £70 million, with 18 out of 29 ministers worth more than a million, according to a new analysis. "Wealth-X, a consultancy specialising in analysing the financial affairs of US politicians estimated David Cameron's net worth at £3.8 million. The most wealthy cabinet minister is Lord Strathclyde, the Leader of the House of Lords, who is estimated to be worth £9.6 from his stake in his family's estate management company, Auchendrane Estates. Also in the top five are Defence Secretary Philip Hammond at £8.2 million, and Foreign Secretary William Hague and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt at £4.8 million each." (Daily Telegraph, 28 May) So much for the man in the street pose. RD

Food for thought

A recent study suggests retailers can increase yearly takings by almost $100 000 by employing people whose ethnicity reflects the local community. The study by Temple University, Rutgers, and Davidson College studied the theory at over seven hundred JC Penny stores. The extra take averages out to $630 per employee (wonder if they received any of it) and brought the company $69 million a year. Altruism is a wonderful thing, especially when it brings in millions.
A recent Toronto Star article divulged some interesting facts about the rise and fall of the 'Celtic Tiger', commonly known as Ireland, that spent the 1990s enjoying unprecedented economic growth. Housing prices quadrupled and unemployment fell from 17% to 4% and 'plasterers were making 2 000 Euros ($2 666 Canadian) a week and spending 200 Euros on a pair of pants'. In 2007, the housing bubble burst and the Bank of Ireland's stock plunged 75% in one year. Now Ireland has an official unemployment of 14%. No matter how well things go in the boom, the bust will follow and the bubble will burst. There is no security for the worker in capitalism. John Ayers