FOOD FOR THOUGHT

"Five years after the United States invaded Iraq, plenty of people believe that the war was waged chiefly to secure U.S. petroleum supplies and to make Iraq safe -- and lucrative -- for the U.S. oil industry. We may not know the real motivations behind the Iraq war for years, but it remains difficult to distill oil from all the possibilities. (Washington Post, 16 March) RD

GOOD NEWS FOR SOME

"The housing crisis and credit crunch may end the American dream of property ownership for millions of people, but for landlords seeking bargain investment properties the market is looking up. ...Building contractor Chad Blankenbaker seeks foreclosed homes to "flip" -- buying at well below market value, refitting then selling them at a hefty profit. "I'm shocked at how low the prices are here," he said. "There's so much inventory that no one has to fight to buy anything. "Around the country the housing crisis represents both a business opportunity for landlords and a huge shift in the rental market." (Yahoo News, 17 March) RD

The big gamblers

Despite the turmoil in the markets, bank failures and write-offs amounting to £60.5 billion City bonuses will top £6 billion this year.

Dozens of bankers at Goldman Sachs, for example, were awarded bonuses of at least £5m each at Christmas, with one lucky trader pocketing more than £10m in cash and shares. The average bonus at Goldman Sachs last year, one of the more extravagant payers, was £300,000. Staff are thought to be dreading the possibility that the average this year will be a mere £200,000 – And , of course , that is all on top of salaries and other emoluments.
Professor Stigliz said "Even if they lose their jobs, they walk away with large sums..."

Professor Stiglitz, a former chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, under Bill Clinton explained ."...When things turned out well, they walked away with huge bonuses. When things turn out badly – as now – they do not share in the losses...The system was designed to encourage risk taking – but it encouraged excessive risk taking. In effect, it paid them to gamble...It is one thing to gamble with one's own money – but these bankers were gambling with other people's money – and with the government backstopping any losses. This is unconscionable."

NO CREDIT CRUNCH HERE

"Gulfstream Aerospace on Thursday unveiled plans to build the largest, fastest and most expensive private jet for delivery starting in 2012. Gulfstream said its new G650 will be capable of flying nearly 700 mph, faster than a Boeing 747. It will seat 18, have a full kitchen and bar, and offer individualized entertainment, satellite phone service and wireless Internet access during the flight. Passengers will be able to sip a cocktail at 51,000 feet, its maximum altitude, the company says. "The G650 is in a brand new market by itself," said Gulfstream President Joe Lombardo. At a base price of $58 million, it will cost about $10 million more than its predecessor, Gulfstream's G550. With a flying range of more than 8,000 miles, it will be capable of whisking heads of state, CEOs and other VIPs from New York to Tokyo or Buenos Aires non-stop. (USA Today, 13 March) RD

THE POOR DIE YOUNGER

"Health inequalities between rich and poor have widened since Labour came to office in 1997. A report published yesterday shows that attempts to narrow the gaps have largely failed. In infant mortality and life expectancy, two important measures, the gap is wider now than it was then. David Sinclair, head of policy at Help the Aged, said that the figures made a mockery of the Government's attempts to tackle rising inequality and represented a staggering failure. “The starkest demonstration of the gap between rich and poor can be seen in the gulf in life expectancy between different social groups. Despite the Government's commitment that no-one should be disadvantaged by where they live, the reality is that people who are poor, or who live in poor communities die earlier” he said. (Times, 14 March) RD

MPs REDUNDANCY BENEFITS

Teresa Hunter in an article in Scotland on Sunday makes some interesting points on how the redundancy payments could be eroded for some workers,
In a previous article here in the Socialist Courier, the advantages of being an MP were, you decide what MPs need and vote it through parliament, this part of the article shows further advantages over the rest of us.
Is this money taxed?
"The first £30,000 of a redundancy payout is free from tax and National Insurance, provided it is genuinely compensation for redundancy. Above this amount, payments are added to your earnings for that year and taxed at your highest marginal rate. To qualify for £30,000 tax exemption you must be made redundant. Gardening leave, for example, is not redundancy, and neither is three months' salary in lieu of notice.PricewaterhouseCoopers' tax partner Valerie Smart said:
"The (HM Customs &] Revenue can also be very difficult about contractual payments. So, for example, if you have a contract which says you must be paid so much if the employer asks you to leave early, they view this as a contractual payment not redundancy."Even more worrying, the taxman is increasingly scrutinising redundancy payments made to people in their 50s. Smart adds: "If you are made redundant in your 50s and never work again, is that redundancy or pre-retirement? If you don't work again, they are beginning to try to argue that it is a retirement lump sum and should be taxed."The exception to this rule is MPs who enjoy a special privilege, extended in the recent Budget to members of the Greater London Council, and London mayor Ken Livingstone.If MPs lose an election or decide to leave they can apply for a resettlement grant which can pay half of their £61,000 salary if they have been in the house for less than 10 years, rising to 100% over 15 years at certain age groups. MPs enjoy the first £30,000 of their resettlement grant tax-free, even though they would not be entitled to under the rules which apply to the rest of us."

Privatise Profits - Socialise Losses

BANK OF England governor Mervyn King used his now-famous meeting with the chief executives of the "big five" UK banks last Thursday to admonish them for increasing shareholder dividends.

On February 27, HBOS hiked its dividend by 18% to 48.9p meaning the bank offers a yield of 6.9%. It also lowered the targets under which directors would receive payouts on its executive incentive schemes. Previously directors only received bonuses under the scheme should the bank's shares outperform a basket of UK banks by 3%. Under the new rules, HBOS only needs to be 1.5% above rivals to trigger pay-outs.

Colin McLean, chief executive of SVM Asset Management said: "It just seems wrong that bankers are looking for support and essentially public money at a time when both dividends and executive pay are not only high but have also just been raised."

As we previously reported annual reports from RBS and HBOS show that Sir Fred Goodwin's remuneration totalled £4.19 million in 2007. Hornby's package climbed 22.5% to £1.93 million.

Lest we forget - Hung out to Dry

The richest 10 per cent of the UK population increased their share of the nation's marketable wealth (excluding housing) from 57 per cent in 1976 to 71 per cent in 2003.

Over the same period, the speculative capital that could be deployed or invested by the bottom 50 per cent of the British population fell from 12 per cent to just 1 per cent.

The wealthiest 1 per cent of the population, on current government figures, now control more than a third of all the marketable wealth – and this ignores the vast sums held in offshore tax havens.

The New Economics Foundation has shown that global growth has not aided the poor. In the 1980s, for every $100 of world growth, the poorest 20 per cent received $2.20; by 2001, they received only 60 cents. Clearly , growth disproportionately benefits the rich and further impoverishes the poor.

Real wage increases in the top 13 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development have been below the rate of inflation since about 1970 – a situation compounded in Britain as the measure of inflation massively underestimates the real cost of living.

Thus wage earners – rather than asset owners – have faced a 35-year downward pressure on their standard of living. Indeed, the golden age for the salaried worker, as a share of GDP, was between 1945 and 1973 – and not this vaunted age of liberalisation.

From The Independent

spoiled kids or a spoiled world

The media will no doubt concentrate the headlines on over-indulgent parents , the liberal minded permissive mum and dad who won't instill a sense of discipline in their kids but for those of us who seek deeper understanding other parts of the report come to our attention . The problem lay with parents who were struggling with little or no help to bring up their children in a heavily commercialised world.

The report urged the government to tackle the commercialisation of culture head-on.

Research author Maurice Galeton said: "It is particularly acute where people are living in violent neighbourhoods. ..Very young parents in violent and deprived neighbourhoods without the network of support that others get ... have a huge level of stress in their lives."

Schools indeed reflect society in general .

NOT ACCORDING TO PLAN

When the US and UK forces invaded Iraq we were assured that the plan was to improve the lot of the Iraqi population, but like a lot of political promises the reality was to lead to a far different conclusion. "The humanitarian situation in post-war Iraq five years after the US-led invasion is one of the most critical in the world, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a report late Sunday. Millions in the country had no access to drinking water, sanitation or healthcare. ...Although the situation had improved in some areas, Iraqis were either killed or wounded in daily attacks or violence with civilians often being targeted, said the report. Healthcare was far too expensive for the average citizen, it added. A recent World Health Organisation and Iraqi health ministry report estimated that 151,000 people were killed between the start of the invasion on March 20, 2003 and June 2006. Other estimates have put the number of civilian deaths as a result of the conflict between nearly 48,000 and as high as 601,000." (Yahoo News, 16 March) RD

We're all Jock Tamson's Bairns

John McCain , the Republican hopeful for the presidency , eager to glean votes whereever they can be found insisted the senator's family was descended from the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce .

"John McCain's family is of Scottish-Irish descent and related to the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, on his mother's side".

And also "in direct descent" from Emperor Charlemagne.

Asked by the Guardian to investigate McCain's family history, genealogists and medieval historians described the link to Robert the Bruce as "wonderful fiction" and "baloney".

"What wonderful fiction," Dr Katie Stevenson, a lecturer in medieval studies at the University of St Andrews said. "Mary Louise Earle's claims to descent from Robert the Bruce are likely to be fantasy. Earle is not a Scottish name. I think it is incredibly unlikely that name would be related to Robert the Bruce. Charlemagne and Robert the Bruce were not connected - that's ludicrous."

Robert I was believed to have had up to a dozen children - several illegitimately. Basic calculations suggested there could be as many as 200 million people distantly related to him.

"In that sense McCain probably is descended from Bruce. So am I. So are you. So is everyone." Dr Bruce Durie, academic manager, genealogical studies at the University of Strathclyde said .

But you never know .

Dr Durie added that despite his romantic reputation, Robert the Bruce was "an absolute scoundrel".
"... he was a self-serving, vainglorious opportunist ..." he said.

A bit like McCain himself .

A fine performance - a rich reward

Tim Bowdler, chief executive of Johnston Press, saw his emoluments surge 36%, to more than £1m, last year despite a fall in profits as the local newspaper group grappled with the changes affecting the industry. The annual report for Edinburgh-headquartered Johnston Press shows Bowdler was the biggest winner in an increase in boardroom pay in 2007, when his earnings jumped from £800,000 to £1,088,000.The rise was largely due to a dramatic increase in the amounts that Bowdler received under performance-related bonuses, from £236,000 to £516,000. Bowdler's base salary rose by 3% to £556,000. Bowdler was also awarded 125,200 shares under a performance share scheme .He is in line to receive 242,911 shares under the PSP if the conditions are met. At yesterday's closing price of 128.5p these would be worth £312,140.

Performance related bonus ? A fall in profits ? Johnston Press reported a 6.3% decline in pre-tax profits .

The Socialist Party

Annual Conference

Socialist Party Head Office, 52 Clapham High St, London SW4 (nearest tube:Clapham North).

Friday 21 March 10:30–17:30. Saturday 22 March 11:00–16:30.

1904 - 2008 Over a century of socialist activity.

About us - Our Principles

What is Socialism ? - F.A.Q. - What is Capitalism?

website: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/index.html

journal: socialist standard
website: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/standardonline/

Visitors welcome at all Socialist Party meetings.

No Silver Lining

Does every cloud have a silver lining ? Will falling house prices help those to get the first time buyers on the rung of the property ladder ? Apparently not .

Homeowners and those hoping to step onto the property ladder have both been dealt a blow after a senior Bank of England policymaker warned that house prices will fall but the impact of the credit crunch means affordability won't improve.

The global economic environment has become tougher, forcing lenders to become more cautious about extending mortgages to borrowers . First-time buyers in particular are being forced to accumulate bigger desposits, making it more difficult for them to benefit from a long-anticipated drop in house prices.

"We may see prices fall this year, but because of credit conditions, affordability will probably not improve at all," Miss Barker said. She added: "Finding deposits has become more difficult because of the credit crunch..."

British banks have raised the cost of borrowing for homebuyers with the smallest deposits to a seven-year high and have declined to pass on two Bank of England interest rate cuts. Central bank figures show that the average rate offered by lenders on loans for 95 per cent of the price of a property, fixed for two years, is 6.55 per cent - the highest since September 2000. In January, mortgage approvals were close to the lowest in nine years.
The UK housing market has slumped to the worst since the eve of the nation's last recession in 1990, a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors showed last month.
Too few homes are being built to meet Britain's housing needs, and that the number of new houses built would probably fall this year.

A DESPAIRING WORLD

“While many of the poor are making progress, many of the very poorest are stuck at the bottom. Nearly 10 million children die each year because their families, communities and nations are too poor to sustain them. The instability of impoverished and water-stressed countries has ignited a swath of violence across the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. What we call violent fundamentalism should be seen for what it really is: poverty, hunger, water scarcity and despair. "(Time, 19 March) RD

OUTDATED MARXISM?

"A study of the effect of religion on quality of life claims that religious people are happier the more often they go to church and pray. The research, presented to the Royal Economic Society, gathered data from thousands across Europe including the UK and found that religious people have better “life satisfaction” than their non-religious counterparts." (Times, 18 March) Religion is the opium of the people. It is the heart of a heartless world. The cry of the oppressed creature." (Karl Marx, 1844) RD

THIS IS PROGRESS?

"There have been virtual fences, real fences, increased patrols and night-vision cameras. Now the latest initiative by the US to seal its increasingly porous border with Mexico harks back to one of the oldest approaches: dig a moat. City officials in Yuma, in south-western Arizona, have come up with a scheme to create a "security channel" along the nearby border by reviving a derelict two-mile stretch of the Colorado river. "The moats that I've seen circled the castle and allowed you to protect yourself, and that's kind of what we're looking at here," Yuma county sheriff Ralph Ogden told the Associated Press. (Guardian, 14 March) RD

A BRIGHT FUTURE?

No so long ago the capitalist media was full of futurologists predicting the four hour day, the three day week and retirement at fifty years of age. The big problem of the future would be leisure. How wrong all that nonsense was is shown by what is happening in the most advanced capitalist nation on earth. "A third of Americans 50 and over are not confident they will have enough money to retire, and more than two-thirds expect to keep working well into old age, according to a survey published Wednesday. The report, commissioned by retirement services firm SecurePath by Transamerica, suggests the surge in companies offering defined-contribution 401(k) plans has not displaced Social Security as the ultimate safety net for retirees." (Yahoo News, 12 March) RD

REFORMISM FAILS AGAIN (2)

"Despite a pledge to cut the health gap between the richest and poorest, the difference in life expectancy is widening, a government report shows. The aim is to reduce the differences in male and female life expectancy by 10% by 2010. But the report shows the gap between those in the most deprived areas of England and the rest of the country is getting worse. ...Professor Danny Dorling, an expert in human geography at Sheffield University, said the inequalities were now at "unprecedented levels". "This is the first Labour or Liberal government to see this gap widen."...David Sinclair, head of policy at Help the Aged said poverty was a "central consideration". He added: "It remains the case that those who are wealthier can afford to stay active and healthy, those in poverty cannot."
(BBC News, 13 March) RD

Debt for the workers

The [so-called] middle classes have become the latest victims of the spiralling debt crisis because of “super-inflationary” rises in the cost of living, a leading debt group said yesterday.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service said that while steep rises in energy and mortgage costs had hit the oldest and poorest hardest, the increases had been so dramatic that even the professional classes were struggling. Experts said that the figures marked a more serious era in the country’s battle with debt because they showed that the problem had extended from borrowers with credit cards and personal loans to all households, irrespective of how much they had borrowed or what they earned.

Rises in mortgage costs have had a disproportionate impact on higherincome earners because they spend more of their disposable incomes on property, the counselling service said. It found that this group now spends 44 per cent of their net salary on their rent or mortgage, up from 34 per cent five years ago; households below the poverty line spend 8 per cent.

The figures came after Citizens Advice Bureaux reported a 35 per cent increase in inquiries from homeowners worried about paying the mortgage.

Experian, the credit reference agency, published a debt map of Britain yesterday, giving a breakdown of how much towns and cities owe. Residents of Chester-le-Street have borrowed the most on credit cards and loans, with an average amount outstanding of £5,248. Borrowers in Northern Ireland owe the least, with an average of £2,291. Experian said that mortgage balances had grown the most in areas that had experienced the highest house price growth in the past 12 months, such as Northern Ireland, Kensington & Chelsea and Wandsworth.

The average fuel bill has reached more than £1,000 a year after recent price rises by energy companies, while the average home loan went up by almost £9,000 between 2006 and 2007, from £118,536 to £127,039, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said.

Credit Action, another debt charity, said that second-home owners and older people who had taken out equity from their homes to help to fund their retirement were at particularly high risk from rising living costs, because of their exposure to the downturn in the property market as well as more expensive mortgage rates on these deals.

The counselling service said that the profile of those asking for help was becoming “older and poorer”. For the first time it found that customers over the age of 60 had the highest level of debt, at £29,642. The inflation rate for people over 75 is now 3.4 per cent, compared with an official inflation rate of 2.5 per cent, according to Alliance Trust, the investment group.
Other research showed that an increasing number of desperate homeowners are resorting to dangerous measures to get out of debt. In the past three years 6.5 million mortgage borrowers have lumped separate credit card and personal loan debts into one, according to Moneyexpert.com

The director of Credit Action, said: “This is a new era for the UK’s debt crisis. Previously, debt problems were confined to people with credit cards and loans. Now, everyone is struggling with essentials, such as utility bills and mortgages.”

Bankers still rake it in

Fred Goodwin regained his place as the highest-paid executive at Royal Bank of Scotland last year after taking home £4.2 million. Goodwin's pay package was up 5% from 2006 with a basic salary of £1.3m and a performance bonus of £2.9m. He also earned extra pension rights worth £772,000 in the course of the year and netted a paper profit of £1.2m after exercising cut-price options on nearly 500,000 shares under a performance scheme. Goodwin's pay package made him the best-paid of Royal Bank's executives. It could have been higher but he missed out on 286,579 shares that could have been awarded under a medium-term performance plan from 2005 as the company failed to meet targets.

Mike Fisher, who has gone to manage Royal Bank's portion of the ABN Amro business took home £2.4m in pay and bonuses, up 24% on 2006. Finance director Guy Whittaker who benefited last year from major pay-outs to compensate him for his move from Citigroup in 2006. In 2007, he received £3.35m in pay. Larry Fish, who ran the bank's US subsidiary Citizens Financial, also fell back in the pay stakes. He netted £6.6m in 2006 but in 20007 had to make do with around £2m in pay and bonuses.

In these times of financial troubles and credit crunch , isn't it good to see how those bankers are suffering hardship and sharing the woes with all us who are facing increased debt and higher bills .

For a socialist analysis of the present American capitialist crisis see Bubble Trouble

Glasgow - Edinburgh Day School

	Glasgow - Edinburgh Day School CAPITALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY Why Capitalism Can't Go Green. Paul Bennet Another Century of Wars? Gwynn Thomas The Tyrany of Copyright. Tristan Miller Saturday 10 May from 1 to 5pm Venue: Maryhill Community Halls, 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow.
	---------------------------------------------------------- Each speaker will speak for up to 30 minutes, the rest of the session will be taken up by questions and discussions. Fresh tea, coffee and light refreshments will be available all afternoon. ------------------------------------------ Why Capitalism can't go green. 1.00 till 2.15 pm Capitalism is simply unable to run on green lines, as its motive force is expansion and domination, with no thought for the consequences for the people or the environment. In this talk Paul Bennett, Manchester Branch,will argue that capitalism is unable to cope with the ecological challenges that lie ahead, from global warming,to depletion of resources. Some writing on this subject Pepper Standard Bennet Eco-Socialism Another Century of War 3.45 till 5.00 pm The new century opened with the promise of a "peace dividend".Tensions between the Super-powers had relaxed and the risk of interstate war seemed to have receeded only to be replaced by an increasing number of wars within states.Wars in which 90% of the casualties are civilians and 80% of those are women and children. Of the 50 major conflicts fought during the 1990's small arms were the weapons of choice in 46 of them.. Gwynn Thomas, South London Branch, will argue that these are wars on the cheap Some writing on war Orwell Thomas BBC
	The Tyranny of copyright 2.15 - 3.45 pm Everything is owned inside capitalism. All the land, the factories, the seas and the farms. An equally pernicious aspect of capitalism is that it tries to own innovations and ideas, and indeed passes laws to protect their copyright. Copyright Tristan Miller, Central London Branch looks at copyright laws and recent attempts to have ideas free to all by developments in the internet. The internet was devised as free for all to access but capitalism fears this development in the 21st century and has tried to restrict free access. Some more writing on this subject. Chomsky Miller

MORE WORDS OF WISDOM

"The last French veteran of World War I, an Italian immigrant who lied about his age to join the Foreign Legion and fight in the trenches, died Wednesday aged 110, President Nicolas Sarkozy said. Lazare Ponticelli, the last of more than eight million men who fought under French colours in the 1914-18 war that tore Europe apart, died at the home he shared with his daughter in Kremlin-Bicetre, a Paris suburb. Reflecting on his wartime experiences, he once said: "You shoot at men who are fathers: war is completely stupid." (Yahoo News, 12 March) RD

CARING CAPITALISM

From San Diego comes news about how capitalism treats the homeless. In 2006, the Regional Task Force on Homeless estimated the homeless population at 9,600 countywide, which included 4,400 people within the city of San Diego "Esther Viti, who oversees the donation of public benches for a merchants' association in La Jolla, sent an e-mail to 45 other activists last week asking them to sit in three-hour shifts, no bathroom breaks allowed. "After all, you MUST OCCUPY THAT BENCH continually for three hours to prevent that homeless person from sitting on that bench," the e-mail said. Donors weren't happy that transients were sleeping on benches they had provided for the public, Viti said. The group previously tried installing benches with metal dividers that split the seats. Transients simply began sleeping upright, said Deborah Marengo, president of Promote La Jolla." (Yahoo News, 10 March) RD

SPGB at Stop The War

ANOTHER RAY OF HOPE

Socialists are often told that socialism is impossible because human beings are innately war-like and aggressive, but this report seems to suggest otherwise.
"More and more Israelis are avoiding mandatory military service— something long viewed in this country as a proud rite of passage. "In the past, it is true that not serving in the military was considered the exception," said Dr. Rueven Gal , author of "A Portrait of the Israeli Soldier" and former chief psychologist for the Israeli military. "In more recent years it became more tolerable and more acceptable to people." In 1997, according to army statistics, less than one in 10 Israeli men avoided their mandatory three-year military service. These days, it's closer to three in 10. Women, too, are opting out at a faster pace: Over the last decade, the number of women avoiding military duty rose from 37 percent to 44 percent." (Yahoo News, 2 March) RD

A RAY OF HOPE

The awful carnage in the hate-filled Middle East and the religious brutality there fills socialists with gloom but this report would seem to suggest that all is not lost.
"After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and sceptical of the faith that they preach. In two months of interviews with 40 young people in five Iraqi cities, a pattern of disenchantment emerged, in which young Iraqis, both poor and middle class, blamed clerics for the violence and the restrictions that have narrowed their lives. “I hate Islam and all the clerics because they limit our freedom every day and their instruction became heavy over us,” said Sara, a high school student in Basra. “Most of the girls in my high school hate that Islamic people control the authority because they don’t deserve to be rulers.” Atheer, a 19-year-old from a poor, heavily Shiite neighbourhood in southern Baghdad, said: “The religion men are liars. Young people don’t believe them. Guys my age are not interested in religion anymore.”
(New York Times, 4 March) RD

Budget - No relief for child poverty

Don't believe us - this , out of their own mouths .

John McDonnell , Labour Party MP , on the budget :-

" In 1999 the Government said it would halve child poverty by 2010 - taking 1.7m children out of poverty. To date it has missed its targets and only removed 600,000 children from poverty. In the pre-budget briefings pouring out of Number 10 and the Treasury we were all led to believe that the Chancellor would make a major announcement today to get the Government back on course to meet its target.Instead, the Chancellor has admitted defeat in the war against child poverty and has confirmed that the Government will not meet its 2010 target - and will leave over 2.5m children still living in poverty in the fifth richest countries in the world. The measures announced today will only remove at most a further 250,000 children from poverty by 2010.

In calculating child poverty the Government has massaged the figures by removing housing costs from the calculation. If these costs are put back the real assessment of child poverty confirms that in fact 3.5 million children will remain in poverty in our society.

If after eleven years in office, a Labour Government cannot meet such a basic aim of lifting our children out of poverty, many will judge this period of government as the greatest missed opportunity in the history of the Labour party."

Real soicialists have been saying since the formation of the Labour Party its members and supporters have always been deluded in the mistaken belief that Labour puts the poor before profits .

Poor Health for the poor

Socialist Courier has reported numerous times on the difference of quality of health between the privileged and un privileged and another report shows the gap between those in the most deprived areas of England and the rest of the country is getting worse. Despite a pledge to cut the health gap between the richest and poorest, the difference in life expectancy is widening, a government report shows.

The gap in life expectancy for women in the most deprived areas compared with the average was 2% wider in 2004-06 than in 1995-97. And the gap for women is now 11% wider. The difference in the infant mortality rate has been falling in recent years after a 2002 high, it is still significantly higher than it was a decade ago. For babies whose fathers have a "routine or manual occupation", the mortality rate in 2004-06 was 17% higher than that for the general population, compared to 13% in 1997-99.

Professor Danny Dorling, an expert in human geography at Sheffield University, said the inequalities were now at "unprecedented levels".
"This is the first Labour or Liberal government to see this gap widen. I can see why the government thought that just giving it time and spending money on it would work. But it worries me that there will be more excuses rather than an admission of failure."

David Sinclair, head of policy at Help the Aged said :
"It remains the case that those who are wealthier can afford to stay active and healthy, those in poverty cannot. "

Teaching War

This Saturday members of Glasgow and Edinburgh branches will be in attendnce at stop the war demonstration in Glasgow leafletting and selling the Socialist Standard . It is now a cliche to say that the first casuality of war is truth but the statement remains accurate .

Ministry of Defence teaching materials that give an unbalanced view of the Iraq war are being used in schools, teachers' leaders have said. He warned that some of its assertions, presented as facts, would be disputed by most teachers. There were no estimates of the numbers of people killed, wounded or made homeless by the military action, he said. The material therefore risked breaching the part of the 1996 Education Act concerned with balanced teaching of political issues .

He told reporters: "When you are dealing with something as controversial as Iraq and the different events that led up to the invasion, teachers are under a duty to present material that is balanced. The MoD material does not live up to that high standard..."

Mr Sinnott also criticised Army recruitment methods which he said did not present a balanced view of what joining the armed forces entailed. He said "unethical practices" had been unearthed in recent research by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. He claimed that youngsters from deprived backgrounds were being targeted by Army recruiters. Mr Sinnott said the recruiters engaged in "very dubious practices", targeting youngsters from poorer backgrounds.
"Youngsters from the most disadvantaged backgrounds have more limited opportunities in life than youngsters from better off backgrounds. It's simply a fact. I am not saying that youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds cannot get something from a career in the military.The Army has created a better life for some youngsters, but there are other youngsters who join up because they have little or no choice."

The teaching union will debate a motion at its upcoming conference which argues: "Military intervention in schools customarily presents a partisan view of war, largely by ignoring its fatal realities in favour of promises of travel, skill training and further or higher education course sponsorships otherwise often unavailable to young people, especially in area of high unemployment."

CAPITALISM ROTS THE BRAIN

"Exposure to traffic fumes for even a short time can alter the way the brain works, and may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, a study suggests. Very small particles inhaled from polluted air can end up in the brain, where they induce a stress response and change the way it processes information, Dutch researchers report in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology." (Times, 11 March) RD

YET ANOTHER ILLUSION

"Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy. Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world. In a time of growing conflict around the world, she believes the wisdom and compassion of women can offer a way out. "Women bring tolerance and patience," she says. "Women can bring solutions – we cannot accomplish that with weapons." She is one of several hundred prominent female leaders from 45 countries who have come to India this week to seek ways to raise women's voices worldwide, hoping that their ideas – so often ignored – begin to move the world away from war. (Yahoo News, 7 March)
It is not gender ideas that cause war it is capitalism. Is Yacoobi not aware that Israel had a woman leader during much of their wars, that Pakistan had a woman leader in their conflicts with India and that Mrs Thatcher was the UK prime minister during the war in the Falklands RD

All the way to the bank

The Times tells us that :-

Andy Hornby, HBOS's chief executive, took home a £1.9 million pay packet for the year, including an annual bonus of £449,000.

Peter Cummings, chief executive of HBOS's corporate business, was paid £2.6 million, after picking up a £300,000 bonus from the executive bonus scheme and a further £1.3 million from a separate bonus plan run by the corporate division.

Benny Higgins, who was ousted last year as head of HBOS's retail banking business, was paid £2.3 million, including his full annual salary and benefits of £900,000 and the same amount again as a payout.

Dennis Stevenson, the chairman, was paid £821,000, including £113,000 in benefits. Jo Dawson and Dan Watkins, the new joint heads of the retail business, were paid £1 million and £329,000 respectively.

DEMOCRACY IN ACTION?

"President Bush has vetoed a law preventing the CIA using interrogation techniques condemned by many as torture, because it “would take away one of the most valuable tools in the War on Terror”. ...The veto throws the spotlight back on to America's use of so-called coercive interrogation methods like waterboarding, the simulated drowning technique invented by Spanish inquisitors and adopted by regimes such as the Khmer Rouge." (Times, 10 March) RD

Income Tax - "It's not on "

"...completely unjust...Some people are talking about taking this to the European court of human rights." - What's got some people so het up ? Torture ? Exploitation ? Censorship ?Oppression ?

No - the tax-man is planning to to make life harder for the 2,000 British millionaires who call Monaco, the tax haven , home. The Guardian reports :-

Until now, tax rules that allow "non-residents" 90 days a year in Britain have contained a crucial loophole: the taxman has not counted "travel days" entering and leaving the country, allowing businesspeople to commute in on a Monday, leave on Wednesday, and claim to have spent just one day in the UK.It has in effect allowed Britons to spend most of the year - up to 270 days - working in Britain, while claiming to be residents of tax havens such as Monaco and to avoid paying tax. That will change under a stricter enforcement of the rules to be unveiled today which has unnerved tax lawyers serving Britons in several tax havens.
The change - likely to count travel days or overnight stays in the residency total - will particularly affect the so-called "Monaco mob", millionaire City workers whose commute entails a seven-minute helicopter ride from Monaco to Nice for a connecting flight to London, often by private jet, before a swift return to the Riviera.

"It's not just tax - it's about lifestyle. The streets are immaculate, there's no crime. You can have breakfast on your terrace, go skiing in the morning, and be back to the beach for the afternoon. I don't know a single person going back. They'll change their lifestyles - it's a nuisance - but they'll get round it."
The night for many "in-crowd" expatriates begins at the Bar Américain, with its Bentleys and Rolls Royces parked outside. The same faces dine in one of the two Michelin-starred restaurants in the Hôtel de Paris, and end the night in Jimmy'z, a nightclub where two shots cost €40 (£30)Another feature of the local nightlife is the well-dressed prostitutes with forced smiles who, more than one British resident admitted, are what "some of us spend our money on".

Roger Munns, who runs two property businesses for Monaco multimillionaires said "These people are quick thinkers. They can move quicker than the government" Those unwilling to change their commuting patterns, he said, were restructuring their companies to funnel money into their spouses' Monaco bank accounts.
A group of City bankers, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed they would "play the rules" to find a way to continue spending time at their desks in London while maintaining non-residency status and paying zero income tax.

"Most of these people running businesses and living in Monaco had got the whole system worked out - and it worked just fine," said Damian, a middle-aged "retiring accountant" and long-time Monaco resident. "And now the Treasury has moved the goalposts. It's not on."

It is an injustice , it is , isn't it ?

Food Shortages - "it's capitalism" - says a capitalist

We have reported on the rise in food prices that many commentators blame on changes in supply and demand for grain but the Times reports that the managing director of Greggs, the well known high street baker-shop chain , has attacked speculators for driving up the price of wheat and fuelling famine in Africa.

Michael Darrington said commodity traders were more to blame for spiralling food price inflation than poor harvests or farmland given over to biofuels.

“There are stocks of wheat and grain in the world, and crops are growing at the moment but funds are being set up as speculators see an opportunity to make some short-term money and someone has to pay for it. It's really sad for people in the developing world where food can account for 70 per cent of the family budget. Wheat is predominantly grown in America, Australia, Europe - the wealthier areas - and people in under-developed nations are hurting the most.” He added “I suppose that's just capitalism but it's jolly disappointing. If society looked down on these funds then perhaps it would make a difference.”

Can't pay - Can't have - So starve .

Labour For Capitalism

The UK should "celebrate the fact that people can be enormously wealthy in this country", Business Secretary John Hutton is expected to say.

In a speech he will argue that "more millionaires" are needed, calling freedom to get rich "a good thing".

THIS IS BRITISH JUSTICE?

"A gay teenager who sought sanctuary in Britain when his boyfriend was executed by the Iranian authorities now faces the same fate after losing his legal battle for asylum. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2004 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged. In a telephone conversation with his father in Tehran, Mr Kazemi was told that before the execution in April 2006, his boyfriend had been questioned about sexual relations he had with other men and under interrogation had named Mr Kazemi as his partner. Fearing for his own life if he returned to Iran, Mr Kazemi claimed asylum in Britain. But late in 2007 his case was refused. Terror-stricken at the prospect of deportation the young Iranian made a desperate attempt to evade deportation and fled Britain for Holland where he is now being detained amid a growing outcry from campaigners. He appeared before a Dutch court yesterday to plead with the authorities not to return him to Britain where he is almost certain to be sent back to Iran. (Independent, 6 March) RD

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?

"US investment guru Warren Buffett has ousted his friend and occasional bridge partner Bill Gates as the world's richest man, Forbes magazine says. The Microsoft co-founder had topped the Forbes business magazine's rich-list for the past 13 years. Mr Buffett's wealth increased by $10bn (£5bn) last year to $62bn. Mr Gates's fortune climbed by $2bn during the same period, dragging him down to third on the list with a fortune of $58bn. He was narrowly pipped into second place by the Mexican communications magnate Carlos Slim Helu, whose $60bn net worth has doubled in the past two years, Forbes reports. (Guardian, 6 March) RD

Food Prices Rise

The Socialist Courier has already reported here about the rise in the world prices of food but today's Herald carried an article on the local effects .

Families are paying record prices for food after costs soared in the year to February, with a rate increase exceeded only by fuel costs.

Annual food product inflation has reached 8.4% - the highest since records began in 1986 - according to the Office for National Statistics . Meat prices were the main culprit of spiralling costs as fresh and preserved meat prices rose 5.5% from January to February.

Food manufacturers such as Hovis bread maker Premier Foods have been labouring under rising wheat costs. Imported cereal product prices are up more than 6% over the month and surging by almost 47% in the year to February.

Socialist Standard March 2008

Contents Editorial Introduction Pages : 1 , 2 , 3, 4 , 5 , 6, 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , Pages : 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 . What is Socialism FAQ What is Capitalism

Who owns the North Pole - Part 10 , and other climate change threats

Been a while that Socialist Courier reported on the competition to exploit the ever warming Arctic regions , the last time being here . Well , just because the problem isn't reported , it doesn't mean it has disappeared . Also raised in the article are the other potential causes of conflicts , like for instance possible "water wars" and other competition for resources

European Union leaders will receive a stark warning next week of potential conflict with Russia over energy resources at the North Pole as global warning melts the ice cap and aggravates international security threats. A report by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the executive European Commission describes climate change as "a threat multiplier" that will exacerbate many existing tensions and heighten instability.

"A further dimension of competition for energy resources lies in potential conflict over resources in Polar regions which will become exploitable as a consequence of global warming," the eight-page report obtained by Reuters said.

The report said the EU needed to address the growing debate over Arctic territorial claims and access to new trade routes that challenge its ability to secure its trade and resource interests and may put pressure on relations with "key partners." It suggested the 27-nation bloc develop a specific Arctic policy "based on the evolving geo-strategy of the Arctic region, taking into account ... access to resources and the opening of new trade routes."

The study suggested the EU should do more to focus international attention on security risks related to climate change using the U.N. Security Council, the Group of Eight major industrialized powers and specialist U.N. bodies.

It cited a host of regional examples of the increased prospect of conflict caused by the reduction of arable land, water shortages, dwindling food and fish stocks, increased flooding and prolonged droughts which were already occurring.The east coasts of China and India, as well as the Caribbean region and Central America, face particularly severe economic damage from sea-level rise and increasing natural disasters, the report said.Loss of territory as coastlines recede and large areas are submerged would magnify disputes over land and maritime borders. "Europe must expect substantially increased migratory pressure," the report said, as millions of "environmental migrants" flee poverty, poor health and unemployment, risking increased conflicts in transit and destination areas.

Solana and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said climate change could increase instability in failed or failing states, stoking tensions between ethnic and religious groups and political radicalization.Existing tensions over access to water in the Middle East were almost certain to intensify, "leading to further political instability with detrimental implications for Europe's energy security and other interests," the report said. It also saw additional potential for conflict in central Asia from an increasing shortage of water, vital for both agriculture and power generation, with an impact on EU strategic and economic interests.

War is indeed the natural condition of capitalism .

OOPS, SORRY ABOUT THAT

"Four hundred years after it put Galileo on trial for heresy The Vatican is to complete its rehabilitation of the great scientist by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls. ... His views were found to be "absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical because expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures." ... He recanted to save his life, and lived under house arrest until his death in 1642." (Times, 4 March) RD

WHEN MODERATE MEANS MINIMAL

"The government announced a 21p increase in the minimum wage yesterday. The adult rate will rise from £5.52 an hour to £5.73 from October, benefiting almost a million workers, two-thirds of them women. Gordon Brown told the Commons that the wage will have risen by 60% since it was introduced at £3.60 in 1999. Unions called for a "bolder approach", and said the wage should have been increased to £7 an hour. Business groups welcomed the "moderate" rises." (Guardian, 6 March) RD

Praying in Perth

Christian volunteers will patrol Perth town centre from 2230 GMT to 0330 GMT every Saturday night according to the BBC . They are a team of 12 pastors which will go out initially. When the scheme becomes more established they will work in smaller groups. The team will be wearing jackets and caps with Street Pastor emblazoned across them.

They will be offering flip-flops to women who cannot stand in their high heels and giving support to couples who have had disagreements. The group will also pray with those who ask and check bridges for anyone considering jumping in.

Chairman of the Perth Street Pastors said:
"We're just going to go alongside the people coming out of the nightclubs and coming out of the pubs and we're just going to make their lives a bit happier and friendlier...We've been learning anger management, we've been learning about psychology...Some people will want us to pray with them and we'll do that..."

We believe it will take a lot more than a few sanctimonious words and a few prayers from religious do-gooders to make the lives of the working class a bit happier and friendlier .

CAPITALISM FAILS AGAIN

"The United Nation’s agency responsible for relieving hunger is drawing up plans to ration food aid in response to the spiralling cost of agricultural commodities. The World Food Programme is holding crisis talks to decide what aid to halt if new donations do not arrive in the short term. Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, told the Financial Times that the agency would look at “cutting the food rations or even the number or people reached” if donors did not provide more money. “Our ability to reach people is going down just as the needs go up,” she said. (Financial Times, 24 February) RD

WINNERS AND LOSERS

"Even as it enriches Arab rulers, the recent oil-price boom is helping to fuel an extraordinary rise in the cost of food and other basic goods that is squeezing this region’s middle class and setting off strikes, demonstrations and occasional riots from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. Here in Jordan, the cost of maintaining fuel subsidies amid the surge in prices forced the government to remove almost all the subsidies this month, sending the price of some fuels up 76 percent overnight. In a devastating domino effect, the cost of basic foods, like eggs, potatoes and cucumbers doubled or more." (New York Times, 25 February) RD

Debt Fears

One in five Scots home owners struggle to meet their mortgage payments, a survey suggests.

Almost one million people find it difficult to cover their monthly repayments and other debts .

Researchers also found 18% reported having to rely on credit cards or loans to pay for daily essentials like food.

Head of personal insolvency for the accountancy firm KPMG in Scotland, Andrew Kennedy, said: "Those people who have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, transferring balances from card to card, remortgaging and taking equity out of their property to pay off spiralling debt are fast running out of options."

KPMG said the global credit crunch meant payment troubles could worsen over the coming months ,people who previously had access to competitive mortgage deals, despite being late with a couple of payments, are going to find it very difficult to find a deal , and that the credit crunch is already seeing credit card companies reducing credit limits and increasing their rejection rates for new customers.

“Debt is the slavery of the free" - a Roman , 1st century B.C.
" A man in debt is so far a slave" - an American , 19th century AD

CAPITALISM IN THE FUTURE?

"Professor Noel Sharkey, from Sheffield University's Department of Computer science, told the Royal United Services Institute that robots will be cheap and easy for terrorists to use in combat situations and could replace suicide bombers. "With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically, and the [greater] availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it would not require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons," he said. "Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy. How long is it going to be before terrorists get in on the act?" (vnunet.com, 27 February) RD

LAND OF THE FREE?

"For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars. Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it's more than any other nation. The report, released Thursday by the Pew Centre on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said." (Yahoo News, 29 February) RD