CLUELESS ABOUT THE JOBLESS

One of the recurring problems of capitalism is the problem of unemployment, and one of the constant claims of governments is that they can solve the problem. "The number of people out of work in Britain hit its highest level for 17 years, fuelling worries that the economy is heading back towards recession. In the three months to October, the jobless total rose to 2.64m, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics - 8.3% of the economically active population are now unemployed. Joblessness among 16 to 24-year-olds reached 1.003m, its highest level since records began in 1992." (Sunday Times, 18 December) Like all previous governments the present one cannot deal with the booms and slumps of the capitalist market place that lead inevitably to unemployment. RD

A HEARTLESS SOCIETY

In its relentless drive for profits capitalism will go to any lengths, even if that means exploiting the naivety of the mentally disabled. "People with dementia are being cheated out of at least £100 million a year by banks, cold callers, door-to-door salesmen and even their carers according to research. A report from the Alzheimer's Society found that more than 100,000 people with dementia have been victims of fraud or abuse and calls on companies renowned for hard-sell tactics to change their ways." (Times, 14 December) This report's appeal to hard-headed business people for some sort of compassion is in itself a glaring example of naivety. RD

MAKING AN ARSE OF LITERATURE

Shakespeare, Dickens and Doestevesky had great difficulties trying to get a publisher but of course they lacked two essential attributes beloved by capitalism. "The younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge has been the subject of a fierce bidding war by some of Britain's largest publishers for her first book. It is understood that publisher Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin books, last week signed her up to a publishing deal worth £400,000." ( Daily Telegraph, 23 November) You see what William, Charles and Fydor lacked was they had not got the "bottom of the year" according to the tabloid press and were not related to the next queen of England. One wonders at their success after such disadvantages. RD

Just a Thought

Watching a European soccer game recently, I noticed the Italian team wore the sponsor, Arab Emirates, on their sweaters. The Spanish team did likewise with its sponsor, Bahrain Union. Do the capitalist enterprises put away their differences if money is offered? Just wondering. John Ayers

Food for thought

The Toronto Star has been running a series on the BRIC countries (those emerging countries that have attracted the avaricious eyes of the countries in the northern hemisphere and who have invested heavily to make big profits, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, Brazil etc.). Economic indicators are shooting up and a little is trickling down to a few workers but mainly it's business as usual for the average Joe. For example, the Star reports, one in two Indian children are malnourished, 74% under three years are anaemic, and 400 million Indians live in poverty -- i.e. $1.25 a day! In South Africa, large investment in Mining has pushed up the GDP and unemployment has improved from 37% (2001) to 23% today. However, amid the new wealth, 67% of Africans, 41% of coloured, 14% of Asian/Indian, and just 4% of whites are considered below the poverty line. Life expectancy for the nation is 49.3 years. As always, wealth goes back to the investors and the rest share a few crumbs.
In Canada, we have failed to live up to the 1980s promise to eliminate poverty by 2000, just as the provincial governments much trumpeted 25% reduction in poverty in 5 years has failed. The recession was cited as an excuse, of course. Now, 10% of children live in poverty and they make up 40% of the nearly one million food bank clients, Canada's main growth industry.
Canadian business likes to point out that, although not recession proof, we are better positioned to cope and our banks are better regulated .Last month, though, Canada lost 54 000 jobs, most in manufacturing and construction, the unionized and better paying jobs. Socialists know that no one can escape the world economy.
Meanwhile, mobile infrastructure company Nokia Siemens has announced that it will be cutting 17 000 jobs over the next few years. In a burst of loyalty to his employees, the CEO said, "As we look toward the prospect of an independent future, we need to take action now to improve our profitability and cash generation."
The futility of reform -- the auto industry agreed to a two-tier wage system with new hires paid as low as $14 per hour. Chrysler chairman, Sergio Marchionne disagrees with the two tier system and wants every worker on the same scale -- the lower one!
Recession does not to hit some very hard though. The Globe and Mail Reported (Nov 2, 2011) that Prince Charles had to scrape by with just 133 staff to look after him and Camilla, more than 60 of them domestics such as chefs, cooks, footmen, housemaids, gardeners, chauffeurs, cleaners, and his three personal valets, who look after his wardrobe plus the important task of ironing the laces when Charles takes off his shoes. John Ayers

Food for thought

The Arab Spring continues as the Egyptians once again take to the streets because they see that the old rulers, the army, will become the new rulers. The brutal crackdown by the military seems to confirm their worst fears.
Meanwhile, Tunisians interviewed by The Toronto Star (Tunisia: The  Jobless Revolution, 26/Nov/2011) are mainly saying that nothing has changed for them. Unemployment remains high, life remains a struggle, and they have put their trust in new untried and largely unknown
leaders. The future looks very uncertain. Taking a page from the Occupy Movement (see below) would be a large step forward.
The Toronto Occupy Movement has now been evicted by court order and by the actions of the police and the city, but, as we like to say, you can't evict a conversation or an idea. So I expect the movement to carry on in some yet to be determined form. Some of the more important aspects are tenets such as anyone affected by decisions should be at the table  making them, no one gets left behind, and the organization of the camp, i.e. no leaders, everyone speaks and listens, democratic decisions, volunteer labour. Hopefully this will be carried on in the future. Also remarkable was the speed and cohesion of the movement in setting up camp and the rapid spread throughout the world. If this movement can shed its reformism and adopt the socialist case, it could be a major step forward. The press mainly continues its establishment stance -- The Washington Post wrote, "For those of us who don't live near one of the protest sites, Occupy Wall Street supplied some comic relief, but they were never meant to survive the onset of inclement weather. Good riddance." However, David Olive of The Toronto Star points out that it was mainly the courts, the city, and the police that did the evicting.
He also notes that 1.3 million Canadians and 26 million Americans are unemployed or have given up looking for a job. Also, since 1959, wages, as a percentage of the GDP have fallen from 51% to 44%, worth one trillion dollars that have been diverted into profit. The Star editorial also comments that the occupation is a 40 day wake-up call to put right the ills that afflict our system. Let's hope the movement comes back to bite the establishment! John Ayers

FIGURES DON'T LIE

Politicians like to claim that under their benign guidance we are all better off but what do their own statisticians find? "New figures from the Office of National Statistics show that average salaries in the UK have fallen by 3.5% in real terms as pay rises fail to keep pace with inflation. An average full-time employee earned £26,200 in the year to April, up 1.4% on the previous 12 months. However, with inflation running at 5%, that amounts to a pay cut." |The Week, 23 November) It is true that statistics don't lie - unlike politicians. RD

RICH ARROGANCE

One of the nastiest aspects of capitalism is the arrogance of the owning class who live of the unpaid labour of the working class. Here is an example from an Irish multi-millionaire. "Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has called for the scrapping of children's allowance payments, describing them as a subsidy for people to have sex. He said that child benefit was "ridiculous" and neither he nor his wife needed it." (Independent, 22 November) The fact that millions of working class families rely on the allowance to get by would never occur to the arrogant Mr O'Leary. RD

A TOXIC SOCIETY

In its drive for more and more profits capitalist society cares little for the health of its workers. Many small scale methods for extracting gold use mercury, which is both poisonous and a potential neurotoxin. "Toxic pollution affects the health of more than 100 million people, shortening their productive life spans by an astonishing 12.7 years on average. .... Unlike diseases, toxins and pollutants like lead, mercury, chromium, radionuclides and pesticides were created by humans and are often improperly disposed of in a classic example of fouling our own nests. ....At least 100 million people are affected based on assessments of 2,000 toxic sites in 47 countries." (Inter Press Service, 2 December) RD

DISTORTED VALUES

Socialists always claim that capitalism is a society with distorted values wherein human lives are less important than profit margins, but it is doubtful if we could find a worse example of this distortion than the following, "They are the hands that have been admired in adverts from America to Australia - and insured for £5 million. Gemma Howorth's flawless hands, with their smooth, blemish-free skin, long, elegant, straight fingers and deep nail beds, have doubled for those of supermodels like Kate Moss and Lily Cole in photoshoots. Her hands are so crucial to Miss Howorth's fortune that she has had them insured at Lloyds of London for £5 million. They can earn her £200 for two hours, £800 for an average day's work and £2,500 a day for the most lucrative assignments." (Daily Telegraph, 20 November) This is occuring at the same time as millions of workers are trying to exist on the equivalent of $1.25 a day!
RD

A FEARFUL FUTURE?

With the Scottish Nationalist Party in power and pressing for total national independence it is worthwhile noting some of their "achievements". "Patient care is being jeopardised by cuts to NHS staffing in Scotland, it was claimed last night, with the workforce shrinking by 4,000, including 2,000 fewer nurses and midwives than last year. Scottish government figures put the number of nurses at a five year low ..." (Times, 30 November) Is this the future for an independent Scotland?
RD

A FAMILY MAN?

The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is fond of the role of "the family man" and is often reported as praising "family values", but the realities of capitalism show just how hollow such claims are. "British families are suffering the worst squeeze in living standards for more than half a century, and will be no better off in 2016 than they were in 2002. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed yesterday that the average family on middle income will have £2,496 less to spend next year than three years ago." (Times, 1 December)
RD

one law for the poor , another for the rich

Ten years after legislation banned the blood-sport forever, fox-hunting still goes on.

The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act was passed – in the teeth of furious opposition led by the Scottish Countryside Alliance – on 13 February, 2002. The legislation outlawed the hunting of wild mammals with dogs, but made some exceptions. It is legal to use dogs to flush a fox from cover in order for it to then be shot, so long as this is done as a form of pest-control. The act further states that no offence is committed if the dog kills the fox during the course of this activity, in other words if it was not the intention of the huntsman that the dogs should do so.

These loopholes have allowed fox hunting to continue in Scotland. Hunts now present themselves as pest-control operations offering a service to farmers. The packs of hounds, followed by riders, chase the fox towards waiting gunmen who attempt to shoot it. If the fox is killed by the hounds before it runs towards the guns then that is regarded as an accident and therefore within the law. Hounds are also used to kill foxes that have been wounded by the gunmen or are otherwise seriously injured or diseased.

Trevor Adams, huntsman with the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt for the last 23 years, suggests that of all the foxes killed by his hunt, one third are dispatched by hounds. However, as a result of the introduction of guns, many more are now killed than before the change in law; in the case of the Buccleuch, it is thought that up to three times as many foxes now die in a season. This means that roughly the same number of foxes are being killed by hounds as before the ‘ban’, and there is no reason to believe that the Buccleuch is unrepresentative. Indeed, the protocol on how to hunt foxes within the new law was developed by the Buccleuch and endorsed by the Master of Fox Hounds Association, the governing body for fox hunting in the UK. The new approach was then tested in court when – in 2004 – Trevor Adams became the first person to be prosecuted and the first to be acquitted under the new law.

The Duke of Buccleuch’s hunt is the largest in Scotland, covering a huge area from west of Hawick to east of Kelso, from the foothills of the Cheviots to the bottom of the Lammermuirs. The hunt essentially belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch, the UK’s biggest landowner, and it is no surprise to see the Duchess of Roxburgh go trotting by on a white horse, or to notice one of the foot followers tip his cap to her. The Buccleuch Hunt has a membership of around 150, the majority of whom are mounted; the remainder follow the hunt on foot. Riders pay subscriptions ranging from £300 to £1,000 per season, depending on how many days they intend to hunt. One might pay £5,000 for a horse, £150 each week for stabling, plus additional costs for equipment, clothes, transport, and for the farrier. It isn’t cheap.

Although fox hunting is presented as a form of pest control, few if any of the riders with the Buccleuch – or, surely, with the other hunts – pay their annual subscriptions because they want to help farmers protect their hens. Trevor Adams is quite open about it. “We are very definitely in the entertainment business,” he says.

The landed rich cannot conceive that their will cannot run untrammelled. The attempts of the rich and the powerful to maintain their power over making the rules and laws of society is an affront that serves to illustrate how shallow democracy under capitalism really is.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/features/hunter_and_hounds_the_buccleuch_hunt_1_1991026

health and safety??

Hospital chiefs are discouraging “whistleblowing” nurses from reporting their concerns about patient safety and staffing levels, nursing leaders have warned. More than one-third of nurses in Scotland (37%) said they had been discouraged, or told directly, not to report their concerns to their NHS health board or employer.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) revealed more than 80% of nurses in Scotland said they had highlighted problems. But, in more than half of cases, no action was ever taken. The overwhelming majority (84%) of nurses in Scotland fear they will be victimised if they speak out about the problems.

Theresa Fyffe, RCN Scotland director, said: “It is extremely worrying that nurses are being explicitly told not to raise concerns, particularly after all we have learned about the consequences of ignoring issues around patient safety. The survey clearly shows nurses are committed to improving care for patients, but more than half, 55%, say no action was ever taken when they raised their concerns...We are very concerned that nurses are not being listened to particularly as we know more than 2000 nurses have been cut from the NHS workforce in Scotland since September 2009, and staff are feeling over-stretched and under pressure. In these circumstances it is more important than ever they are listened to when they raise their concerns about patient safety and about staffing levels.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/third-of-nurses-told-they-should-not-whistleblow-1.1138132

Food for thought

Top international climate scientists, meeting in Africa had some sharp warnings for the world's governments -- "Get ready for unprecedented extreme weather.' They point out that since the 1970s, 95% of fatalities from storms have been in developing countries. Making preparations, they say, will save lives and money. Perhaps the latter might have some effect on the worlds' governments!
Meanwhile, scientists say that the Arctic sea ice has declined more in the last half century than it has in the last 1 450 years. However, The New York Times points out that the environment is no where to be seen in the US and has disappeared from the political
agenda, " ...now that nearly every other nation accepts climate change as a pressing problem, America has turned agnostic on the issue." John Ayers

Nation or class?

The Scotsman reports that nearly a third of Scots support independence.

Nationalism has served to divide workers into different nation states not only literally but ideologically. It is probably fair to say that a majority of workers—to some degree or another—align themselves to their domestic ruling class. The ideology of nationalism means that workers and capitalists living in a particular geographical area must have a common interest. However, socialists argue that society can he broken into two classes, capitalists and workers.

Despite differences of language or cultural barriers this does not alter the fact that those of us who are working class are all part of one globalised exploited mass with more in common with each other than with our "native" bosses. Capitalists and workers do not share a common identity nor do they share any interests in common. Scotland, like every other country or state in the world, is class-divided: a minority of rich owners and the rest of us. We have no interests in common with them and anything which encourages the illusion that all the people of Scotland form a community with a common interest can only serve their interests. They need us to believe this because their rule and privileges depend on our acceptance.

Socialism groups men, poor against rich, class against class, without taking into account the differences of race and language, and over and above the artificial frontiers traced by history. The appeal to workers to a fake “cultural” identity and fake "national" unity are utterly poisonous to the real interests of the working class. The bonds which bind worker with worker, irrespective of nationality, are those of class solidarity. For as long as workers are deceived into viewing the world from a "national" perspective, they will fail to understand their condition in capitalism. The working class is deluded by nationalism. Such beliefs actively encourage people to co-operate with their "national" exploiters operating within borders determined purely by historical accident. Nationalism conceals the real nature of capitalism, turns worker against worker and serves to impede working-class solidarity.

The problem of nationalism cannot be wished away. To do away with it will mean to eliminate the present the system that fosters it. This system ensures that a minority owns and controls the means with which wealth is produced and distributed whilst the vast majority who actually does the production owns nothing. The resources and wealth of the world must be owned and controlled by all humanity.Under such an arrangement, no-one will care who goes where or who belongs where. We will recognise ourselves, not as Scottish British, French, or any of the other labels our rulers impose on us, but as members of the human race, citizens of the world, Earth-people. Then nationalism will have been well and truly buried.

Socialist Standard Vol.107 No.Issue No. 1288 December 2011

Socialist Standard December 2011.pdf

• Editorial: What Next?
• Pathfinders: Parasites Lost
• Letters
• Halo Halo!
• Tiny Tips
• Cooking the Books: “We are the 99 percent”
• Material World: The Bottom Line on Climate Change
• Greasy Pole: Oliver Letwin – Eccentric or Fake?
• The Next War?
• Rouble-makers
• Saying Marx Is Right, Getting Him (And Capitalism) Wrong
• 2011 - A Year of Change
• To Drone or Not to Drone
• Cooking the Books: Who Controls the World?
• Book Reviews: 'The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Surveillance', 'In Praise of Slow', 'How to be Free'
• Film Review: Walmart - The High Cost of Low Price
• Proper Gander: Sugar Rush
• Action Replay
• 50 Years Ago: Stalin - the God Who Fell
• Voice From the Back
• Cartoon: Free Lunch

BIGHEAD BLOWS IT

Up to two million workers went on strike on 30 November and on the BBC programme The One Show Jeremy Clarkson the BBC motoring correspondent had this to say about the strikers. "Frankly, I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean, how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living?" (BBC News, 1 December) Let us just hope for Jeremy's sake he doesn't have a road accident on one of those overpriced super-charged motor cars of his and has to rely on the attention of an ambulance driver or a nurse who can remember that particular piece of arrogant bombast.
RD

Who owns the North Pole- Part 42 - Scotland stakes its claim

The Arctic with its possibilities for mineral extraction, shipping and fisheries will become an important issue for an independent Scotland. Angus Robertson, a MP in the British Parliament and a leading member of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, has issued a call for Scotland to embrace its long-latent "Nordic" identity and to join with neighboring Norway and nearby Iceland — as well as Canada and all other Arctic nations — to "properly engage with our wider geographic region”

Arctic sea traffic and a more northward military focus would absolutely be a priority for an independent Scotland, Robertson says. Citing opportunities such as oil-and-gas development, mineral extraction, shipping and the emergence of new fisheries, Robertson said SNP leaders are thinking about the challenges ahead of the independence referendum and predicted the massive changes impacting on the High North and Arctic will become a significant feature of the years and decades ahead in Scottish politics

dying early in Scotland

More men and women die before retirement age in Scotland than in any other part of the UK.,

The premature death rate – where people die before 65 – is 50 per cent higher north of the Border than in the east and south-east of England, where it is lowest, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported.

Experts warn the high numbers of early deaths are driven by violence, drug and alcohol problems, and unhealthy lifestyles, particularly in deprived areas. The report the UK government was failing to tackle poverty and warned cuts to social security could see inequalities rise rather than fall in future.