Sunday 24 June 2012

Capitalism - A flawed and corrupt system



Capitalism - where money is allowed in 'free markets' to flow in an unrestricted way ... and without any social/moral compass ... is flawed. In the hands of the greedy, corrupt and power-hungry, money is not used to help people, but to exploit them ... in pursuit of yet more money and power ... and over the last few decades these people have proved themselves to have no conscience or morals whatsoever.

Let's start with those who argue for 'free markets' all around the world. By arguing for this what they really mean is that they should be allowed to invest in whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want, and where they are most able to exploit the workforce/natural resources. If a country tries to defy them, and not allow their people to be exploited, then they will threaten them ... move their money elsewhere ... and force their communities/countries into ruin. 

Does this really happen? ... of course it does! And we see the consequences of this every day! It's why manufacturing moved to China, moving on to Vietnam ... and will eventually move to Africa (which is what China themselves are also starting to do). It's how corporations regularly threaten governments with moving their operations/jobs overseas, unless governments slash their tax bills and give them exactly what they want (e.g. Banks regularly threaten to move their centres of operation overseas to avoid taxes and any regulation restricting their immoral activities, and Vodafone were also recently let off £6bn in tax)!


Corrupt bankers, who created this global crisis, and forced governments to bail them out (using taxpayers money!) resulting in all the sovereign debt crises, are now using this bailout money in the "money markets" to force governments to take yet more bailouts (e.g. Eurozone crisis)! By wielding their power, they are forcing governments to slash public services and slash pay/conditions for the poor, in the form of "austerity programmes" (nb the UK Government is doing this whilst also slashing income tax for the ultra-rich and allowing executive/ bankers pay to soar)! 


The bankers have for decades created money out of thin air (legalized electronic counterfeiting!), lent it out at interest (money for nothing), and made 'debt slaves' of everyone. They have then been gambling this money on the 'money markets', with minimal regulation (and no 'gambling tax', despite every other form of gambling being heavily taxed!) ... where they personally take all the profits, and taxpayers take all of the risk and losses (nb this still hasn't changed)!


These are not 'free-markets', but 'corrupt markets', where the ultra-rich can openly exploit and devour the poor/hard-working. 'Free markets' would have allowed corrupt banks to fail ... they would not have handed them taxpayers money! The banks should pay the cost of 'insuring' themselves against failure, and be taxed accordingly (nb which would naturally be far greater than any traditional gambling tax)! However the Government are not doing this (nb a financial transaction tax is being vehemently opposed in the UK), as they are 'in the pockets' of the bankers and the ultra-rich ... and even if they weren't ... they would be continually threatened by them (e.g. with moving their operations overseas, moving their money, and/or forcing 'a run' on their currency/country).

If anyone has any doubt about the corrupt way in which capitalism is working ... one only needs to look at recent actions of the Bank of England and George Osborne. In the past they pumped an additional $325bn into the banks, via their so called 'Quantatitive Easing' programme, in the hope it would feed through to businesses and the wider economy ... but the banks lent very little of this out to actual businesses ... preferring to gamble with it and increase their bonuses again!

Because of this Osborne and King have just recently announced a scheme to give them more money ... but this time they are trying to position it as money they can only use to lend to real businesses! Says it all really! One Government minister also admitted this was needed because bankers were 'investing' elsewhere to get better 'returns' (i.e. in 'money for nothing' scams ... e.g. insurance, counterfeiting, gambling with other people's money)!

Moral businesses desperately trying to add value, help others and create jobs have been (and are still being) deliberately starved of money/resources ... by corrupt bankers who couldn't care a jot and are only interested in swelling their own immoral/grotesque fortunes. Adding real value to people's lives takes time, effort and resources/people, all an anathema to bankers ... as they cannot compete with legalized 'money for nothing' schemes ... 


'Free-market capitalism' effectively promotes 'money for nothing' schemes (e.g. 'financial engineering') and results in the systematic destruction of real economies/communities ... it blights communities ... and survives only because of ignorance, apathy and the centralization/control of power and capital (the 'means of production').

Moral businesses create value, corrupt bankers/financiers systematically leech from this and destroy value, and should be stopped from doing so ... We need state run community banking, investing in real business, and out of the hands of immoral bankers (gamblers), where money is invested by the people for the people ... and guess what ... we actually already effectively 'own' two banks as a result of recent bailouts ... so why don't we get on with it and put these to good use ... by putting capable, honorable and trustworthy community stakeholders on boards ... n.b. and we do not want Richard Branson or Philip Green types ... who preach to everyone, but pay no tax themselves)!