There are several important implications in Hollande’s convincing victory over bling-bling Sarkozy. It’s not just the first Socialist presidential win for 31 years, even more significantly it clearly marks a turning point in European politics, though a lot still depends on how forcefully and skilfully this wedge against the dominant Right is used. But the [...]
Posts under ‘Economy’
Hollande’s message for Labour: focus on jobs, growth and an end to austerity
May 7th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.
The far left and capitalist crisis
May 1st, 2012 by David Osler.Recent capitalist history has thrown up sharper economic declines and higher levels of unemployment than the ones we are currently witnessing in Greece and Spain. It’s just that they haven’t occurred in nice Mediterranean countries that Britons visit for beach holidays and long weekends. Bookmarks Hide Sites
The only thing the 1% fear
Apr 30th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.A graph showing trade union membership versus the percentage of UK income taken by the one percent illustrates perfectly what the 1% have to fear. (hat tip: J-C Duncan and @StroudAntiCuts) Bookmarks Hide Sites
Britain’s 1,000 richest persons made gains of £155bn in last 3 years
Apr 30th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The Sunday Times Rich List, published yesterday and compulsory reading for anybody who wants to understand Britain’s power structure today, holds three extremely significant conclusions. One is that the 1,000 richest persons in the UK have increased their wealth by so much in the last 3 years – £155bn – that they themselves alone could [...]
The best graphs are the ones Osborne doesn’t publish
Apr 30th, 2012 by Ann Pettifor.Last year on the 13 December 2011 Newsnight asked a group of economists to identify the most important chart of the year. I chose this one, which had appeared in the first paragraph of the British government’s Budget Report of 23 March 2011. It shows, as you can see, the extraordinary high levels of UK private debt – but [...]
Where Europe is going, Britain will follow
Apr 25th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The 1st round Socialist victory in the French presidential elections on Sunday, the collapse of the Right-wing Dutch government on Monday, the probable demise soon of the Right-wing Czech government , and the likely election on 6 May of an anti-Merkel government in Greece point conclusively in one direction. Across Europe the democratic backlash against [...]
GMB Congress to consider investigating party-within-a-party “Progress”
Apr 24th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.The preliminary agenda for the GMB Congress, due to start in Brighton on 10 June, is now available on its internal website. The agenda reveals significant disaffection with the stance taken earlier this year by Ed Balls on public service cuts and pay, with motions from seven out of nine regions, some of which also [...]
Mayday, Mayday! Another police corruption case – blacklisting
Apr 24th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Theresa May is apparently minded to order a fresh public inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence on the grounds that a secret Scotland Yard report questioning the conduct and integrity of a police chief involved in the Lawrence case was not given to the Macpherson inquiry in 1998. She is anxious that confidence in [...]
Regulatory backlash against bankers’ pay – you bet!
Apr 19th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.So even the tin ears in the City are now railing against excessive pay at the top. A study by Share Centre found that 95% of institutional investors now believe pay is too high across all leading companies, not just the banks. Very observant of them. The real question is what should be done about [...]
Repsol-YPF: the left and nationalisation today
Apr 18th, 2012 by David Osler.It has been a long time since people used to get up at Labour Party meetings and casually demand the nationalisation of the top 200 monopolies, even in speeches supposedly addressing the need for better traffic light provision in Leytonstone. Bookmarks Hide Sites
