There is a moral case for capitalism that currently goes unheard, and David Cameron can make it most effectively by ensuring that the lowest paid see their pay pushed down even further. Oh, and greater numbers of people should work for highly profitable companies for absolutely nothing. Statements like that on a leftwing website sound […]
Posts Tagged ‘Capitalism’
Greenspan versus Marx
Jan 26th, 2012 by David Osler.A lot of people on the free market right have a simplistic two-word explanation for why the world economy is currently close to the edge of a frighteningly steep cliff: Alan Greenspan. Throw those Marxist and Keynesian textbooks out the window, people. We are where we are because the former chairman of the Federal Reserve responded […]
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Greece, Italy: now markets choose prime ministers
Nov 18th, 2011 by David Osler.I am not entitled to vote in either Greece or Italy; even if I were, I would not support either George Papandreou or Silvio Berlusconi, anyway. In the normal run of events, I would greet their departure from office with Zen-like equanimity. But what we have seen in the last week or so is not the […]
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The Free Market, the Monopolistic Market, and the Inclusive Market
Oct 7th, 2011 by Carl Packman.The Liberals wanted to form a coalition government. Remember that. I’m talking of course about the Liberals in the 1981 SDP-Liberal Alliance under the leadership of David Steel. It was that year he told delegates “go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.” Then the Falklands war happened, and the rest is history. During […]
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If Greece goes pear-shaped, Britain may go too
Oct 4th, 2011 by David Osler.The righteous have their work done for them by others, the old Jewish proverb insists. Now that newspapers from the Daily Mail through to the Financial Times routinely run headlines describing ‘capitalism in crisis’, what purpose can possibly be served by rising at the crack of dawn to sell Socialist Worker to the early shift? […]
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Changing the values of our economy
Oct 3rd, 2011 by Jon Lansman.In his leader’s speech last week, Ed Miliband talked about ‘changing the values of our economy.’ Some businesses have good values, he claimed, and others do not: we need to distinguish in our policy, in our regulation, between ‘producers‘ and ‘predators‘. Right-wing commentators have lambasted these comments from a predictable stand-point. David Osler also suggested […]
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Ed’s speech: predators, producers and the proletariat
Sep 28th, 2011 by David Osler.I cannot remember the last time I was wildly impressed by a leader’s set piece speech to a party conference. These days such perorations are designedly ephemeral affairs, calculated to grab the day’s headlines rather than define any lasting vision. The words delivered by Ed Miliband yesterday are no exception, and in this case, have […]
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Marxist economics – not there to guide capitalists
Sep 1st, 2011 by David Osler.Like a fourteen year old schoolgirl using the F-word in front of her parents or anyone expressing mild aversion to opera at a north London dinner party, certain capitalist commentators revel in the shock value of adducing Marx in support of their macroeconomic prescriptions. In recent weeks, we have seen George Magnus, senior economic advisor […]
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Why Labour would be wrong to chase the ‘centre-ground’
Feb 21st, 2011 by Darrell Goodliffe.As soon as I read an article which states something like “the centre ground in politics is perennially important“, my hackles rise. This is largely because I don’t believe in the existence of such a thing. To me, it’s as real as Camelot or the Tooth Fairy. Centrist politics and ‘the centre ground’ are the subjective creations of ideologues […]
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Crises of Capitalism – an explanation
Oct 30th, 2010 by Jon Lansman.Something for the weekend. Another animated lecture from the RSA. This time, an explanation of the crises of Capitalism — and yes, it’s from a marxist persective.
