Fall or flatline
- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
This is disturbing from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21455423
BBC wrote:The economy of the 17 nations in the euro shrank by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, which was worse than forecast.Even the German economy is contracting. That is, an economic area comprising of hundreds of millions of people is seeing a fall in the amount of wealth produced. Even those parts that aren't in actuial recession are showing signs of pathetic growth rates. This isn't the worst, though, yesterday's news was full of reports of Mervyn King's comments on Inflation:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21440080
BBC wrote:The Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday that UK workers were earning no more than they were 10 years ago, while a report from the Resolution Foundation think tank warned that it could be another 10 years before living standards return to the levels they were at before the recession.Actual decline in wealth combined with flatlining wages will make serious problems for the ideological guardians of the capitalist order: rising wages stave off discontent and show that people can improve themselves and their families within the system, but the message of "You are poor, and going to remain poor, no matter how hard you work" will meet with howls of protest. So long as they could materially buy off sections of the working class, their position was secure.
Particularly, this is demonstrating the bankruptcy of social democrat ideas: they relied on finessing growth to ease the inequality gap. When such policies are rendered uncredible if not impossible, then where can they go? As we've seen with Hollande, it's easy to ride the discontent to power, but, as the BBC notes
BBC wrote:French President Francois Hollande is trying to make France more competitive by slashing government spending and relaxing labour regulations.Once more on the merry-go-round.
It has just been revealed that Government adviser Lord Young has written the following in a report to Cameron:
Quote:It has always been the case that a recession can be a good time to grow a business. This is true for a number of reasons. Competitors who fall by the wayside enable well-run firms to expand and increase market share. Factors of production such as premises and labour can be cheaper and higher quality, meaning that return on investment can be greater.Labour politicians and the TUC are up in arms about this, but Young is merely describing the way capitalism works.Marx made the same point himself when he pointed out that the fall in a slump in wages and the price of other "factors of production" would help restore the rate of profit and so pave the way for a slow recovery.Lord Young is indeed "telling it like it is".
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.