LAND
OF THE FREE?
The
following report from Washington paints a dreadful picture of modern
capitalism. "In the world's biggest economy, one in eight
Americans and almost one in four blacks lived in poverty last year,
the US Census Bureau said on Tuesday, releasing a figure almost
unchanged from 2004" (Reuter, 29 August), The report went
on to say: "In all, some 37 million Americans lived below the
poverty line, defined as having an annual income around $10,000
(£5,300)) for an individual or $20,000 (£10,600) for a
family of four." 200 quid a week for a family of four, and they
wonder why they have a crime problem?
|
HOMELESS
IN BRITAIN?
The
Department for Communities and Local Government announced that the
number of homeless families in England had dropped to 19,430 between
June and April this year, down 29 percent on the same period in 2005,
but charities have queried these figures. "There are as many as
380,000 hidden
homeless people, predominately single, in Britain
living out of sight," says Duncan Scrubsole, head of policy and
strategy at Crisis" (Inside Housing , 15 September). Adam
Sampson, the chief executive of Shelter, also queries the
government's figures. "Any drop in new cases is to be welcomed,
provided this is brought about by genuine work to prevent people from
losing their homes in the first place, rather than preventing them
from registering to get the help they need" (Times, 19
September). Anyone taking the government figures at face value,
should remember the old saying "figures don't lie, but liars can
figure."
|
FAT
CAT BRITAIN
When
the Labour Party came to power we were told "things can only get
better" and so they have - for the super rich. "A global
survey of the lists of the wealthiest people in 27 leading countries
shows that Britain and Switzerland have by far the biggest
communities of foreign-born super-rich in the world. Switzerland,
with its reputation for banking secrecy and strict regulations, has
long been regarded as a magnet for multi-millionaires. But Britain,
with the special attraction of tax incentives for billionaires from
overseas, is fast catching up as a new refuge for the rich"
(Sunday Times, 24 September). Britain now has more
billionaires per head of its population than America. Was this what
members of the working class envisaged on election day when they sang
"things can only get better"?
|
INTERESTED
IN INTEREST?
The
Koran prohibits something called riba, loosely translated as
interest and this has hindered the development of capitalism.
Something similar happened in medieval
times when the christians
banned usury, but the theologist soon found a way around that
and now we have thriving banks in the Vatican. Islam theology may
have taken a little longer but now they have joined the capitalist
bandwagon. "Islamic banking scholars have found ways of
accommodating their philosophical abhorrence of money as a commodity
with the need to create financing tools. Typically, this involves
converting interest into a rent or a profit share" (Times,
30 September). The Koran may hold sway in the mosque, but outside in
the real world capitalism dictates.
|
A
FISTFUL OF DOLLARS
Being
homeless in Britain may be awful, but think how much worse to be
sleeping rough in a Russian winter. That is a problem that does not
confront the Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko to judge by this
item. "At a palace in St Petersburg, which has been converted
into a disco for the night by Moscow's most fashionable party
organisers, the vodka flows and a New York
disco diva sings Thank
You for the Music, while ballet dancers pirouette around her. ...
Roustam Tariko, the man picking up the $3 million (£1.6
million) tab for the party, turns to me: ‘People like you are
already tired of $100,000 parties. They are nothing special for you’" (Times,
7 October). If a Moscow winter proves too severe he
can always flee to his house in New York or Sardina, an escape that
is impossible for the Russian homeless.
|
A
HANDFUL OF PENNIES
It
is reckoned that 1.9 million children under the age of five die every
year from diarrhoeal diseases and that the means of saving their
lives only cost a couple of pence. "The result, according to the
World Health Organization (WHO): 3 million people a year still die
from diarrhoeal complications, including 1.9 million children under
the age of five, or 17% of the estimated deaths in that age
group"(Time, 16 October). All that is required is a large
pinch of salt and a fistful of sugar dissolved in a jug of clean
water, but in the crowded cities and remote areas of the world's
poorest this has proved impossible. Capitalism breeds poverty and
ignorance and makes this madness possible. The establishment of world
socialism will almost immediately save these 3 million people from
premature death.
|
|
|
|