Sunday 6 March 2011

Mervyn King and the Internationale

Well, the top people are beginning to take a more realistic view of our present economic ills. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has said:
"The price of the financial crisis is being borne by people who did absolutely nothing to cause it."
The people referred to here, which is most of us, have known this for some time, but I suppose it's better late than never. He even went on to say that he was:
  "...surprised that the degree of public anger has not been greater than it has".
Mr King should not be surprised; the real cuts have not been implemented yet. Those of us who work in the public sector are bracing ourselves for the massive cuts that are promised at the start of the new fiscal year. This melancholy event is only a few weeks away.
The magazine "Money Week", which claims to have seen the credit crunch coming, says that 2011 will see a further fall in house prices and, following the rise in interest rates, a corresponding increase in repossessions and homelessness. It advises all its readers with money invested in property to buy gold instead. As very few of us are in that happy position, we could well see the explosion in public anger that Mervyn King speaks about. The tuition fees riots that we have already seen show that people still are capable of anger at the failings of the system. Worse could be on the way.
I have forgotten the words of "The Internationale"; I really must look for them...

4 comments:

  1. Here is a great version of the Internationale by Billy Bragg.

    Tories clearly don't study history:

    Poll Tax rallies.
    Anti-Gulf War marches.
    Anti-Iraq and Afghan Wars mass demo.
    Tuition fees protests.
    Fuel escalator blockades.
    Live animal exports demos.

    And many of these worked. I'll be in London on 26th March.

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  2. The ConDems are doing what Thatcher never did ~ annoying the police. Clueless.

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  3. For a government that considers itself to be in touch with the people, it makes some incredible mistakes. How the Tories can pretend to be the party of Law and Order and cut police numbers is unclear. How the LibDems can pretend to be be a significant political party at all now is also something of a mystery.

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  4. As shown by their showing in the Barnsley by-election when they came sixth, their share of the vote collapsed by more than 75% and they lost their deposit.

    They provide a smokescreen that conceals the Tories doing their worst. They are not a moderating force at all. Quite the contrary.

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